There are only a finite number of stories that can be told.
That’s why you’ll find subgenres where movie after movie tell the same story.
Slasher films have the “guy breaks out of asylum and goes on a killing spree of
young adults” movies like Halloween, the 2008 Prom Night, and the
2006 Black Christmas. Slasher movies also have the “people accidentally
kill someone and a certain amount of time later someone knows what they did and
torments them about it” movies like the original Prom Night, I Know
What You Did Last Summer, and the 2007 April Fools.
Slashers aren’t the only subgenres that have that sort of
repertoire of movies that fit the same storyline. Look at romantic comedies.
There are a few stories within the romantic comedy realm that have become the
main stories of the subgenre. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and She’s
All That were both movies about people who make bets and get into
relationships to fulfill those bets, before the other person finds out about
the bet, gets mad at them, and gets back together with them because they’re
actually in love. And that’s not the only one that came out of the romantic
comedy genre.
One of the more interesting stories in the romantic comedy
subgenre involves
a person, a guy or girl. They desire someone else, a guy or a girl. They obsess
over that other person. Throughout the quest to obtain the other person as
their romantic interest, they connect on a personal level with a friend. It
could be their friend, or it could be the friend of the desired person. Either
way, by the end of the movie, the main character realizes that they should have
been pursuing the friend the whole time. Those were the two people who were
meant to be together.
The Hottie & the Nottie was one of the many
romantic comedies that played into that storyline. Nate Cooper (Joel David
Moore) was a deadbeat musician who recently went through a breakup with his
girlfriend because she noticed that all his music was about what she did
instead of how he felt about her. He quickly concluded that he didn’t love her
because he was still in love with his childhood crush, Cristabel Abbott (Paris
Hilton). She liked him, but they couldn’t move to the bedroom. She had made a
vow. Cristabel would not have sex until her ugly best friend, June Phigg
(Christine Lakin), was in a stable, loving relationship. Thus, Nate set out to
find that love for June before realizing that he was that love.
It fit the romantic comedy type as well as anything. Nate
Cooper was obsessed with Cristabel. He had been dreaming about her since he was
in first grade. He was willing to come up with wacky plans to set June up with
other people, in the hopes that it would spark some sort of love. At one point,
a man was hypnotized so that he would find June attractive. That’s how obsessed
Nate was with having Cristabel as his girlfriend. He got jealous when a hunky
dentist came into their lives. Yet, the conversations that he had with June
were the most meaningful conversations. They connected on a deeper level than
looks. And he became protective of her. That was when it clicked. Nate was in
love with June, not Cristabel. He was meant for June and she was meant for him.
The part that has been left out thus far was what made The
Hottie & the Nottie unique. Part of it has been stated. June was the
ugly friend that made the hot friend look even hotter. It was a case of
comparisons. But there was more to that part of the story than simple contrast.
There was a horrible moral that came through the conclusion. When a dentist
came into the story, he offered to help June fix her teeth. This began a
transformation for June from the ugly best friend into a cute love interest.
Though there had been some relationship work done through the conversations
between Nate and June, it wasn’t until June was good looking that Nate realized
he loved her. The moral of the story ended up becoming something about looks
being the most important thing in a relationship. Nate probably wouldn’t have
chosen June had she remained ugly, even though their personalities gelled much
better than Nate and Cristabel. That, right there, was a horrible way to tell
the story.
Not all filmmakers use this romantic comedy story basis in
such a horrific way. The Hottie & the Nottie was a shallow
interpretation of it. Many other movies were more earnest in their use of the
story. When We First Met was released to Netflix in 2018. It was the
basic guy obsessing over girl only to find out he would be better suited to her
best friend story, with a time travel twist. Noah was in love with Avery, the
girl he met at a Halloween party three years earlier. The problem was that she
was getting married to Ethan, the guy she met the next day. When Noah
discovered a photo booth that could send him back in time to the day he met
Avery, he abused the spacetime continuum in order to change his past and end up
with the girl he loved. The only hitch was that all the paths led Avery to fall
in love with Ethan, and Noah to find companionship in Avery’s friend Carrie.
When We First Met fit that story concept in all the
ways that could be expected. There was a guy obsessing over a girl. He wanted
to know why the night they met didn’t end with them falling in love. He used
the time travel to fix the mistakes he made that night so that she would fall
in love with him instead of Ethan, the man she met the next day. Every time he
was transported back to the present day and didn’t like the results, he would
return to the night three years previous and try to fix things again.
Eventually, he would see that Avery and Ethan were meant to be together. He
would also see that the best friendship he made during his adventures was with
Carrie, Avery’s best friend. Noah realized that it wasn’t about making the
perfect night for the perfect woman. Life was about taking whatever was thrown
at a person and seizing opportunities. He went back to the original night,
relived it the original way, then seized the opportunity to hang out with
Carrie in the present day and start something special.
Like with The Hottie & the Nottie, there was an
element to the story of When We First Met that made it stand out as
somewhat original, even though the core story was fairly standard. That element
was the time travel. Noah was able to travel back in time three years to the
day he met Avery and change things to try and make their lives perfect. His
obsession over her came down to the events that transpired the night they first
met, and he was obsessed with how to have the perfect night so that he could
end up with the perfect girl. The time jumping added a refreshing element where
Noah was able to look at his mistakes and try new things. It also added the
surprise of what the present day would hold after each of those changes. It
took the stale concept of guy obsessing over girl only to find out he loved the
best friend, and twisted it in a way that wasn’t typically seen.[JC2]
It gave its own refreshing version of the material.
One of the mainstays of the romantic comedy genre is the
concept of a main character obsessing over a love interest only to find true
love in another friend. With the number of movies playing on that idea, the
filmmakers have had to put their own twists on the idea. Some, as in The
Hottie & the Nottie, tried to add a new twist to the character
dynamics. They turned the friend into the ugly friend, which resulted in a
terrible moral. Other movies, such as When We First Met, used a story
twist like time travel to breathe new life into the story. The main character
was able to obsess and learn through changing the mistakes they made. The moral
ended up being better, thanks to the time travel twist. That truly shows that
the story doesn’t need to be original for the movie to feel original. That
originality comes from the presentation.
Every subgenre has stories that get told time and time
again. Romantic comedies have the story where the main character obsesses over
a romantic interest only to discover that a friend is a better fit for them. Road
trip comedies have a recurring storyline where a guy sends an incriminating
photo or video through the mail to a long-distance girlfriend and heads out to
stop it from reaching her. Action movies have the Die Hard story where a
group of bad guys take over a location, taking everyone hostage, and the one
person who managed not to get taken must pick the bad guys off one-by-one to
save the hostages. If there is a subgenre, there will surely be repetition in
the stories. There are only a finite number of stories that can be told.
Originality comes in how a filmmaker tells the story. It comes from their
flourishes. It comes from how they decide to make a story fresh. Sometimes it
works, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s how you get good movies and bad movies that
tell the same stories.
Now I’m going to tell you a few notes:
- April Fools (week 18) and Black Christmas (week 368) were mentioned at the top of the post.
- Christine Lakin was one of the three stars of The Hottie & the Nottie. It was her sixth Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance. Prior to this week, she was in Parental Guidance (week 27), New Year’s Eve (week 57), Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 (week 70), Valentine’s Day (week 168), and Mother’s Day (week 233).
- Marianne Muellerleile made her return in The Hottie & the Nottie after appearing in Jingle All the Way (week 160) and Norbit (week 227).
- The Hottie & the Nottie featured Kathryn Fiore, who was in 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (week 10).
- The Hottie & the Nottie saw the return of Adam Kulbersh to the Sunday “Bad” Movies, after he showed up in Playing for Keeps (week 21).
- Finally, Joe Gieb was in The Hottie & the Nottie after having a role in Going Overboard (week 67).
- Have you seen The Hottie & the Nottie? Have you seen other movies with that same storyline? Is there a subgenre with a certain recurring storyline that you enjoy? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter or in the comments.
- I’m always open to suggestions about what movies I should be checking out for the Sunday “Bad” Movies. You can let me know about them in the comments or on Twitter.
- Make sure you head over to the Sunday “Bad” Movies account on Instagram where I try to post some fun stuff on a daily basis.
- Next week, I’ll be back with another bad movie. This time, I’ll be going a little bit older. Things will be headed back to the 1960s for a movie about people discovering a giant. I’ll be checking out Eegah, which was a wild ride. You’ll read all about it next Sunday.
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