Top 5 Movie Concepts That Have Been Beaten To Death

We definitely have seen one or all of these ideas come to life in the movies, the question is, why do we have to see it again?

5. Child and Adult change places in some form
This technique is as old as your grandma, and just about as cheap. There are a number of variations, but it all comes down to the same wacky situation…Young person or old person doesn’t like their current situation specifically because of an age issue, and they are magically placed into a different age, where they then struggle to maintain their previous responsibilities and end up realizing they liked their former age, after all. It was brilliantly done in Big (probably because it involved just a single person), and not so brilliantly done in Like Father Like Son, Freaky Friday, Vice Versa, 13 Going on 30, and now 17 Again. Wow, amazing how a good idea never gets old.

4. Teens have a crazy night in trying to reach a goal
Usually this movie concept comes to life with a few teenage guys, planning their last week in high school, realizing they wasted their formative years, and doing everything they can to get laid and become cool in one night…usually ends with each of them learning a more important lesson. See: American Pie, Cant Hardly Wait, Superbad, and many more.

3 . Someone has to complete a series of challenges in order to save something or someone.
The most unrealistic of the overused story ideas, this usually involves a bad guy with a personal vendetta against a good guy and seeks vengence in the form of a deadly game. The good guy is forced to comply by threat of a loved ones life or the destruction of an entire city. Bruce Willis was subjected to this test in Die Hard with a Vengence and passed with flying colors, as do all the good guys in these movies. Also check out Phone Booth and 12 Rounds to see this crap in action.

2. Girl next door doesn’t fit into posh social scene, but is beloved nevertheless, causing jealously in click’s tyrannical leader, who plots to destroy girl next door.
Usually it’s a tom boyish type, who doesn’t really see her own potential, but is just so damn likeable as herself that people cant help but accept her. The cheerleading captain or sorority president is having none of it and creates an extremely embarrassing situation for the tomboy protagonist. But the tables turn when people see the tyrant for who she is and the tomboy is praised as the hero, and she gets the tyrant's ex boyfriend, or she doesn’t want him and kisses the geek who has accepted her since day one. See, just about every movie starring Amanda Bynes or Lindsay Lohan.

1. Out of place tough guy is forced to take care of a kid.
Ex Football player, bachelor, generic man’s man, finds himself stuck with a kid, sometimes his own, and must take care of the kid for a spell. Usually the guy protests, then he says “ok” but only for a short time, then he acts like he has no knowledge that kids eat or sleep or use the bathroom, then he lets the kid do what he/she wants and there is a funny scene where the guy is overwhelmed, then there is a love interest who helps out and thinks its sweet that the guy is taking care of the kid, then the tough guy realizes he is attached to kid and keeps the kid or arranges a way to see the kid on a regular basis. Big Daddy and The Gameplan. For a variation on this crazy plot, watch Three Men and A Baby, Daddy Daycare, or Mr. Mom, where men simply must take care of children. What a crazy idea!!!!


Truth be told…many of these overused ideas provide some of the best movie watching experiences, because they are so familiar, and its nice from time to time to not have to use your brain.