Top 10 Movie Clichés Everybody Hates

Script Written by Savannah Sher

Top 10 Movie Clichés Everybody Hates

Are there any original ideas left? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Movie Clichés Everybody Hates.

For this list, we’ll be looking at movie tropes that are either overdone or just plain unrealistic.

#10: Love at First Sight

This one checks both boxes: it’s both overdone AND unrealistic. We’ve been seeing couples fall in love at first sight in movies for as long as anyone can remember, and it never gets any more believable. It’s shocking how quickly two characters are willing to completely derail their lives over someone they barely know, but it just keeps happening. Then there are the extreme cases like “Romeo + Juliet” where two young people choose to end their lives over a person they’ve only spent a couple of days with. Tragic? Of course, but yikes: don’t try that one at home… or anywhere else for that matter.

#9: Exposition Overload

What’s the first thing you learn in any writing class? SHOW, don’t TELL! And yet some screenwriters seem to have missed that oh so important lesson. We get it: when you’re writing a script for a sci-fi movie, it can be tough to figure out how to explain the intricacies of the world you’re creating for your audience. But there’s gotta be a better way than the info dumps that take place either at the beginning or end of movies! Some movies have tried to come up with creative ways to shoehorn in their exposition, but they’re taking a risk that it’s going to flop.

#8: Bad Guys Having Terrible Aim

Why is it that the villains in movies (and their lackeys) are always so incompetent? There have been countless fight scenes in cinema where the heroes manage to shoot with laser-sharp accuracy and yet the bad guys can’t get a single successful shot in. The most egregious example of this is, of course, the Stormtroopers from the “Star Wars” universe. Their aim is so historically terrible that they even made fun of it on “The Mandalorian.” Here’s the real question, though: are the bad guys unrealistically bad, or are the good guys unrealistically good?

#7: Hurting Female Characters to Get to the Hero

This cliché is so overdone that it even has its own name: “Fridging” is when a female character is either killed or injured by the villain in an attempt to set the hero’s action into motion. Not only is this trope so prevalent that it’s gotten quite tired, but it’s also offensive in that it reduces female characters to plot devices who don’t have any agency of their own. People have become aware of the problematic aspects of this narrative device and yet still, it keeps happening in modern movies.

#6: Dressing Up for the Crisis

Here’s a sexist trope if ever we’ve heard one: as improbable as it sounds, women in movies always manage to be well-groomed no matter what sort of apocalyptic situation they find themselves in. Men end up with scruffy beards, but women somehow find the time and resources to shave their legs and armpits. Sometimes they even manage to do their hair and makeup, rarely dropping so much as an ounce of sweat along the way. And don’t even get us started on the whole “running in heels” thing...

#5: The White Savior

Hollywood needs more diversity, there’s no question about that. However, it’s one thing to cast primarily white actors in your movie; it’s quite another when white people are inserted into a situation where they're supposedly the only ones who can help a marginalized community. This exists on a large scale in movies like “Avatar,” where white people come in to “save” a native population. But it also exists on a more micro level in movies like “The Help,” where a white person is shown as the only one who can give voice to the struggles of African Americans.

#4: The Villain Wanted to Be Caught

Some of the clichés on our list have essentially been around since the beginning of cinema, but this one, in particular, seems to have become increasingly popular in recent years. Maybe you were surprised the first time you saw a movie where the villain revealed that they actually intended to be captured all along in order to enact the next step in their master plan. But this trope has been used to death now and it no longer feels like the satisfying plot twist that screenwriters seem to think it is.

#3: The Superhuman Hero

We get it, movies aren’t always supposed to be based in reality - that’s what makes them fun. But at a certain point, we have to question how our favorite protagonists can survive just about anything without any serious or permanent bodily consequences. Not only do they manage to survive attacks and accidents that would obviously kill a mere mortal, but they also seem to have a magically short recovery time for the injuries they do incur. Hollywood definitely gives us an unrealistic idea about exactly what the human body can take.

#2: The “Ugly” Woman

By now, we’ve seen this trope in so many movies that it has become comedic. Hollywood never seems to hire actually unattractive women to play major roles in films. So, what we get instead are actresses who are obviously beautiful, disguised as “ugly girls.” They often wear glasses and dress in “unflattering” clothing as a thin veneer over their clear good looks. Then we’re supposed to be surprised when they get contacts and put on a skimpy dress and TADA! They’re gorgeous. Not only is this trope overdone; it’s also dangerous because it gives us an unrealistic idea of what actual normal people look like.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions.

Convenient Sheet Placement
Broken Mirror = Lost Identity
Only Pregnant Women Vomit
All Heroes Are Orphans
Hanging up Without Saying Goodbye

#1: The Villain Wasting Time Explaining His Elaborate Plan

This happens SO often that it had to be our number one pick. Villains in movies always seem to squander their opportunity to finally kill the hero when they have them in their clutches. Why? Because they can’t help but explain their master plan. They also might take this time to gloat over their victory, thinking that the battle is already won. Of course, this always gives the good guys a chance to escape, be rescued, or deliver a final blow to the villain. How come they haven’t learned by now to just kill their enemies while they can rather than wasting time talking to them?