I don’t watch time travel movies or reverse aging movies.
Cat’s Eye
Yes! Thanks.
I won’t personally avoid a movie if it has one particular trope or another really. All movies have to have some kind of story and it all depends on how well the movie itself is done.
For instance, I’ve seen Die hard a few times, but for the “Hero trapped in a building and has to stop the bad guys” it’s among the best, and I would see it again.
That one with Anna Nichole Smith as a copter pilot? No thanks, not again.
Two Disney movies for ya:
The Cat from Outer Space - 1978
That Darn Cat! 1965 (my favorite movie of all -time)
I do love Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey. Sassy the cat looks just like my Marco AND is the brains of the trio!
Any film in which stuffy cold-hearted white people are taught by a magical black, Hispanic, or other minority person how to truly live and love. Especially the iteration in which this occurs through engagement/marriage. It is insulting to everyone on so many levels.
Any film focusing on an animal, because 90% of screentime will show said animal being mercilessly tortured.
Any film in which a team of loser misfits are assembled to do a job that a team of competent experts would do better at.
Romantic comedies where the “drama” hinges on the fact that one of the romantic leads is already involved with someone else - and that “someone else” is an asshole/bitch so you don’t feel bad when they’re eventually cheated on by the supposedly nice lead. The supposedly nice romantic-lead can’t even be arsed to break up with someone before they move on to the next person, but we’re supposed to think they’re wonderful.
Another annoying thing about the “asshole boyfriend” trope is that there’s never any believable reason why the female lead would be with him in the first place.
Hmm, I won’t watch a film about death, as in the process of someone dying of a terminal illness.
Doubly so if its a child that’s affected and we have to watch the parent(s) go through emotional turmoil and Learn Something Important About Life. I really, really hate it if the kid is so damn brave, and smart, and funny, and everyone it comes in contact with automatically falls in love with him/her and has their life impacted in a Deep and Meaningful way. blurgh
Any story predicated on the ‘fact’ that all men, all the time, under any circumstances are always keen to sleep with someone/anyone they’ve just met, just because they can, utterly heedless of any other relevant factors or considerations e.g. the Thomas Haden Church character in ‘Sideways’.
It’s insultingly lazy writing, and has very little to do with either real-life or plausibility.
Any rom-com where the lead’s opposite-sex best friend is really the perfect lover for him/her but he/she is too dumb/blind to see it.
Bonus-negative points if the best friend is secretly in love with the lead but keeps quiet about it for the sake of the lead’s happiness.
If the best friend actually helps the lead hook up with the woman/man he/she thinks he/she wants, it’s time to set the theater on fire and bomb the studio.
Any murder mystery where the victim is so loathesome that practically everyone in the cast has a motive. Why are we supposed to want the detective to solve this?!
Don’t be hatin’ on When Harry Met Sally, now.
That’s based on years of mutual resistance/denial, not blindness; different plot. (The crucial difference being the WHMS plot-model is almost believable.)
Like some other people have mentioned, I loathe movies or sitcoms where the plot is based on a deception. “I told you I was rich, but I’m really poor! HAHAHA!” “I pretended I’m a marine biologist, but I’m actually unemployed! HAHAHA!” “I told you I was from France, but I’m actually American and faking a terrible accent that anyone would half a brain would realize is fake! HAHAHA!” It’s so insulting to the audience that they could think anyone would ever fall for these stupid, stupid lies. (The only exception to this rule is Some Like it Hot, which my dad practically forced me to watch, insisting I would like it despite my loathing of this trope. He was right.)
I hate movies that seem to revolve around people being embarrassed in public.
So I pretty much hate all romantic comedies.
I also hate anthropomorphic animals. Animals are awesome the way they are. They don’t need to be more humanlike.
I hate plots where lying is the main point. Character A tells a small lie which grows and grows then in the end confesses and Character B understands and fogives rather than tossing the idiot. Meet the Parents is an example.
Movies where an uptight rich white guy gets involved with a poor street wise non white. By the end the rich white guy has learned to be a better person and is mimicking the behaviours and persona of the gangsta with a heart of gold. Bringing Down the House is an example of this.
Speaking of Meet the Parents, I hate Charlie Brown syndrome comedies, where the protagonist spends the whole movie getting shat upon, constantly losing, and taking heaps of abuse. It isn’t funny. It is damned frustrating. I kept wanting Ben Stiller’s character to grow a pair and tell his future in-laws to fuck off. Seriously his fiance’s behavior towards him was inexcusable and would have been an engagement breaker for me.
I also fully agree with your second statement, it is part of what I was referring to upthread.
Not so much a plot, but I hate the movies where the hero or heroine walks up to the altar and then flees at the last second because she realizes that s/he loves someone else. If you’re that much of a wishy-washy indecisive namby-pamby idiot then how do I know you’re not going to dump me tomorrow?
It’s very possible they will be dumped! See, if those couples married and lived happily ever after, where would all the heartbroken heroes/heroines, kicked to the curb, who are now starting out all over again in the search for True Love - where would they come from? Best to get that first early disastrous marriage out of the way.