While I’d like to see the cliche about the severely bickering couple ending up making out with each other (eg, Sam & Diane, Buffy & Spike, etc) i don’t see how to subvert it without it becoming a domestic violence case.
Sorry, but that would be AWESOME!
Diane: “Blah blah blah blah…”
Sam: “Gaaah!” POW
< cut to scene of Sam being led away in handcuffs >
I guess that would be the end of a series, but it would be worth it.
I’d love to see a scene where someone tries to bully their way past some security checkpoint and goes for the usual “don’t you know who I am? The general is going to be so upset if you waste his time!!!” kind of nonsense, and the sentry just adamantly refuses to break protocol.
There are a bunch of other similar things. For instance, a baddie is held prisoner and suddenly starts having a seizure. So the guards rush in… but only after summoning backup just in case it’s a ruse. Etc.
I also strongly agree with “the rogue hero has a theory that everyone poo-poos, but he doggedly pursues it, regulations be damned… and it turns out that he’s totally wrong”, and the related “the rogue hero comes up with a plan to save the day that is ‘too risky’ for those stuffed shirts at HQ… but he tries it out all on his own, and it fails spectacularly and kills a lot of innocent people”.
Ralph Kramden finally decked Alice in an episode of*** Family Guy***.
“Wait. It’s a trick. Get an axe.” From Army of Darkness.
Things grind to a halt in SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER, when a bona fide cop pulls over a car and announces that he’s commandeering the vehicle – only to get told that, no, as it happens, I know you don’t actually have the right to do that.
La La Land subverts several of the cliches of a Hollywood musical – the “meet cute” and the happy ending most notably.
Mexican stand off. Two enemies pointing guns at each other’s faces at point-blank range. Until one makes some fairly obvious conclusions about human reaction time compared to estimated flight time of a bullet over c. 15cm and just pulls his trigger.
“That’s crazy, it’ll never work! You’ll burn it out if you overload the power!”
“Dammit, Ash! You number-crunchers in the lab don’t get what it’s like out here in the field. We don’t get the luxury of running calculations, we just have to go with our gut!”
Goes with gut. Sparks fly. “It” burns out due to power overload
Homely girl lets her hair down takes off her glasses, and is still homely.
“Here’s my phone number- it’s 381…”
Guy collapses. Cop rushes over to him, puts his finger on his neck for 0.3 seconds and says “he’s dead”. EMT shoves cop away, starts CPR, and the guy survives.
Detective shows up for work on his last day. He finishes up his paperwork, goes out to lunch, and nothing much happens the rest of the day and he retires in peace.
In 1997 Darth Ennis wrote a four-issue miniseries for DC’s Vertigo title updating the story of the Unknown Solider. At one point CIA agent Clyde delivers a judo chop to the neck of a hulking assailant- who doesn’t even blink. Clyde (narrating in flashback) says something like the following “If you study martial arts, there’s something your sensei ought to tell you: no matter how good you are, if your opponent is a head taller and a hundred pounds heavier than you, you’re going to lose.”
No, what would be even funnier is if the entire day “Final Destination”-type accidents keep happening but he somehow dodges them all.
“Knock out gas” pumped into the ventilation system. I came across this most recently playing Grand Theft Auto V, but I’ve seen this in TV shows and other media.
It turns out there’s a reason anesthesiologists exist. Too little anesthesia and you won’t be unconscious, too much and you’ll be dead. Tolerances vary from person to person.
For a real-life version of this trope with real-life consequences, read about the 2002 Moscow Hostage Crisis. (Short summary: Russian Spetnaz units pumped an unknown sedative into the theater and 140 hostages died from adverse affects of the gas.)
sb
The 1990 movie The Adventures of Ford Fairlane:
Ford Fairlane: Hey, look. Write down my number: 555-6321 Got it?
Twin Club Girl: Yeah. Wait a minute. 555 is not a real number. They only use that in the movies.
Ford Fairlane: No shit, honey. What do you think this is? Real life?
An anxious black cat descends warily down a creaky staircase into a dark basement and is startled by the sudden appearance of a human with a flashlight.
The brave handsome hero rescues the beautiful, desirable damsel in distress. At the end of the movie she politely thanks him and they go their separate ways.
Characters fail to outrun explosion in slow motion and are not killed outright, but permanently disfigured.
Intermittent mechanical problem with hero’s car does not manifest during critical time near the climax of the movie.
Possibly the only good scene in the animated Titan A.E.:
Heroes are trying to sneak past a guard in disguise.
“Wait a minute. You’re too tall to be a <title>, this robe is the completely wrong shade of red, and I’m pretty sure that guy’s a hum-” <get clocked over the head with a gun butt>
“An intelligent guard. Who’d have guessed?”
The Last Action Hero
“How can everyone’s phone number start with 555?”
“Area codes.”
Why did you spoil the ending of Casablanca?!?! :mad:
The gay teenager is a jock with no interest in theatre/fashion/etc, isn’t a girl’s GBF, and is just as much of a horny hormone crazed pervert has his straight teammates. Also have the cheerleaders be brainy, active in student government, & NHS members.