Marry Me, the romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, saw the return of several tropes of the genre, but with a twist. The idea of a celebrity falling in love with a "normal" person has been done in films like Notting Hill and Another Cinderella Story. However, several other common tropes were done away with, such as a plot that focuses on one of the characters keeping a hurtful secret or a conflict revolving around some big misunderstanding.
Combining a tried and true plot with the omission of other wore-out tropes was refreshing for audiences and made the film a little less predictable. This is precisely why films like Marry Me are making a great effort to avoid plot points that audiences are tired of seeing. Characters splitting up in horror movies, love interests breaking things off over a big misunderstanding, and bad guys only attacking one at a time are all tropes that have been used so often that audiences can't help but roll their eyes when they see them. Fans on Ranker voted to determine the worst offenders, collectively deciding which must be put away for good.
Note: Ranker lists are live and continue to accrue votes, so some rankings may have changed after this publishing.
Characters Unable To Use Cell Phones
Once upon a time one of the worst horror movie tropes was victims finding their phone lines cut, ensuring they could not call for help. As the decades progressed, the use of landline phones diminished significantly, and screenwriters moved on to placing their characters in "dead zones" so they couldn't escape their situation, like in The Hills Have Eyes remake.
However, cell phones are considerably more reliable today than they were a few years ago. Since every character can be expected to have a phone, and service is much easier to find, it's getting less and less likely that a person in danger wouldn't be able to contact help.
Villains Attacking One At A Time
Even when audiences are rooting for the protagonist, it can be frustrating to see villains that don't seem to be trying very hard. Scenes that show multiple villains or henchmen fighting a protagonist at once, such as in The Matrix, will often show a bad guy politely waiting to throw their punch until the good guy has successfully deflected the other villain's attack.
The Matrix is a great apocalyptic movie, but the Agent Smith clones would have easily been able to overtake their victim had it been a real fight and not one staged to see the good guy walk away victorious.
Spare Car Keys In The Sun Visor Or Tire
If real life were anything like movies, it would be absurdly easy to steal a car. In the film universe, everyone keeps a spare set of car keys tucked behind the sun visor or hidden somewhere around one of the tires. In action movies like The Terminator, the character need only reach into the universal hiding place and drive away in their new car.
This trope perplexed audiences, who agreed that they had never known anyone to conceal their keys in these hiding places in real life. This seems especially strange in urban settings, which are often featured in these films.
Unlimited Ammunition
In the Guillermo del Toro movie, Hellboy, the titular character uses his trusted gun, the Samaritan, to fire endless rounds at enemies, despite the weapon only being capable of holding four bullets. While he is seen reloading the weapon from time to time, it is typically done for dramatic effect, and certainly less often than every four shots.
This is done frequently in movies, as stopping to reload as often as realistically necessary might distract from the action. However, when movies combine this with the additional cliche of heroes running out of ammo just as they are about to take the finishing shot, it can become a little laughable.
Poorly Lit Horror Movies
The main objective of a horror movie is to manipulate audiences into experiencing the fear of a situation they are not actually in. If the film has done its job, viewers' hearts will be racing, their palms sweating, and they will jump and scream at all the right moments.
Dark lighting in films that restricts what audiences can see is an effective way to introduce jump scares since they are already straining to see what is going on. However, as one horror movie after another has been a constant strain on the eyes, audiences have begun to tire of it.
"Splitting Up" In Horror Movies
Horror movies going back as far as House on Haunted Hill (1959) have seen a group of desperate protagonists split up in an effort to "cover more ground." This ensures that the group will be picked off one at a time, drawing out the drama.
However, this plan has never seemed practical. As the years have gone on, this trope has been made fun of in movies like Scooby-Doo, where it is acknowledged that it is safer to stay together, but everyone ultimately ends up splitting up anyway.
Leaving Breakfast Untouched
When a film wants to show a busy family getting ready for their day, there will often be a mother making everyone a breakfast that is doomed to go uneaten. A table may be covered in scrambled eggs, pancakes, and sausage, but a distracted teen is likely to only grab a slice of toast before running out the door.
As often as this is seen in movies, it would seem as if every family has access to huge breakfasts each morning, and that they are too busy to even eat them. Instead, people on Reddit confessed that their mornings were typically cereal and toast and that the trope is nowhere near reality.
Not Looking At The Road While Driving
In most cases, the actor sitting in the driver's seat of a car during a movie is not actually driving. The vehicle is stationary, surrounded by green screens, and the actor pretends to be in control. While the effect is usually convincing enough, even the best actors make it clear that they are not paying any attention to the supposed "road."
Audiences have found it frustrating to see actors looking at their passengers for several long seconds before returning their gaze to the road. While this is done comically in movies like Dumb and Dumber, there are several action films where the characters would easily be in a crash if they were really behind the wheel.
Plots Based Around A Misunderstanding
Romantic comedies are especially guilty of making their central conflict revolve around a big misunderstanding. In The Wedding Singer, Julia shows up at Robbie's house to confess her feelings, only to find his ex-fiancée wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts. Assuming they had gotten back together, Julia takes off to marry someone else.
This leaves audiences in suspense, waiting for the characters to finally communicate and realize that things weren't as they seemed. However, after several years of this rom-com trope being overused, the suspense has significantly worn off. Everyone knows they will figure it out, and it has become annoying to wait for them to finally talk like adults.
A Character Not Explaining What Happened
Whenever the miscommunication trope occurs, it is often followed by a character being infuriatingly slow to explain what had actually happened. For example, in movies like 10 Things I Hate About You, all the characters had to do was immediately explain that while their relationships started because of a bet or deal, they had developed real feelings.
Instead, the movie will often show a montage of the characters being heartbroken, backed by a song that shows how much the couple misses each other. This has left audiences impatiently waiting for the pair to just explain their side of the story and get back together — just kiss already!