11 Twists On Classic Romantic Comedy Clichés Only Millenials Can Appreciate

Cliche: The two leads meet at a book store/ in a bar/ at a wedding/ in an elevator. Now: Female’s friends are totally grossed out that “some guy” just walked up to her in public and tried to start a conversation with her.

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Say Anything
Say Anything

1.

Old School Cliche: Strong, independent, loveless female protagonist works at a magazine or cable news station. Wears grey pantsuits and slicked back low bun.

Today: Strong, independent, loveless female protagonist works as a blogger or a freelance writer—90% of the movie shows her furiously typing in coffee shops. She wears glasses, but at no point in the movie does she ever take them off to look hot.


2.

Old School Cliche: Male protagonist works as an architect, wears a leather jacket.

Today: Male protagonist created some app and will not stop fucking promoting it on his social media. He’s shaved the sides of head, wears a lot of concert t-shirts.


3.

Old School Cliche: One of the characters is a total klutz and can’t stop falling all over the place.

Today: One of the character is just sooooooo bad at texting and always accidentally likes old Instagram photos.


4.

Old School Cliche: Male protagonist stands outside his girlfriend’s window with a boombox playing “In Your Eyes.”

Today: Female protagonist receives an Instagram notification that her boyfriend just publicly named her his #WomanCrushWednesday and even used that selfie they took together where she looks way hotter than he does.


5.

Old School Cliche: The male protagonist expects a little extra romance after he pays the check for dinner.

Today: Female protagonist just shoots him a Venmo transaction to cover half the bill so he’ll stop harassing her.


6.

Old School Cliche: The two leads meet at a book store/ in a bar/ at a wedding/ in an elevator.

Today: Female’s friends are totally grossed out that “some guy” just walked up to her in public and tried to start a conversation with her.


7.

Old School Cliche: One of the leads suggests grabbing a casual bite to eat at a pizza place nearby that happens to be open later than 2am.

Today: Neither of them can actually eat at that pizza place because he’s, like, almost done with his juice cleanse and she’s just set her record for four days straight without gluten.


8.

Old School Cliche: In an effort to get over her ex, the female protagonist undergoes a makeover montage that shows her shopping furiously for a new wardrobe, going on the elliptical, and getting her hair done.

Today: Female protagonist figures out how to work the lighting so that the shadows in her selfies really accentuate her cleavage. #Nofilter.


9.

Old School Cliche: Ex-lovers bump into each other on the streets of New York after years of not seeing each other. They decide to rekindle their romance.

Today: Ex-lovers come across each other on Facebook’s People You May Know and consider sending a friend request. Ultimately, they both decide that they don’t want it to seem like they’re “trying too hard.”


10.

Old School Cliche: Woman in the office is a Cool Girl because she eats burgers, but has a body shape of a 12 year old boy. She loves football.

Today: Woman in the office is a Cool Girl because she shows no emotions, only drinks whiskey, is fine with joining the guys on a trip to the strip club, and has as a tattoo of a bird on her left shoulder blade. She probably has baby bangs.


11.

Old School Cliche: Male lead is nervous and sort of dorky—but the female finds it incredibly endearing and sweet. Probably because he’s Hugh Grant and has an accent.

Today: Male lead is rendered entirely inept when it comes to initiating interesting conversations on Tinder. He’s included the emoji of the British flag in his bio (which has gotten him a confidence-boosting amount of matches), but he can’t seem to get through to the female lead that he’s not a cold-hearted asshole who’s ignoring her texts. Thought Catalog Logo Mark