It's that time of the year when holiday romance movies are released in bulk.
The romances had their turn in February, the action movies in summer, and lets not forget the spooky season, which sees even more horror movies.
Now it's almost Christmas, and therefore, streaming services and cable are jammed with holiday romances that follow the same formula year after year.
Here are some of the annoying things about holiday romances
1) The green and red sweaters
The actors can wear whatever they want throughout the movie, but you know the climax is approaching when the protagonists wear red and green sweaters. Usually, it is the hero who wears green sweaters while the heroine wears red.
The rest of the cast must wear warm colours like brown and orange or wear white.
2) The heroine is always cold and needs a jacket.
She knows where she is travelling, yet the heroine never carries a warm sweater with her. Or she will wear some fancy stuff that the hero will pass a comment on.
While she shows enough attitude to put anyone off, the hero secretly carries a jacket with him.
Of course, the heroine ends up feeling cold that she doesn't want the hero to know. She puts on a brave face, but the hero still helps her because despite his sarcastic demeanour, he enjoys helping people.
If the heroine is so independent, why can't she carry a jacket, research on the weather before travelling or at the very least, carry a scarf in that giant handbag that costs a lot of money.
3) The annoying background music
Holiday Romances are usually full of stock music, and you may have a very well heard one song in another holiday romance.
Towards the end, when the hero and heroine are missing each other, you may just hear an obscure romantic song that is related to the situation.
It's one of those moments that is supposed to show that the characters love each other even though the story hasn't led them in that direction.
4) How both are well-settled. Romance only for the rich.
Holiday romances are full of characters that are well-to-do. They don't have minimum wage jobs and report directly to the CEO. This is why they are always on their phones. They have high paying jobs that allow them to afford big houses or buy business to help the town.
And the hero? He may be chopping Wood or fixing plumbing, but secretly, he's a billionaire.
Apparently, if you are not doing financially well, you may as well not fall in love.
5) The supportive parents.
The hero and heroine have stable family lives. Their families adore them and go out of their way to settle them.
Every single relative is supportive of the hero and heroine. Sometimes, they even end up fixing the problems between the protagonists, leading to a happy ending.
6) The mean in-laws
The in-laws turn out to be mean and don't take to the hero or heroine instantly. The protagonist has to go out of their way to impress the in-laws who don't thaw until the very end.
It's the same attempt at comedy in every movie. The protagonist fumbles and trips, creating a bad impression on their future-in-laws until the very end when they manage to impress them by just being their plain old self.
7) The forced chemistry
There's no doubt that good-looking actors are cast in romcoms, but as is the usual case, the actors have good chemistry with everyone except their love interests.
You see your favourite actors perform well in individual scenes or with the side characters, but the minute they are put together, their chemistry is as lacklustre as the fake snow falling outside the windows.
Even the forced I love you and the obligatory kiss feels uncomfortable, as if the two can't wait to walk away from each other and finish the movie so that they can be paid.
8) The heroine is always doing something foolish
Literally, every romcom has the clichéd heroine falling over everything. Even if it is a highly independent, high-paying job woman who has her life together. The second she enters the small town, she sprouts two left feet and makes foolish mistakes like not reading the labels of food she is eating resulting in her developing an allergy so that the hero can take care of her, or drugged so that again, the hero lends a helping hand so she doesn't publicly humiliate herself.
9) The pretty dress scene
The heroine wears formals all the time or jeans until the very end when there is a grand party or event. If the heroine has come unprepared, fear not. Some distant relative or a newfound friend gives her the nicest dress they own instead of wearing it themselves.
The heroine even makes a princess style appearance by coming down the stairs and blowing everyone's minds away.
The hero is so mesmerised because this is the moment he realizes that the heroine can be pretty as well, and so he must love her and confess at the end of the movie.
10) The drab proposal in the end. I have always loved you. No, you didn't.
Almost all romcoms end with the "I have loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you."
Really? Is that why you have been jerks to each other the entire movie? If you had fallen in love, why not talk to each other like a normal person instead of exchanging barbs and pulling each other down.
The dialogue is so generic and boring that one wishes a writer would come up with a better and realistic dialogue.
Something along the lines of, "I have spent time with you and realized you're not so superficial and boring as I originally thought."
Or, "I discovered you're a billionaire, and I feel I will have a much more stable life if I pursue a relationship with you."
Holiday Romcoms can be a tradition, but as the years pass, isn't it time to come up with original stories or realistic ones?
Modern problems require modern solutions after all.
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