It's All Bloody Shakespeare's Fault.

As a coda to my blog about cliche and lack of surprise I got so angry last night watching a movie I had to vent my spleen here.

I caught some of "Dinner with Friends", a movie that stars Denis Quaid (when is he ever less than brilliant?) Greg Kinnear, Andie McDowell and Toni Collette (who is a dead ringer for my wonderful radio producer of old, Jo, so it's always disconcerting watching Ms Collette in emotional breakdown).

I joined twenty minutes in - Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette are going at it hammer and tongs. They are tearing each other apart and ripping up the scenery. I quickly surmise that there is a problem, I'm quick like that, their marriage is effectively over. 

This is high octane stuff and very believable. The verbal abuse gives way to violence as Toni Colette strikes out at Greg Kinnear and the two begin a physical fight - this is painful, well written, well acted drama. 

But now he pins her to the bed - uh-oh - alarm bells ring in my head.

She rolls on top of him, he rolls on top of her and they're still shouting at each other. Now I'm saying to myself don't spoil it, don't, don't...and of course they do. 

They Kiss. 

Well. 

What started out as an honest, gripping piece of drama ends in cliche.

You could have seen exactly the same thing acted out on the penultimate episode of the Matt LeBlanc comedy Episodes. Tamsin Greig has an almighty row with Matt Le Blanc at his Malibu beach house, she gets violent, he pins her to the couch and...

They kiss.

The same thing happen in dozens of movies and hundreds of TV shows. And you know what, when someone is writing that and they get to the point in the argument where the 'kiss' pops into their mind do they think "nahh, cliche". Do they think, let's go another way?

Int. Bedroom. Night

...she lashes out at him, her fist crunching into his nose, making his eyes water. Now he's really angry. He pins her to the bed, she struggles beneath him. But he's bigger, stronger than her, she can't move. Their eyes lock, his lips move towards hers and --

-- before he can kiss her she knees him in the balls.

Or bites off his nose

Or spits in his eye

Or headbutts him

Or bursts out laughing

Anything but that kiss.

You know what I think,  I think what happens is the writer convinces themselves that although they've seen it before maybe the audience hasn't. And when they've written it and no-one challenges it they walk around thinking they invented that moment. Good luck with that thought because we know different.

It all began in Padua. If Katherine, the Shrew, had never been tamed maybe the kiss that diffuses the argument would never have become the cliche that it is. Bloody Shakespeare.