Clichés are one of Hollywood’s oldest tricks in the book. While it’s usually done to save time and money, it can be frustrating to no end.
Earlier this week, Reddit user OG_Builds started a Reddit trend that really got people thinking: “What’s something that is totally normal in movies, but never happens in real life?”
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Enter these 10+ bad clichés only found in movies and TV.
People who wake up with a face full of makeup:
Unless you’re Annie from Bridesmaids who got up early enough to sneakily put on makeup, characters shouldn’t be in full glam.
Truthfully, most of us wake up with bad skin, a rat’s nest of hair, and stank breath.
People who recover quickly from bad injuries:
Marv and Harry in Home Alone 2 , anyone??
The YouTube channel Screen Junkies once even broke down how many times Harry and Marv would have been killed due to Kevin’s deadly pranks.
Spoiler: it’s a lot.
People who can have a conversation in a loud bar:
Nightlife is notorious for being noisy. You usually have to yell “what??” after everything someone says in a loud bar or club.
Try that three times in a row and you’ll just nod and pretend that you heard them.
Rain at a funeral:
Maybe Hollywood just wants its viewers to understand that funerals are really, really sad?
I think we got the memo on that, though, from people wearing all black, people crying, and someone being, you know, dead.
When the police take a DNA sample and have the results in an hour:
If time worked like this in real life, we’d be able to work out for an hour and drop 10 pounds.
It’s just not possible, yet this DNA thing is one of the oldest clichés in the book.
People who order a “beer” or a “shot”:
Try this at your local pub and see how fast your server gets annoyed.
Servers can’t read minds. They won’t know that “beer” secretly means “grab me a Stella.”
Bombs that have a countdown timer:
It’s a nice touch, sure, but most killers prefer an element of surprise.
In addition to a bright red countdown timer being incredibly unrealistic, most of these explosions just throw people around instead of killing them.
Being able to outrun an explosion:
Unless you’re Usain Bolt, the chances of this being possible are pretty slim.
Some movies even feature a shot of someone walking away while a bomb explodes behind them. Cool? Yes. Realistic? No.
People who work as a waitress, yet they’re somehow rich:
You’d have to work at the nicest steakhouse in town for this to be possible. And even then, the odds are pretty slim.
Rachel from Friends and Penny from The Big Bang Theory were huge examples of this.
When people don’t just explain what really happened:
This is frustrating to no end.
When something bad happens, the character either won’t listen to the other person explain or the person who has an explanation simply won’t offer it up.
Making friends with people as soon as you move to a new town:
Oh, if only this were true.
Most of us are down to, like, one friend, and when they’re busy, we spend our weekends alone with our cat, Netflix, and snacks.
People who don’t react in agony when they get seriously hurt:
Instead, they usually begin a very long, emotional speech before they die.
We know that we’d be crying out bloody Mary if someone had just stabbed us in the stomach, that much is for sure.
Hacking is just typing really fast:
Hollywood has been known to portray a lot of jobs inaccurately .
Hacking is definitely one of them. Not every hacker wears all-black and they can’t make miracles happen with just a few clicks on a keyboard.
When the main character in an action movie or show kills so many bad guys at once:
This happens all in time in action flicks and shows like Game of Thrones and The Witcher .
Truthfully, you would need like eight arms to fend off a whole swarm of sword-wielding bad guys coming towards you.
When serial killers give enough time for their victim to escape:
It’s a very strange game of cat and mouse (which, to be fair, keeps us on the edge of our seats).
By just going in for the kill, serial killers could be home in time to watch Jeoporady .
Taking one bite of food and then being finished:
Gilmore Girls was notorious for this.
The characters loved food — it was all they could talk about sometimes — but they were constantly taking one bite of Luke’s delicious burgers and then leaving it behind.
People always having perfect hair:
This is the case in, like, every Hallmark movie. NO ONE HAS TIME TO PERFECTLY CURL THEIR HAIR EVERY MORNING.
Not only that, but their hair magically stays perfect all day long. Humidity is much too cruel in real life for that.
Detectives always find a parking spot in front of their destination:
If only this were possible. Finding parking in busy cities is a challenge that leads many to just take the bus or subway.
To add to this being unrealistic, the detectives never seem to get a parking ticket.
People not saying “goodbye” before hanging up:
Talk about rude.
We understand doing this with telemarketers, but if this happened in real life, this person would have no friends.
Plus, they always say, “let’s meet at seven,” but never actually specify where.
A cough instantly means death:
While this might have been the case in the olden days when medication was way behind, the trope still stands.
As soon as someone coughs, get ready because they’re going to die, whether it’s believable or not.
Channels only having news or old movies:
Believe it or not, even cable catches more than just that!
Also, I don’t know about you, but I rarely see super old movies on cable in real life. This seems to be just a movie and TV thing.
Turning on the TV to the exact channel and show you wanted:
This basically never happens, although I really wish it did. It would save me, and I’m sure many others, tons of time.
But unfortunately, for most people, we constantly have to flip through channels before finding something we actually want to watch.
When lawyers hand off a case and, by casually flipping through it, the assistant or helper knows exactly what it’s all about:
It happens on more than one occasion, not just in Suits .
Unless someone is a speed reader and has a photographic memory, they’d have to actually read the entire folder before understanding what is actually happening.
Teenagers looking like adults:
A network that continuously has this issue is the CW channel.
Almost every show they have casts people in their late 20s or early 30s to play someone who is meant to be a teenager. It sets very unrealistic standards.
Substances don’t work that fast:
No matter what you’re taking or drinking, chances are it takes longer than 30 seconds to actually work on a human being.
But in movie and TV time, apparently that is not the case!
When the character brings about the next plot point without explaining what’s going on:
Every time a movie or show wants to bring about the next plot point while keeping people in the dark, someone whispers the classic:
“We have to go! No time to explain.”
How is there no time to explain from one destination to another?
Guns not affecting people’s hearing:
When you’re outside, it’s one thing, but inside a small room? It’s a lot different.
Movie makers just don’t seem to understand how loud guns are. It could seriously damage the characters’ eardrums!
Sex scenes in general:
Chances are, real life will never be as romantic as a romantic drama/comedy movie.
There’s never any music in the background, and in real life, there are accidents and embarrassing moments. In movies, everyone is consistently happy. In real life…not so much.
Mommy the breakfast maker:
A really big trope, especially in TV shows, is that the mother is always around to cook a huge breakfast every single day, but no one ever eats it.
First of all, even if you’re a stay-at-home mom, who has time for a three course breakfast meal?
The villain and the hero apparently being more alike than we thought:
Or they aren’t, but the villain thinks they are. It’s the classic:
“We’re not so different, you and I,” with the hero replying something along the lines of, “I am nothing like you.”
It happens OFTEN.
Running away to Mexico:
A perfect example of this is when Mickey and Ian were running from the law in Shameless and thought to go to Mexico.
It’s all very flawed, considering it’s right under the United States, making it easy for people to go find them.