The Hallmark Movie Trope Fans Love To Hate On
Hallmark movies tend to be formulaic, so it's very easy to make a list of every cliché and trope featured in these television romances. On the show of the same name, Ted Lasso even sums them up to Roy: "Hallmark Christmas movies are films that feature women from the big city falling in love with their childhood crushes."
If it's a Christmas-centered one, it's always snowing, and the female protagonist usually is not a fan of the holiday before being convinced otherwise. There's often a climactic moment too where someone tells the lead to follow their heart.
Given all that, U/Purple_Discipline posted a question for fans on the r/HallmarkMovies subreddit: "What is the one Hallmark Channel movie trope that you cannot stand and want gone already?" Many commenters on the thread actually had one very specific complaint about these romances. U/Nikorp wrote, "Clearly empty cups of hot chocolate or coffee!" Here's why this bothers so many Hallmark fans.
Redditors noticed how many Hallmark actors carry light cups
A major trope that really irks Hallmark viewers is how the main characters hold empty cups even while "sipping" them. U/carneylansford wrote, "Obviously empty coffee cups and presents are the bane of my existence. Put something in there!"
It's always laughably obvious to these fans when the actors carry lightweight coffee mugs and cups. U/Frellie53 says, "I don't understand why they don't just put water in the cups. At least they would look like they had something. You carry an empty cup differently. I find it so distracting." In response, u/WhoWhaaaa helpfully suggested, "At least put a rock or something in the cup to add some weight to it."
U/TheMrsFisher08 went even further into detail about this inconsistency in their post: "Every coffee cup is empty. The sound is the empty cup sound when placed on a table. They drink it back like it's not a fresh piping hot cup of coffee."
There are plenty of ridiculous conventions Hallmark fans will swallow because it's part of the movie formula. But extremely empty plastic prop cups are a step too far for these r/HallmarkMovies commenters.
So many hot cocoa drinks in Hallmark movies
The unoccupied cups are already too much, but another beverage-related trope r/HallmarkMovies commenters don't like is the constant use of hot cocoa in the network's Christmas films.
U/ialwaystealpens complained, "Look I know these are supposed to be all feel-good and saccharin [sic] sweet and wholesome but good god fearing people like alcohol too." Similarly, u/dzexpatmama said "I laughed out loud" when a character in one movie called it "hot chocolate." Plenty of adults like cocoa, but there's an absurd amount of the beverage in these yuletide romances.
Part of this, as u/QuantumLeapur points out, is "the overabundance of Christmas activities and to do lists" in Hallmark movies. This means every character is baking Christmas cookies, there's a tree in the town square, and "everybody drinks hot cocoa with a candy cane dunked in it."
"It's not that I don't like to watch it, but rather it gets tiresome to see Christmas reduced to a bunch of items or else you're a grinch," the commenter continued. Ultimately, these tropes can start to feel tired even to veteran Hallmark fans. Hopefully, the newer films can still find success while thinking outside the box for a change.