Strong, intelligent, gorgeous woman is going to be married within 24 hours, but before she can marry her new love, she has to see her ex-husband, Cary Grant, one more time. Naturally, her ex is still in love with her and makes it clear he never wanted to divorce, and furthermore, he disapproves of her fiance. He goes about making her life difficult in little ways, stooping in somewhat underhanded tactics designed to mock her fiance and knock her off guard. She resists him for as long as she can, but he’s really charming when he’s not being a jackass, plus he’s Cary Grant, so she ditches her good-hearted fiance and reconciles with Mr. Grant.
The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story. With a few minor tweaks it becomes My Favorite Wife.
That’s not the plot of the movie Heathers. For one thing, Winona Ryder’s character wasn’t new and she was already popular. The plots between the two movies are fairly different. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Mean Girls, but I don’t remember it containing quite as many murders as Heathers did.
I hate to be the guy who nitpicks a year-old post, but I’ve seen this comparison before and I feel like it’s important to note that there’s no “cash for sex” transaction in Honeymoon in Vegas, and that they couple in question aren’t married.
The rich guy is paying for a “date” with Nic Cage’s girlfriend. He’s buying an opportunity to try and steal the girl, which, in my book, is arguably sleazier than paying for sex.
Cynical American anti-hero unwittingly entangles himself in a fight with an East-Asian magical cabal. His true grit and saracstic attitude are exactly the tools that allow him to defeat evil and go home with the girl.
Big Trouble in Little China and The Golden Child (both 1986)
The hero works for a super-secret government agency that has been penetrated by a mole. The mole turns out to be the hero’s best friend and mentor, who convinces the head of the agency that the hero is the mole. In the course of escaping from his former colleagues, the hero smashes a giant aquarium, releasing the creatures that live in it. To gather important information, the hero must break into a well-guarded office building in Washington, D.C. A colleague who knows the the break-in is coming says, “This guy’s a ghost”/“These guys are ghosts.” The hero sneaks inside disguised as a first responder and accesses a supercomputer to get the info he needs. In the end, he clears his name and brings the bad guy to justice.
Writer on deadline with writer’s block hires a secretary for dictation, and slowly, inexorably, during the course of plotting the story, they fall in love.
I could be totally wrong (& I’m sure somebody will tell me) but from what I remember, there are seven plots. Every story line is a variation of these. Some of them are: man versus man; man versus himself; man versus nature; fish out of water; love of (money, power, women etc) I can’t remember all of them. I’d say everybody’s working with what they’ve got. A talented writer gives a fresh point of view—so you don’t realize you’re eating canned beans again. They “put a little English on it.” (pool hall term) Sometimes you can find it. This is an old example but like with “Love Story” (I know—barf) it’s supposed to be a love story between a guy & girl, but I felt like it was really between the guy & his father. Sometimes people can throw in something new, different—and it becomes a “film” or “a good book” or a haunting song. These usually win awards. The rest pull in a paycheck for all involved & feed our entertainment-hungry little minds for a while. Hence “Rocky IV” & Milli Vanilli. I just try to find the nuggets in the gravel—but swallow the gravel when I need to fill my craw. (chicken term)
“one of my wives is missing.” a 70s movie with james franciscus as the villain and jack klugman as the cop. the story line was repeated in an 80s movie with farrel (MASH) as the villain and elliot gould as the cop.