[Movies] But _____, this isn't a movie!

Is there anything more annoying than when a character in a movie or TV show earnestly insists to their friend/family member/lover that they can't do something because "this isn't a movie/tv show"? Unless it's being said by Abed or someone from the Scream series, it serves no purpose other than to point out that this is, in fact, a movie or TV show and that the screenwriter just thinks she/he is more clever than all other writers before them because this time, this scenario will be portrayed realistically, just you watch!




What are your favorite instances of someone in a film/show uttering these words, only to have it completely ruin the suspension of disbelief in the scene?


[hl=darkred]-sj loves kevin spacey[/hl]

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisIsReality

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisIsReality

 

Son of a...

 

Lol. Yeah I know it's a TV Trope. Everything's a TV Trope. Stop trying to make me waste my afternoon on that site. It's just that I happen to be particularly not fond of this trope.


For instance, I was just watching the Doctor Who episode "Curse of the Black Spot", and it really annoyed me that Rory [hl=black]tells Amy he is a nurse and can tell her how to do CPR (fine), but then does not tell her and instead just reassures her that it's just like she's seen in movies (!). Tsk, Moffat.[/hl]




[hl=darkred]-sj loves kevin spacey[/hl]

 

I just think of every instance as a clever shout-out to Shakespeare. This has the added bonus of making scripts seem somewhat smarter than they actually are.

 

Ah yes...the scene where I actually *felt* Star Wars die.

[image=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rwlNUYjkg4o/0.jpg]
"You're a Jedi! I'm a Senator! This is real life!"

 

I've heard of of scene in Firefly where a character says something sounds like it's from science fiction, only to be reminded that's he's currently aboard a spaceship.

Proof that I think Joss Whedon isn't as clever as he thinks he is.

 

What? That line is hilarious.

 

Can we use this thread to discuss tropes we're not fond of?

One I'm not fond of is how in movies set sometime in the past, they make references to couples that separate or trends that won't last very long. Like for example, that bit in the The Wedding Singer where that one lady makes references to Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson and Prince Charles and Princess Diana being good couples who will last or something. We get it, they got divorced, okay?

I just hate this "we people in the present know better" thing screenwriters like to drag out.

 

I'm happy to say that I haven't yet been to this TV Trope site, and don't plan on it. I really miss, though, the old Jump The Shark site.





[hl=purple]Los Angeles Lakers: Drama, guaranteed. [/hl]

 

i'm with luigi. one of the few times i think it works because there wasn't really any gravitas to the scene in the first place.

 

I agree that the line is amusing, but it becomes less so if you think about it. In the Firefly universe, humans have traveled in spacecraft for... what? Probably centuries at the least. Their science fiction wouldn't portray such a thing as fantastical or hypothetical or whatever, and people certainly wouldn't think of space travel that way. It doesn't make much sense unless ancient sci-fi is really popular or the characters are somewhat aware that they're on TV.