A tribute to 10 rom-com tropes that will not go away

While Valentine’s Day is still not too far away in our rear view mirror, I thought it would be a good idea to review some common rom-com tropes… or at least those accumulated by Jen Chaney, who writes the WAPO “Celebritology” blog. Here are a few choice ones:

The spontaneous dance

Love makes people in movies wiggle their hips. Especially when those people are Hugh Grant, and Hugh Grant is the prime minister of England, and a Pointer Sisters song happens to start playing:

The meet-cute

When you’re renting a quaint cottage in Surrey, it’s 100 percent guaranteed that the brother of the owner of said cottage will randomly show up, and that he will look like Jude Law. At least that’s how it works in “The Holiday,”a movie that also helpfully explains the concept of a meet-cute, via a screenwriter played by Eli Wallach.

The grand gesture

Sometimes it involves candles and rose petals. Other times, Rick Grimes from “Walking Dead” shows up and makes a love confession using flashcards. Or in “The Wedding Singer,” it means that Adam Sandler will make Drew Barrymore cry by singing about growing old with her over an airplane PA system, with an assist from Billy Idol.

What other rom-com tropes are there that just won’t go away… and why do they exist?

For more of the WAPO article, go here.

HT to Nadria for the link.

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