Top 10 Thursday: Friday Edition

Last week Mindy discussed how romantic comedies have been reusing their plots and characters for years. In that same vein, here is this week's list:

The Top 10 Love Story Cliches and Annoying Habits:

10. Girl wakes up with a face full of make-up.

9. Sex ruining the characters' chemistry and making an awkward moment for everyone in the audience.

8. Uptight person loosens up/ Workaholic finds meaning outside of work: Along Came Polly, A Good Year, Raising Helen, 13 Going on 30, Sweet Home Alabama

7. The great partner switch: people swap partners and everyone's okay with it.

6. Chase scene ending: other person is leaving town/moving and the lover needs to catch them or all is lost: every Matthew McConaughey movie

5. No chemistry! It's supposed to be a love story. Legally Blonde, Maid in Manhattan, The Back-up Plan

4. The Drunken Turning Point (I really hate this one): The Wedding Planner, Sweet Home Alabama, Two Weeks Notice

3. The girl is really mean and then the guy magically falls in love with her: 27 Dresses, Sweet Home Alabama, Leap Year, Just Like Heaven

2. The guy is attracted to the girl because she is "different": Ever After, Becoming Jane, Pride and Prejudice

And now for #1. The most commonly seen, overdone, hugely unrealistic plot cliche that I can't stand yet is present in every other movie I see:

1. The male protagonist used to be a bad boy but changes his ways due to true love: A Walk to Remember, Tangled, The Prince and Me, The Princess and the Frog, 10 Things I Hate About You

Some movies listed here are favorites of mine. Using these devices doesn't mean the movie has to be bad, but usually that is exactly what it means. My favorite love stories out there don't use any of these plot devices (or use it very subtly and tastefully). More on that in another list.