Movies are full of familiar moments we’ve seen a thousand times. The bad guy shooting his own henchman for failing. The couple who start off bickering before they fall in love. The getaway car that refuses to start at the worst possible second.
But then there are the smaller, everyday clichés that pop up so often we hardly even notice them. They aren’t about over-the-top villains or superhuman punches. They’re little things from daily life; except they never actually happen in real life.
Kicking things off at number five: characters in movies never seem to pay for drinks at a bar. They stroll up, order something, and walk away with it like the bartender runs on good vibes alone. Sure, showing someone fishing for their wallet would kill the pacing, but try this in reality and you’ll probably get thrown out. In The Heat, a character walks off with a cheerful “Good night” and no bill in sight.
At number four, it’s the restaurant scene. Movie characters go out to dinner, take three bites of food, have a brief conversation, then get up and leave. The plates are barely touched, no one asks for the check, and apparently nobody minds wasting a reservation. In one scene, someone even makes a casual “Excuse me” as they disappear from the table like it’s perfectly normal.
Number three is the magic news broadcast. The protagonist flicks on the TV at the exact second a bulletin begins, and it’s always directly connected to their life.
Sliding in at number two, we’ve got the elevator escape. Somehow, people trapped inside never just hit the emergency button and wait. Instead, they find a way to push open the ceiling panel, climb through, and wander the ventilation system like they’ve been training for this all their lives. In reality, modern elevators don’t even have those handy trapdoors most of the time, so good luck trying it yourself.
Finally, at number one: the abrupt phone hang-up. Movie characters will be deep in conversation, then decide they’ve had enough and simply hang up without a single goodbye. And it’s not because of an emergency, it’s just how calls apparently work in film-land. To make it even stranger, the person on the other end often stares at the receiver and says “Hello?” a couple of times, as if they just realized they’ve been talking to a dead line.
These tiny movie moments don’t really happen in real life, but they keep showing up on screen. Maybe it’s all about pacing. Or maybe filmmakers know we secretly like the little bits of unreality.
