20 Movie Tropes and Cliches to Avoid in Your Next Screenplay

Overview

Let's talk about movie tropes & cliches

After all, the only way to get a good movie is to have a good screenplay. It all starts with the writing. So keep these movie tropes in mind as you work on future stories. If nothing else, it could help you find unique ways to tell your story and make a movie that is far more memorable.

Do you remember the scene in Rick and Morty where Morty is forced to listen to the old lighthouse owner’s tale? And in this case, a tale means a poorly-written screenplay.

SNEAKING UP ON YOU

2. “They’re behind me, aren’t they?”

How many times have you talked about someone behind their back, only to discover they were behind your back the entire time? Unless you live in a sitcom, we’re guessing the answer is never. 

STORMTROOPER EFFECT

3. Villains with terrible accuracy

While the hero is in danger, you don’t want them hurt. This usually results in a bunch of goons shooting aimlessly at the protagonist and missing in spectacular fashion. You get double cliche points if the hero is able to shoot down all of the bad guys without missing a shot. And speaking of shooting…

Movie Cliches 101: Infinity Gun

4. Guns never run out of ammo

You don’t have to be a genius to know every gun only has a certain amount of ammo in the barrel. This is especially true when it comes to handguns and shotguns. The most egregious example of this in recent memory was in Season 2 of The Walking Dead. Hershel defends his farm from a horde of zombies, and apparently, he sold his soul for a gun he never has to reload.

If You’re Going to Get Shot Anywhere...

5. Shot in the shoulder

In the event our hero does suffer a wound, 9 times out of 10 it will be in the shoulder. Writers seem to think there’s nothing of importance in your shoulders, but they’d be wrong.

There is both a brachial artery and subclavian artery in your shoulders, and a bullet hitting either one could lead to dramatic blood loss. You certainly wouldn’t be able to keep on fighting. Leave it to Monty Python to turn this trope example to the extreme.

RELAX...

6. It’s just a cat

Jump scares are already pretty cheap. However, when you illicit fright out of the audience only to reveal that it was just a cat, it feels a little insincere.

Movie cliches like this are destined for extinction.

YouTuber Slacktory created a compilation of all the times cats jumped out of nowhere to scare the lead and the viewers. Why can’t one movie do something original for once and make the cat the killer?

Oh, Come On...

7. “Hot, but doesn’t know it.”

This is Hollywood. Anyone cast in your movie is automatically going to be hot, so there’s no need to specify, especially when you follow it up with, “But doesn’t know it.” How would someone not know they’re hot?

It’s a description you can do away with, even if it does appear in the otherwise fantastic screenplay for Whiplash.

It Came to Me in a Dream

8. Dream conveys plot information

A dream sequence can be trippy and surreal. It can make for a nice break amongst the action. However, when you don't use it to move forward the plot because you can’t think of any other way to do it organically, it becomes a problem.

When You Need Shorthand

9. Cutting hair to convey trauma

There are many ways to show that a character has been through a lot. So why do so many screenwriters resort to having a character (who’s usually female) convey this experience by cutting her hair?

It becomes particularly abhorrent when she can give herself a perfect hairdo using only a pair of scissors and dim bathroom lighting.

Hope You Have Enough for Everyone

11. “We’ve got company.”

How many times have you ever heard anyone earnestly say, “We’ve got company.” Even when you have company coming over to your house, no one actually says this. They probably just say, “Tony is here.”

However, if someone used this line in a movie when people were actually coming over for dinner, that would be funny. Otherwise, this is one of many movie cliches that we can do without.

They’re Watching You

12. The medicine cabinet reflection

When you see a movie character open a medicine cabinet in a horror movie, there’s a 99% chance something will be in the reflection when the door closes. It’s bizarre that when a film is trying to scare you, it resorts to something you will see coming from a mile away.

Movie Cliches & Dying

13. “Don’t die on me!”

You think anyone ever got really close to death only to be told, “Don’t die on me” and lived? Yeah, we thought not. This is one piece of dialogue that should go ahead and die on us.

I’m Inside the Mainframe

14. Any kind of hacking

Hacking always looks far flashier than it actually is. If you have to include hacking in your script, then it would pay off to do some research into what it actually entails. You may find that hacking into the Federal Reserve is actually pretty tough.

You Think?

15. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

If something bad is about to go down, you usually don’t have to broadcast it. The problem is that most of the time, there’s no reason to say it. It would work better if everything was going well, but a character had a predilection toward disaster. Whatever the circumstances may be, find a better way to phrase this.

Come On, Now. Really?

16. Being a nerd for something not that nerdy

Everyone has seen Star Wars and Game of Thrones was a massive hit with fantasy enthusiasts and mainstream audiences alike. So why is that whenever a character references one of these, they’re labeled a nerd? We suppose because if they actually did say something too nerdy, it would alienate too much of the audience.

It’s Not That Hard to Understand

17. “English, please!”

What do you say when someone says something you don’t quite understand? Do you politely ask them to repeat it, or do you make some quippy remark that’s been in every hacker movie since the dawn of time? It's about time we retire this movie trope.

Real Geniuses Are Kind of Dumb

18. Geniuses who know everything

Most actual geniuses don’t really know all that much. They’re great in their field of study,  but you wouldn’t go to a dentist to get your car fixed. So why is it you have geniuses like Dr. Gregory House who are amazing doctors but can also speak a dozen languages and are classically trained to play the piano? 

Sure, there may be a super genius out there who can do it, but you have to ask yourself: “Is my character really this smart?”

Is There, Though?

19. “There’s no time to explain!”

Here’s the thing. If these characters just took 10 seconds to explain the situation to someone else, then chances are things would go much more smoothly. As it stands, this line is typically just a lazy way for the screenwriter to get out of revealing information too soon.

The Grand Finale

20. Deus ex machina

Deus ex machina translates to “God of the machine.” It applies when a character is saved from certain doom from something behind their control. It’s lazy, and you want characters to find their own ways out of problems rather than just being saved from a random force.

For more insight into better screenwriting, check out some of our other blogs on the topic. By knowing what’s unique and what’s worn out, you can write more engaging scripts that have a better chance of becoming awesome movies.