20 Movie & TV Tropes That Make People Immediately Lose Interest
There are some common movie tropes that everyone has had enough of. From the bumbling nerdy girl who suddenly blooms into a beauty to the ex-cop that has to come out of retirement to save the day, some plot lines have grown predictably tiresome. So when one user brought it up, Redditors gathered to call out the movie and TV tropes that cause them to lose interest and we’ve shared a few of the more popular themes below.
#1
Refuses to solve the problem because one person may die so instead they risk the lives of millions
#2
They can’t figure out how to give their female characters depth without falling back on some kind of rape/sexual assault.
#3
All the men are diverse in age and attractiveness, and the two to three total women are twenty-something bombshells.
#4
The fat “comedic relief” character.
#5
“If I kill him I’m no better than him”
Motgerfucker you just smoked 19 of his henchmen and put 5 more in a wheelchair for life, end his a*s.
And of course the bad guy gets let go, but decides at the last second to try to kill the good guy, justifying a bullet between the eyes, usually by either the good guys sidekick, or the bad guys henchmen that he just got done betraying.
#6
I can’t stand seeing specialists being cast as masters of multiple highly specialized skill sets or areas of study. I understand that it’s a popular action movie trope, but you also see this in the medical and academic fields.
#7
Faked reactions by judges on America’s Got Talent.
You have the magician who is clearly intentionally fumbling around and messing up the trick. Even a 3 year old can see it is an act, but the judges are sitting there faking disgust that they can’t believe this talentless hack made it to the live show.
Or you have a stage magician with some very basic illusions yet the judges act like this guy has actual magic powers and cant even conceive of how it might be a staged illusion.
They are supposed to be experts in performing arts, have some class and act like it.
#8
“Will they won’t they”. I liked watching New Girl, but when they completely restarted the main characters’ relationship I was like, “Oh, so it’s going to be like that.”
Dear producers,
Please let your characters grow.
#9
Something that can be fixed right away with just a conversation
#10
“Wait! I can explain this very obvious and easy to explain scenario”
“Nope. You’re dead to me. Now stare speechless as I’m meander my way out of your life slowly.”
#11
She was a busy business lady that only had time for business. He was some jackass womanizer with chlamydia. Will these two incompatible people go through a series of unlikely events, fall in love, have some minor misunderstanding, then get together in the last few minutes? Find out this fall
#12
Uptight woman, subversive insubordinate man, they hate each other… but there’s sexual tension.
F**k all of that, it just encourages creeps.
You’re not dangerous and different Rodney, you’re just a loud, incompetent d**k.
I don’t love/hate you I just hate you.
We will not end up together, and it you keep bothering me my foot is going to end up kicking your a**e I will contact HR
#13
The main character bakes muffins part-time 3 days a week but lives in a 2500 sq ft loft penthouse in the chic part of town.
#14
The ex-cop/FBI agent that comes out of retirement because the entire government can’t catch a criminal.
#15
Being mildly impacted by lethal injuries. Likewise, when in subfreezing temperatures, not succumbing to hypothermia when soaking wet. Not always enough to shut it off, but it always stands out and strains the illusion.
#16
The main character is about to get killed. The antagonist is sitting there pointing a gun at them about to shoot them, but they first have to give a 30 second speech. This gives the love interest/forgotten side kick/child with developing fighting skills to come kill the enemy instead. Follow it up with a quote from them saying “you think I’d miss this party?”.
#17
Cop with family problems. Yeah, we get it. The job’s soo important that they’ve sacrificed family time and regret it. And now they want to be the parent they failed to be in the past, but… this new case is so important.
#18
Controversial, but shows/movies that rely on awkwardness, like the Office or Elf. I get terrible second hand embarrassment and I just can’t.
#19
Pregnancy plotline!
I don’t care who it is, or even if I love the show. I stop watching. It’s sooo boring.
#20
Fathers that are stupid/literally cannot parent for comedic value. The “useless dad” trope.
Shanilou Perera
Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.
