THE CHICK FLICK CHICK 

This is a list of cliches I have found to frequently occur in chick flick films (which I hope to add to in time as I develop this blog). With each film I review, I record the numbers on this list that accompany each cliche that occurs in it. The more numbers that are listed, the more cliche the film is:

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1. Female protagonist

2. Love born out of cheating

3. Kissing in the rain

4. Liar revealed plot

5. The big misunderstanding

6. Protagonist and friends shrieking loudly every time they see each other

7. Love triangle

8. Shopping!

9. Shoes!!

10. Makeover!!!

11. Trying on clothes montage

12. Getting a haircut

13. Only talking with friends about the opposite sex and relationships, never about interests in their lives that make them unique human beings

14. The gay best friend

15. The quirky (female) best friend/sister of protagonist

16. The quirky female best friend being in a relationship that is actually more healthy than the protagonist's relationship

17. Falling out with friends

18. The colour pink appearing prominently throughout

19. Couple finally gets together at the end, but then cut to 'Some time later...' where they are getting married or are already married. We never actually see what the two people are like as a couple, the film just wants us to understand that they will be infinitely happy together

20. Childhood sweethearts

21. High school sweethearts

22. Meets love interest, hates love interest, then falls in love with love interest just as it appears impossible for them to be together

23. Interrupted/cancelled wedding

24. Side or minor characters having a wedding

25. Airport chase as the love interest is about to fly away from them forever

26. People clapping when the two romantic leads kiss

27. Interrupted kiss

28. Singing into inanimate objects (usually a hairbrush) like it is a microphone

29. Coincidentally running into each other

30. The ex trying to win the protagonist back

31. The pursuer - a character who is comic relief in the sense that they are in love with our protagonist but because they are an awkward or horrible loser, they will never be with protagonist and is just another obstacle for them

32. Unrequited love

33. Being secretly in love with someone who is also single, but it's just so gosh darn hard to tell someone your feelings because they might reject you. It is never considered that they might actually say "Yes, let's give it a go."

34. Strong independent woman who doesn't need a man, but then ends up finding a man and all of her other passions are put to the side to focus on him.

35. The protagonist is just a typical, average New Yorker

36. The protagonist is an average person who just so happens to be very conventionally gorgeous although they (or the film) claims that they are plain

37. The male love interest has a great body, but we never see him work out or are lead to believe he is the sort of person who thinks the gym is hell on Earth

38. Parents who desperately want their children (i.e. the protagonist) to get married

39. Parents who desperately want their children (i.e. the protagonist) to get married, but then disapprove of the love interest they meet

40. Pretending to have feelings for someone, only to actually fall in love with them

41. The protagonist finding out that they have something in common with their future love interest who they currently hate, only to not quite hate them so much

42. Making a terrible decision that somehow results in happily ever after when it would never work out in real life

43. A romantic partner who is a terrible person so that the audience doesn't mind when the protagonist cheats on them with their "true love"

44. A romantic partner who is not a terrible person and is only slightly annoying to the protagonist. However, this shows that they are just too different to be happy together, yet they stay together until someone new comes along for one of them

45. Protagonist got cheated on and is heartbroken at the start or before the beginning of the film

46. Character loses virginity, but the sex is euphorically amazing with both characters seeming to have at least ten orgasms each and doesn't hurt the female character at all 

47. Sex scene is hinted at, but not shown

48. Male character tells female character to stay away from him because he is dangerous, only to keep stalking her, which she finds out about

49. One of the romantic lead characters dies, thus making this chick flick a "weepy"

50. Journalist doing an assignment, only to find love

51. The lonely montage: a sequence which occurs when the protagonist feels that they have no chance with their love interest. Usually includes rain, binge eating and/or crying

52. Grand display of love

53. Letter writing

54. Narration

55. Protagonist with an intelligent job who happens to be an idiot in every other aspect of their life (bonus point if they also seem inept at their job)

56. Curly font used for the title

57. The protagonist is like no one else that their love interest has ever met

58. The protagonist is actually a terrible person

59. The protagonist has at least one dead or absent parent

60. A key character in the film has a sister who wants them to sort their life out

61. An event where the protagonist wears a full length gown, such as a wedding, prom or ball, so she becomes more beautiful than she had previously been

62. The meet cute  

63. Having someone describe something in a vaguely flirtatious/sexual way to their potential love interest. The love interest will think that person is talking about them, when in fact they are talking about something else, (usually an inanimate object) because comedy 

64. A dance sequence

65. A character dancing/singing/doing something goofy when they think no one is watching them, when in fact their love interest is silently watching them and becomes charmed by this quirky side of them they previously hadn't seen

66. Going to another country (usually to pursue an existing love interest) only to have a stranger in that land pursue them romantically

67. Going to another country to find themselves, only to find an attractive stranger instead.

68. Eating pizza

69. The two main characters who are romantically involved, yet have absolutely no communication skills with each other

70. Friends to lovers

71. Friends with benefits to lovers

72. Enemies to lovers

73. Main female character is remarkably clumsy

74. A girl/woman who wears converse style trainers is instantly deemed quirky and unique

75. The male lead playing piano when he thinks he is alone, but the female lead watches him, and somehow makes the realisation that this skill makes him deeper than she thought he was

76. Kissing someone, just as they are about to confess the truth to you about something