Cliches that you can't believe are still used

Yes.

I used to really like Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series. Rhyme is a brilliant forensic expert who can find all sorts of clues from the tiniest of minutiae. The series fell apart when Deaver made the criminals much, much too smart forensically. The crime scenes are totally sterile except for a single planted fiber. Really? How the hell do you sterilize an area 100% leaving not a single hair or fiber or speck of dirt behind save the one you leave as misdirection? Oh, and be able to sneak in and out with the sort of equipment you’d need ot do so?

One skewering of a cliche I love is from Sneakers. As Robert Redford breaks into a building, he pulls out his trusty set of lock picks, only to doscover that the lock was replaced with a numeric keypad instead. He radios his tech guys, who flip through a manual and relay complicated instructions to Redford, who says “Well, I’ll give it a try”. Then kicks the door in.

The OP puts me in mind of the Evil Overlord List, especially point 95.

Well? C’mon, spill it. You can’t leave us hanging. (or is that too big of a highjack?)

I don’t kiss and tell. :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, if it’s one person/team/band versus one other person/team/band, what would you have them do?

…Me too, especially in Not Another Teen Movie, where the skewer this cliche, along with may others. (I love that movie.)

You forgot to mention that the lab tech was in a wheelchair.

The version in Star Trek III was about as good as it’s been handled (Kirk tries to pull Kruge up, Kruge tries to drag Kirk down with him, Kirk decides that he’s “had enough of you” and kicks him down).

Vagus
Geez yes !!! How did this thread go for over 30 replies before someone brought up that one? If you saw “Hot Shots” (Part One) there was a character called “Dead Meat”. Instead of being engaged, he is already married. His wife is following him out to his jet and she says
“Oh honey please sign this life insurance policy.”
Pilot: “Gee this pen doesn’t work. I’ll sign it when I get back. Oh and I found out the truth behind the JFK assassination. I’ve got all the answers right here in my pocket. I also figured out a simple, cheap and effective solution to the problem of global warming. I’ll tell you about it when I get back” Guess whose plane crashes?

Another great “Dead Meat” character cliché is the only friend, associate, co-worker, etc that actually beleives the heroes’ story, etc.
Remember “Basic Instinct”? Micahael Douglas mentions that the only guy he can trust is his partner Gus. Want to guess what eventually happens to Gus? :smiley:

This worked for me in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, mostly because they actually made the actress look unattractive to start, rather than just looking like someone attractive wearing glasses and her hair up.

The one that continually bugs me is how accurate the techs can predict how much time it will take to accomplish something. If the brainy guy says it’ll take four hours to decode the message/defuse the bomb/drive to the destination, it won’t take a second more or less; you can time it with an atomic clock.

What about cliches going international? I saw an Indian movie on a local station recently, and when the stalwart soldier setting out on a mission said goodbye to his concerned and loving parents with a Bollywood version of “A soldier’s gotta do what a soldier’s gotta do”, I said, “He’s doomed.” And 20 minutes later he was heroically cut down in a hail of lead.

My least favorite cliche is the Immaculate Concussion. Hero is rabbit-punched, hit with a bottle, clubbed with a pistol butt, whatever; he falls down, lies still for as long as the plot requires, shakes his head, gets up and runs back into action as though nothing’s happened, instead of puking and clutching his head as real concussion victims tend to do. Brain damage? What’s brain damage?

DAMN the person who invented the Hanging off a Cliff/Other High Place cliche! DAMN their soul to PIE HELL!! Maybe it’s just my bad luck, but almost EVERY SINGLE MOVIE I have seen this year has included the scene where the hero is hanging onto another person’s arm(s) as that individual dangles precariously over the edge of a cliff. That takes all the action and suspense out of an otherwise good action scene.

Although I have to admit, it wasn’t terrible when they did it in Batman Begins. :wink: