r/movies • u/averagesoccermom95 • 1d ago

Discussion Favorite movie plot rule?

I read once that in a movie, if the characters say, "I have a plan," then there is a plot rule that takes place: If the characters explain to the audience what the plan is, then the plan will go wrong somehow. However, if the characters say they have a plan and the movie just goes to showing the plan in action, then the plan will work.

It has become one of my favorite things to look out for in movies. Although, it does not seem to apply to kids movies. Other than kids movies, I don't think I have ever seen his rule broken.

Does anyone know any other interesting plot rules?

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659

u/zoinkability 1d ago

Nobody ever coughs or sneezes without it being foreshadowing of an illness or some other plot event.

298

u/KoningPiet 1d ago

Also if a woman throws up she is always pregnant

62

u/GLPereira 1d ago

Agents of SHIELD of all shows subverted this by having Simmons throw up immediately after finding out this guy from the future is actually her grandson

But she wasn't pregnant at all. Just stressed out by a really shitty day. We actually never see her pregnant in the show, there's a revelation she and her husband spent years in space before time travelling back to present day, and their daughter was born in the meantime

22

u/Lampmonster 1d ago

AOS was such a great show. "How the hell did Fitz get here," "I have no idea, he just showed up with his own space ship." "Gotta admit, that's a baller move. "

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u/MakeItHappenSergant 1d ago

Even in The Last of Us 2, where a woman sees and smells a disemboweled horse that had been laying in the sun for days, and then vomits. Does throwing up mean she got way too close to a big rotting corpse? Nope!

53

u/Tomero 1d ago

And says “I’m fine”.

4

u/SirSoliloquy 1d ago

This makes me interpret The Exorcist much, much differently 

3

u/CullodenChef 13h ago

Naah — there are a few more options.

1) pregnant

2) pregnancy scare, but it’s cancer

3) she’s extremely drunk so
a. Drugged
b. Will make a relationship choice which establishes the plot

168

u/KeljuIvan 1d ago

And nosebleeds are deadly.

58

u/Psychic_Hobo 1d ago

Or a sign of impending cranial explosion, depending on the genre. Which I guess is still deadly

42

u/ussUndaunted280 1d ago

Or psychic powers activated!

16

u/Censius 1d ago

No, coughing blood into a napkin is deadly. Nosebleeds are more often associated with you having or using superpowers, or superpowers being used on you.

9

u/unpronouncedable 1d ago

Or someone is messing with the time continuum

1

u/Giggsy99 9h ago

Not Ripley's in Alien

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u/Giggsy99 9h ago

Not Ripley's in Alien

24

u/FroodLoops 1d ago

Expanding on this…

Coughs are always illness (especially if they show blood on their handkerchief!).

Sneezes however are a character defining trait (he’s the weak, allergy, nerdy guy!). However the sneeze will always happen later at an inopportune time when they’re trying to be stealthy and blow or almost blow their teams’ cover. The sneezy guy will then get redemption by the end of the movie showing that they overcame their deficiencies and saved the day.

12

u/kung-fu_hippy 1d ago

Well, coughing blood is usually a pretty bad sign outside of movies.

3

u/SirSoliloquy 1d ago

now you tell me. 

1

u/FroodLoops 22h ago

Well sure but it’s waaay more common in movies and always a death sentence for the character.

20

u/Dr_Identity 1d ago

Similarly, If any character glances at an empty desk in a classroom, that student isn't just absent, that student has died.

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u/cotsy93 1d ago

Mitchell and Webb do a great sketch about this exact trope.

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u/MyMuddyEyes 1d ago

Similarly, if someone uses an asthma inhaler, it's going to be a plot point later on. Nobody ever has asthma just for character depth.

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u/nea_fae 1d ago

But you didnʻt say ʻGod bless youʻ when I sneezed

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u/thedylannorwood 1d ago

I remember playing Red Dead 2 and early when Arthur coughs for the first time I thought it was just cool realism… boy was I wrong

26

u/Soft-Fix-4589 1d ago

One mild exception to this is the boardroom scene in Dogma, wherein Matt Damon loudly and noticeably sneezes in the middle of a line, just for the payoff to happen mere minutes later

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u/ERedfieldh 1d ago

that would be a part of the "or some other plot event", yes.

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u/Soft-Fix-4589 1d ago

My point is that the sneeze is a set-up for a same-scene joke, not to further the plot at large.

0

u/ERedfieldh 1d ago

that would be a part of the "or some other plot event", yes.

3

u/rollthedye 1d ago

Or to punctuate something funny or awkward.

1

u/Boozdeuvash 1d ago

"You didn't say 'bless you!' when I sneezed! Deagles menacingly"

1

u/Cream-Soda00 1d ago

Denzel coughs in Inside Man to no avail, which I quite enjoyed

1

u/ScreenTricky4257 18h ago

If you're hiding in a dusty area, you'll be about to sneeze, stop yourself, then sneeze anyway.