Dialogue/Script Cliches

[peter johnson]

Well, I don't drop in here on the Board as often as I used to, so I'm certain there were probably several loonnng threads about "Taken", all of which I missed --
So this is not really about "Taken", but about annoying repetitions of heard-it-all-before dialogue.
Now, I thought "Taken" started out really really great, and it held my interest until episode 7, and then fell apart completely by episode 10.
No fault of Dakota Fanning, who I love, and who has a great career ahead of her, but, good lord, were the writers under a threat-of-death deadline or what?
Specifically, I'm talking about the 34 times the words "little girl" are repeated in reference to Fanning when she could be called "the target", "the objective", "my daughter", or any number of other terms & the other 89 times characters ask other characters "are you alright?" when they could be easily saying something -- anything! -- else.
The only other time I've been more annoyed by repetition of the same thing over and over was the 248 repetitions of the Big "F"-Word in "Magnolia".  Find something else to say, damn you!!
Surely this has happened to other people here.  What movies do you find characters repeating themselves over and over and over again until you wish to run screaming from the theatre/room?
I mean, it's alright . . . are you alright? . . . alright?  Are you alright . . . .?
peter johnson/denny crane

[ulthar]

How about "Paul!" in PIRANHA (1995, the version with William Katt and Alexandra Paul).

Or, in general, it annoys me when actors on TV or in movies repeated say another character's name when they are talking.  I don't talk that way (nor do I hear others talking that way):

David, want are you doing.
Nothin.
David, you want to go bowling?
Nah, not into bowling.
How about skiing, David?
Okay.

Ad nauseum.

Sheesh.

[Tilebreaker]

That was one of my problems with the TV show "sports night" it seemed if you took all of the repeat dialouge out of the show it would have cut the show by 75%.

[Yaddo42]

I liked "Sports NIght", but I can see how that type of dialogue can get old. Aaron Sorkin seems to have people set each other up by constantly having people make partial or cryptic statements and then other people keep asking questions that are variations on "What do you mean?" and "Would you tell me more?" I'm surprised at the acclaim he gets for this when it's just a fancier version of the style of dialogue that Jack Webb filled "Dragnet" and other shows he produced with.

My attempt to replicate it:

"I'm not gonna do it, Casey."
"Do what, Danny?"
"What you asked me to do."
"What did I ask you to do?"
You asked me to go visit Dana."
"When did I do that?"
"Just after I said that I was over her."
"Just after you said you were over her."
"Just after I said I was over her."
"But that was two days ago."
"Just wanted to make sure you remember."
"Just making sure I remember."
"In case it comes up again."
"In case.....it comes up......again."
"Now I'm walking away slowly, to show that I mean business."
"You really think that's what it means."
"Indeed I do, Casey. Indeed I do."
"You are a strange, strange man, Danny."

[The Burgomaster]

If you want to be annoyed to the point of madness, try watching the entire series of POLTERGEIST movies in one sitting.  Listen for how many times they say the name "Carol Ann" (especially in the final POLTERGEIST movie).  Also, listen for how many times someone says "don't go near the light."  This ordeal is worse than fingernails on a chalk board.

[peter johnson]

Aiieee!!
I'd forgotten about "don't go into the light"!!  Oh, no . . . .
Okay, how about any time there's a disaster in just about any low-budget film, there's some woman screaming in the foreground or background:
"My baby!  My baby!!"?  This was even old by 1972, when Frank Zappa had Phlo and Eddie shrieking "My baby!  My baby!", appropos of nothing, whenever the live music got violent.
I haven't seen the films Yaddo42 is talking about, but it reads EXACTLY like a Sanford Meisner (Meisner Technique!) acting exercise.  If anyone has ever taken Meisner Technique, the theory is that via mindless repetition & commentary on ones actions, one allows the "true" character to rise to the surface -- it's sort of a Zen thing, supposed to separate the observer from the action, isolate the Ego, etc.  However, as far as I know, Meisner never intended these exercises to SUBSTITUTE for actual writing!
Oh, and in "Beloved Infidel", people sometimes call Gregory Peck/F. Scott Fitzgerald "Scott"  5 times in one conversation!!  I'm not kidding!
My baby!  Don't go into the light!!
peter johnson/denny crane

[Tilebreaker]

That's a pretty good replication. I'm having flashbacks

[Flangepart]

Makes my think of think of the guy in "Godzilla Vs.MechaGodzilla...."My House!"
Yeah, would ya rather be in there when G turns it into kindling?
The house is gone...deal with it!

[Dave Munger]

It seems to me that in half hour shows, actors emote and speak at the same time, but in hour long shows, they first say the line, then do the emotion seperately to take more time. "I'm very angry", then they stare at the guy baring their teeth like GRRR. "I love you", then the drawn out loving gaze. Also, they say "look at me!" They have to have the person looking right at them before they can tell them anything.

[The Burgomaster]

Here are some timeless cliches:

* Follow that car!

* Don't let him out of your sight.

* If you go near her again, I'll kill you.

* Something just doesn't add up.

* I have always loved you.

* Mom always says, "don't play ball in the house."  (Oops . . . that's from the Brady Bunch . . . how did that one get in here?)

[Acidburn]

My personal fav.  "If you harm a hair on her head......"

[Dave Munger]

- Let's get out of here (this place gives me the creeps)!
- Hot chick with glasses is repugnant until she takes the glasses off.
- Stomach turning robot humor: Robots drinking lubricant like it's refreshing, having a crush on a pinball machine, head falls off...
- Robot cries at the end of the movie to show that it's magically become human.
- Look at me.......I love you!
- In the 80s: Computers are magic. You can hack into anything. You've got a computer, but there are no phone lines, if you're enough of a genius you can type really fast and make the bad guy's car blow up somehow.
- Third wild guess is the correct password.
- All teenagers are getting laid. Even the nerds, just not quite as often, and they're "stuck" with the really tall girl who wears glasses.
- All bloggers are obsessed with plugging their blogs: http://davemunger.blogspot.com

[Susan]

Cliches:

1. A kid will always know more than an adult
2. A match or lighter will have the power to illuminate  manhattan
3. When an intruder is in the house the person will either spend the whole time trying to dial 911 and find a weapon vs. actually getting out of the house
4. movie hero's in action films are always divorced, but their ex still loves them
5. Cats are always strategically hidden in closets and cabinets
6. Cars always burst into flames, even if upside down in a swimming pool
7. Anyone having a nightmare will always sit upright with their eyes wide open and yell "NOOOOO!"
8. No matter if someone is beaten on the head with a sledgehammer, they never have a concussion with vomiting and brain damage
9. Single women living alone always shower with their bathroom door wide open
10. Keys. either you don't have them or you spend about a solid minute in the car fumbling through your keychain to find the car key - when in reality most people's car key is LARGER THAN ANY OTHER KEY. But why bother? The car won't start anyways, not until the villian has lept onto the hood of your car as you speed backwards out of the driveway



Post Edited (07-26-04 19:15)

[JohnL]

>What movies do you find characters repeating themselves over and over and
>over again until you wish to run screaming from the theatre/room?

Not a movie, but this happened in the show My So Called Life. Many of the characters used the word "like" about 20 times per sentence, especially the nerdy next door neighbor. I recall one scene where he did it so much that I wanted to strangle him. It was like, really, like annoying how he, like used the word "like" every, like couple of, like words while, like he was, like trying to, like talk to, like Claire Danes.

>Hot chick with glasses is repugnant until she takes the glasses off.

And then magically no longer needs them.

>Robot cries at the end of the movie to show that it's magically become human.

That one thing I liked about the ending of Terminator II, "I know now why you cry, but it is something I can never do."

[Dave Munger]

That's something I loved about it too, I think it was specifically in reference to that cliche. Also, Rutger Hauer at the end of "Blade Runner" - "All these memories will be lost, like tears in rain". Implying that he's crying (which is fine with me, since he's not really a machine), but you can't tell because it's raining. The horrible "Millenium" (I think based on a John Varley short story called "Air Raid" that was probably good) is my favorite example of this. Probably the worst robot in cinema history.

Corrolary to Susan's Ninth Cliche: She'll also leave a window open, keep her eyes closed the whole time, and act kind of sexy and vunerable.

Just bought Jack L Chalker's "And The Devil Will Drag You Under", mainly because I liked the Well Of Souls books that I've read so far, and the first line is:
"When the end of the world is near, spend the remaining time in a bar."

Munger's First Law of Dispensationalist Drama: When the Rapture occurs, you WILL be on an airplane.