# Dealbreaker screenplay clichés **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 14, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002 "2022-03-14T02:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/21 "2022-03-14T17:57:33Z")
“Oh, and Bob?” beat…beat…beat… “…be careful.” Me: _\*stab stab stab stabbity stab stab stab_\* ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/22 "2022-03-14T18:03:00Z")
Caught in a compromising situation: “This isn’t what it looks like!” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/23 "2022-03-14T18:29:01Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Caught in a compromising situation: “This isn’t what it looks like!” “Just let me explain!” (Instead of explaining) “You don’t understand!” (Instead of explaining) “You have to trust me!” (Instead of explaining) “Please just listen!'” (Instead of explaining) “I thought you trusted me!”" (Instead of explaining) . . . aaaand the clock runs out . . . ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/24 "2022-03-14T18:38:39Z")
Person 1: They’re coming! We have to leave … _right now!_ Hero: No, there’s something we have to get straight first… I realize that it’s a cheap way to generate tension and to make the audience pay attention to the words, but it’s a stupid, cheap trick. And if they get caught, they have forfeited all of my sympathy. Good – you deserve to die, you idiot. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/25 "2022-03-14T18:43:01Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Whenever someone said, “Fire at will” on _ST:TNG_ , I wondered if Riker felt the need to duck. In **ST: Generations** , the Duras sisters have just launched their sneak attack against the _Enterprise_ when one of them yells, “Fire at will,” and then quick cut to Riker. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/26 "2022-03-14T18:45:22Z")
“What have you done with her?” “Nothing … _yet_!” “You are either very brave … or very foolish!” “Perhaps … a little of both?” “She was **brutally murdered**!” (What, not _gently_? 🤨 ) “Be careful! Don’t hit **the girl!** ” —_Where is she?_ —_Up there, the one with the spotlight on her!_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/27 "2022-03-14T18:45:50Z")
“Well, that idea didn’t work against the Bad Guys/Monsters/Enemy/Aliens. There was that one small easily fixed flaw. We’ll have to try something completely different against them.” “Wow! We got him! We knocked that Big Bad Guy/Monster/Enemy soldier out cold! Let’s just leave him here. Don’t bother taking his weapon.” ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/28 "2022-03-14T18:56:06Z")
Cop: “Lieutenant? There’s something in here in you need to see.” [Plainclothes detective steps into the room and stares. Camera pans to reveal a “crazy wall” covered with photos, clippings, sticky notes, string, etc.] ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/29 "2022-03-14T19:00:38Z")
“This had better work. We can’t send anybody else out!” “Hajukewicz, you take point.” “I think I’ll write a letter home while I take five, Sarge.” “Poor guy. He was always talking about his wife and kids.” “I always loved you, son. Why couldn’t I tell you so?” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/30 "2022-03-14T19:11:55Z")
Single use guns ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/31 "2022-03-14T19:25:01Z")
Ten-shot six-shooters. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/32 "2022-03-14T19:31:03Z")
Revolvers with silencers ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/33 "2022-03-14T19:32:28Z")
Villain: We’re really just alike, you and I. Under other circumstances we’d be working together. (Well, yeah, until you tried to kill the hero.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/34 "2022-03-14T19:32:41Z")
Snub-nose .38s that never fail to hit a bad guy 100 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/35 "2022-03-14T20:18:41Z")
And then there’s what I think of as the Celebrity Name Blurt, usually seen in a sitcom. The characters are out somewhere and happen upon a real-life famous person, playing himself or herself in the show. To pick one at random, say Neil Patrick Harris. And the regular characters will **unnaturally** blurt out the name: “Oh my God, you’re Neil Patrick Harris!!!” Admittedly, you might say something like that in real life, but 99.44% of the time, TV shows are terribly clumsy about it. I’m pretty sure this is mainly for the benefit of viewers who might not recognize the celebrity’s face but would know the name. Maybe there’s even something in the celebrity’s contract stipulating that the name gets mentioned prominently. I don’t know. But when I see the blurt in action, I cringe. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/36 "2022-03-14T20:46:44Z")
“I’ll hold them off while you get the girl to safety. Now **GO!** ” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/37 "2022-03-14T21:48:49Z")
When a character’s pronunciation of a word is clearly from reading it from the page and not from their real situation. Again, watching Trust: Woman is introduced to man with the name [phonetically] Yütta [/phoneticallly], and a minute later he addresses her as “Djudda.” Because in his script it was spelled Jutta. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/38 "2022-03-14T22:06:24Z")
On the other hand, that did make for one of the funniest jokes in _My Fellow Americans_ “People think I’m an idiot. But that’s just a fakade.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/39 "2022-03-14T22:33:56Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Woman is introduced to man with the name [phonetically] Yütta [/phoneticallly], and a minute later he addresses her as “Djudda.” That’s not really _script_ dealbreaker, more of an acting thing, but by have I seen it. McCoy : For most patients your age, I’d recommend Retinax 5. (Kelley pronounced it “Rettin axe five”) Kirk: I’m allergic to Retinax. (The Shat pronounces it “rettin eye”) You JUST heard him say it! Do you even listen to each other talk? And while I was looking for that quote, what do I find? Kirk : Engine room. Well done, Scotty! McCoy: Jim… I think you’d better get down here. Kirk: Bones? McCoy : Better hurry… Gee, Bones, since the turbolifts are out, and it’ll take Kirk ten minutes to work his way down, you could tell him? Give him a little warning. Alternate ending. Engineering Kirk: What is it Bones? What’s so important? Bones: The battle damaged our entire coffee supply. Kirk: You made me run all the way here for that? Bones: Well, it was important to me. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/40 "2022-03-14T22:35:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Person 1: They’re coming! We have to leave … _right now!_ > Hero: No, there’s something we have to get straight first… > > I realize that it’s a cheap way to generate tension and to make the audience pay attention to the words, but it’s a stupid, cheap trick. And if they get caught, they have forfeited all of my sympathy. Good – you deserve to die, you idiot. See also: estranged couple who have a big cathartic scene where they decide to argue out their differences in the middle of a firefight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002.md?page=3)