Looking at the likes of Morning Glory and The Dilemma’s posters, you can’t help but sigh and wish they’d done something more original. They’re just so… generic. You feel like you’ve seen them before – and that’s because you have, and we’re here to prove it. From the back-to-back pose to ‘the lean’, not forgetting the park bench one-sheet and the attack of the giant heads, there seem to be a very small number of concepts permitted for rom-com posters... and they're all here. Unless we've inadvertently missed a cliché – in which case, let us know in the comment box below, there’s a good chap.
EXAMPLE 1 Pretty Woman (1990) Ah, Pretty Woman, the king of the back-to-back cheeky romantic comedy movie poster. By our reckoning, it was this little one-sheet that kicked off the whole look, and because of this, Marshall, Gere and Roberts should be ever-so-slightly ashamed. Or smug that they got in there before Intolerable Cruelty ruined it all. Either / or, really.
EXAMPLE 2 Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past (2009) As any romantic comedy-loving fool knows, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past is loosely based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And as anyone with eyes knows, its poster is loosely based on Pretty Woman's, with Richard Gere's tie swapped for Matthew McConaughey's scarf, and, you know, Jennifer Garner not being a hooker and stuff. Plus, the photos on the wall (another classic rom-com poster trope) echo the 'The Three Floaty Faces' cliché. But more on that later…
EXAMPLE 3 Four Christmases (2008) Taking the whole wrapped-up-in-ribbons thing to its illogical conclusion, the Four Christmases' poster plays with the fact that Reese Witherspoon ain't that tall and Vince Vaughn ain't that small. Plus, presents are Christmassy, and red and white as a theme is very, very, very romantic comedy poster.
EXAMPLE 4 Intolerable Cruelty (2003) Another red and white number here, plus a crossed-arms-frowny-face-contrast pairing, AND a heart motif. It's as if The Brothers Coen were so desperate to point out this was a commercial rom com number they just took as many poster clichés as possible and mixed them up in a big, critics-dividing pot. And had George Clooney pull a face. For some reason.
EXAMPLE 5 How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003) Matthew McConaughey, as others have pointed out before, is not afraid of a good lean on a movie poster, having done it against a tree, Elizabeth Hurley and Sarah Jessica Parker. Here, he's doing his leaning thing with Kate Hudson, perfectly combining the leaning cliché with the back-to-back cliché. Kate whacks in a crossed-arms-frowny-face too, and Matthew does a tiny-shoulder-shrug-plus-hands-in-pockets manoeuvre, just for good measure. Hell, we almost like it.
EXAMPLE 6 Two Weeks Notice (2002) Look back at How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days. Then back to this. Female lead: crossed-arms-frowny-face. Male lead: tiny-shoulder-shrug-plus-hands-in-pockets. And, for some reason, they seem to be floating on water, Jesus-stylee. AND, (and this is a big, very important 'and' here) THEY FORGET THE APOSTROPHE. What. A. Clanger.
EXAMPLE 7 Killers (2010) This is a rare poster, admittedly, with an alternative title, so maybe it doesn't really count, but it's so goddamn generic we couldn't not put it in. Also, do not watch this movie. Seriously, don't. Don't, don't, don't.
EXAMPLE 8 Run Fatboy Run (2008) A German poster here, but of note because it highlights the Photoshopping shamelessness of foreign markets taking other movies' art assets and doing whatever they bloody want with them. In other Run Fatboy Run posters, it's obvious these two aren't standing together. For starters, why is Thandie Newton digging her high heel into Simon's leg? Not very nice Thandie. Not very nice at all.
EXAMPLE 9 The Ugly Truth (2010) Red on a white background? Check. Heart motif? Check. Jaunty leaning a-again? Hells yes. But the thing they decided to add to mix it up a bit? A wall. Not a real wall mind; just a big black line. We prefer the toilet-gender-signs version, to be honest.
EXAMPLE 10 Milenge Milenge (2010) Out the same year as The Ugly Truth, this Indian interpretation of Serendipity does the exact same leaning trick with a wall, but adds in the tiny-shoulder-shrug-plus-hands-in-pockets manoeuvre and crossed-arms-frowny-face because, you know, that's just what you do.
EXAMPLE 11 Life Or Something Like It (2002) GOOD LORD ANGIE'S FACE IS HUGE. This poster doesn't do Edward Burns's ego any favours, but it does, somehow, manage to do a back to back number, even if one of the actors' backs is gigantic and their shoulders aren't anywhere near touching. See also cliché #4 'The Giant Heads'.
EXAMPLE 12 Laws Of Attraction (2004) This is the mother lode, so expect to see this poster again. First off, it's a back to back; secondly, there's leaning; and thirdly, it's on a bench. And there's some crossed-arms-frowny-face action going on! This is it! We've reached total rom-com-ocity! There are so many clichés here that they almost cancel each other out and become original. But not quite.
Posted on Saturday October 22, 2011, 17:39 by edjones95
Are they not sitting on a park bench in Manhattan, it's a bit far away but they are definitely on one Read More
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Bendy Ben
Posted on Wednesday March 16, 2011, 14:20 by Enzino
Is it just me or has Ben Affleck suddenly gone all Mr Fantastic in the poster for Forces of Nature? Read More
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Posted on Thursday January 27, 2011, 09:40 by supernaturalfan93
the accidental husband poster has absaloute crap editing... Read More
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How do they forget the template of two-four faces in horizontal panels?
Posted on Thursday January 27, 2011, 05:16 by keelover
When I saw this headline on IMDb, I was sure someone would finally be torn into for using the same freaking template for like ten movies. But no! It's the horizontal panel photos with the title in the middle in thin serif font, seen in the following movies, for example:
Something's Gotta Give (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm232299776/tt0337741)
The Holiday (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4200108544/tt0457939)
I Could Never Be Your Woman (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm998872576/tt0466839)
Th is one's remarkably similar:
Because I Said So: (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2412745472/tt0490084)
S ame freakin' template! Could you get any lazier about your poster design? It pisses me off. Read More
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Red-on-white
Posted on Wednesday January 26, 2011, 11:57 by GypsyTrash
The WORST RomCom trait ever - white background, red fonts. Doing the in-house displays in my work irritates the hang out of me, 'cos I can never put the RomCom posters together as they all look like the same film!! The Ugly Truth, The Rebound, Morning Glory, Love and Other Drugs, the Heartbreak Kid *shudder*, there must just be a 'generic RomCom' button on most studios' Photoshops... Read More
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Posted on Wednesday January 26, 2011, 09:58 by ronniem
Rom Coms...a bloody waste of space in the film market Read More
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What about...
Posted on Wednesday January 26, 2011, 09:42 by Seannybo
Shallow Hal in the bench department: http://pinartarhan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ amorcego2.jpg Read More
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Excuse Two Weeks' Notice
Posted on Wednesday January 26, 2011, 09:11 by Enzino
Like the Run Fatboy Run poster, the Two Weeks' Notice one is not in English, it's Italian. So maybe they don't have the same grasp of apostrophes. Read More
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Non-rom-com films that use these cliches
Posted on Tuesday January 25, 2011, 23:49 by G MAN
1 - Back to Back: A View to a Kill (original poster), Iron Man 2
2 - Floaty faces: Goodfellas, Wall Street, Saving Private Ryan
3 - Park Bench: Forrest Gump, Good Will Hunting
4 - Giant Faces: Election, No Country for Old Men, Avatar
5 - The Collage: Magnolia, The Truman Show, Donnie Darko, Boogie Nights
6 - Pick Me Up: As Good As It Gets
7 - The Lean: Gone With the Wind, The Persuit of Happyness Read More
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Three to Tango
Posted on Tuesday January 25, 2011, 20:35 by mebbetheywasinjuns
Seen it - is it wrong that kinda totally like it? Read More
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Kevin Connolly must...
Posted on Tuesday January 25, 2011, 20:29 by Concise_Statement
... be absolutely MORTIFIED at that shot of him in 'He's Just Not That Into You'. Jesus Christ, look at that face! Read More
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Posted on Tuesday January 25, 2011, 20:23 by jamie325
To be fair, there aren't THAT money ways to make a poster! Read More
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A few more...
Posted on Tuesday January 25, 2011, 16:50 by House_Of_Myrmidon
1. White background, wording in two colours (the proposal, the back up plan, the break-up)
2. White background - bold font, narrow font (Date Night, Leap Year, the ugly truth, definitley maybe, made of honour)
3. Jennifer Aniston, Katherine Heigl and Jennifer Lopez
Read More
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A few more...
Posted on Tuesday January 25, 2011, 16:45 by House_Of_Myrmidon
1. White background, wording in two colours (the proposal, the back up plan, the break-up)
2. White background - bold font, narrow font (Date Night, Leap Year, the ugly truth, definitley maybe, made of honour)
3. Jennifer Aniston, Katherine Heigl and Jennifer Lopez
Read More
