Top 10 Overused Movie Ideas

A good gangster flick is a guilty pleasure with no equal. With gratuitous violence, sex, and drug abuse typically in the mix, you can be sure to have a ball with your run-of-the-mill mafia movie. On top of that, the best ones are incredible. We’re very thankful for “GoodFellas,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “The Godfather,” but these icons have been copied again and again. Does every gangster movie have to take place in New York? Do all of the mob bosses on the planet use the f-word every 4 seconds? And what’s with all the eating scenes? Or have the same characters and plot points been repackaged, with varying degrees of success on countless occasions?

Animation is undoubtedly the perfect medium for a wisecracking animal with the ability to talk. While familiar, some of these animated features are actually a lot of fun. Live-action movies with talking animals, however, are usually a recipe for single-digit ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and bafflingly high box office earnings. The latter is the unfortunate result of these movies being highly watchable for young children. Why did “Dr. Dolittle” warrant multiple sequels? How on earth was Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey convinced to play a talking cat? And what is a “squeakquel” anyway? These are just a few questions surrounding this overused movie setup.

This genre largely encompasses biblical, Greek, and Roman epics, like “Spartacus” and “The Ten Commandments.” Making a much-deserved comeback in 2000 thanks to the critically and commercially acclaimed hit, “Gladiator,” this new generation of sword and sandal films came with emotional weight and superb acting to back up their appealing looks. Perhaps studio executives saw this as an easy cash grab, cause each year we’ve been given one or two new installments in the genre, typically with noticeably diminishing quality. Today, sword and sandal movies are frequently plagued by bad acting, cringe worthy accents, and two-dimensional characters. No amount of bronzed six-packs will salvage this genre, but that doesn’t stop people from trying.

There seems to be no shortage of “damn good cops” that police chiefs constantly urge to “play by the rules.” More often than not, these cops are forced “off the case,” and instead, impulsively decide to quit. The screenwriting behind cowboy cops is cliché practically to the point of parody. Some notable bad boys in cowboy cop lore include “Dirty Harry,” “Die Hard” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” There’s no denying how cool these guys are, but sadly, we may very well be out of cool capital for this overused trope – at least for the time being.

For the foreseeable future, time travel is strictly a sci-fi plot point, and not a reality. This theme has been utilized for comedy in “Back to the Future” and “Groundhog Day,” action in “The Terminator,” and somewhere in between in “Donnie Darko.” The list of time travel flicks goes on and on, and there are a few commonalities that nearly every one would include. In particular, it seems as if no movie character can go back in time without screwing up the present in some way. Perhaps this plot device needs to be put to rest or given a new spin?

For one reason or another, we as a society love using film to explore the idea of life after the apocalypse. The stark contrast between our busy lives and increasingly ubiquitous technology and the barebones way of life in post-apocalyptic times is palpable in each of these films, and mankind’s inherent good is questioned time and time again in a typical post-apocalyptic movie. A close cousin of the overused zombie apocalypse trope, this genre frequently utilizes dreary landscapes, grotesque mutations, and pillaging bands of thieves to get its message across. Some of the best entries in this genre include “Children of Men” and the “Mad Max” franchise, but of course they’ve seen their fair share of copycats.

This genre can be separated into two distinct subgenres: The heady, thought-provoking contact films, like “Arrival,” which open up discussion and warrant critical acclaim, and mindless, destructive invasion movies that typically come out at the peak of blockbuster season and rake in millions. The latter has seen success, notably with the fun-filled “Independence Day,” and disappointment, as with the anticlimactic “Independence Day” sequel. The computer-generated destruction of cities has been done so frequently they might as well use stock footage to save money, and plot-structure and character development continue to be paper thin in most alien invasion flicks.

A plane that’s going to crash-land, an earthquake that will destroy a city, or a storm felt round the world; your typical disaster film may have a different spin on it, but really it’s the same premise in a different outfit. A group of protagonists must survive the night or get out of a doomed area, not everyone will make it, and the best looking characters will share a passionate kiss at the end. This idea is so overplayed it’s been spoofed several times—successfully in some, and quite unsuccessfully in others. “Surely” there’s got to be a better way to entertain the masses, right?

It stands to reason this list will step on some toes, as some of the most beloved movies have these tropes written all over them. The idea of the chosen one is no exception: Harry Potter, Anakin Skywalker, and Neo have all had their lives changed overnight due to some prophesy or twist of fate that’s destined them to save the world. That being said, the argument can certainly be made that this opens the door for some lazy screenwriting. Instead of well-thought-out cause and effect, a protagonist can be thrust into the action because of fate and nothing else. And don’t even get us started on the clichéd Christ figure imagery that chosen ones loooooove to utilize.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable, or in this case dishonorable, mentions:
- Serial Killers
- Royalty/Princes/Princesses
- Space

The modern era of nonstop superhero movies was kicked off when Robert Downey Jr. showed us how badass “Iron Man” could be. Since then, we’ve collectively drooled over the MCU, as breathtaking blockbusters rock our world year after year. We’ve also held our breath with each DC installment, hoping this will be the one. There’ve been high points and low points, but ultimately the minds behind superhero movies seem to have found a formula that works, but it’s a formula nonetheless. “Deadpool” might’ve subverted that formula, but the fact is, the superhero genre is living on borrowed time. Just like eating cake for breakfast every day, superhero flicks will get old eventually, and the magic of that well advertised superhero blockbuster loses a little of its luster each time around.