History Main / TheyAllSaidWeNeverCouldBeHappy

->[[TropeNamer They all said we never could be happy]],\\
They laughed at us, and how!\\
But ho, ho, ho!\\
[[WhosLaughingNow Who's got the last laugh now?]]
-->--'''George Gershwin''', "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdLm9qRRdh4 They All Laughed]]"

Two characters hook up, but there's a problem. Nobody in the world thinks those two belong together, except for the couple themselves. Friends, family and casual acquaintances will point this out at every opportunity, only to be proven wrong when they live HappilyEverAfter. Sometimes there's a scene in which the main naysayer(s) are forced to recant. Occasionally {{subverted}} when the critical chorus turn out to be right.

Sometimes an OddCouple, but they don't necessarily have to be blatant opposites; they just have to be perceived as being incompatible by well-meaning friends.

Contrast with StarCrossedLovers, who never actually ''get'' together in a meaningful sense.
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!Examples:
[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* Episode 24 of ''{{Clannad}}'', which covers an alternate-universe "Tomoyo end", is essentially this trope condensed to twenty minutes.
* Everybody in ''BitterVirgin'' expects Daisuke and Hinako to break up at some point. To be fair, the couple expects it too (both expect the other to find a better person someday).
* ''FushigiYuugi'', between the OfficialCouple, of course! It's because [[BodyguardCrush she's the Priestess and he's her Seishi]], [[PerverseSexualLust she's from the real world and he's a character in the book]], [[StarCrossedLovers none of the Four Gods would ever allow it]], [[VirginPower they can't cross the erotic line]]... it's forbidden love at its extremity. The subversion is that it's a POV only mostly by Tamahome's mentor and by Miaka and Tamahome themselves after they've realized how difficult it is.

[[AC:Comic Books]]
* Howard Mackie's final ''SpiderMan'' story attempted to go this route with M.J reflecting that apparently everyone had said they would never last. Of course, anyone who's read the older stories should know that pretty much ''everyone'' was trying to hook her and Peter up, particularly Aunt May.
** [[FridgeBrilliance Reverse psychology at work, perhaps?]]
*** [[FridgeLogic I doubt it.]]

[[AC:Film]]
* ''KnockedUp''.
* ''SayAnything:'' Near the end of the film, when the girl and the boy are getting on a plane together, the girl says to the boy, "They don't believe that this'll work out, right?"

[[AC:Literature]]
* In Patrick O'Brian's {{Aubrey-Maturin}} series, the passionate, lusty, and rather promiscuous Jack Aubrey falls deeply for Sophie Williams, a proper, virginal, and as it turns out rather undersexed young lady. His best friend wishes them well, but privately predicts woe; her cousin, Diana Villiers, doesn't bother to be private about it.

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* The core premise of ''DharmaAndGreg'', ''{{Bewitched}}'', and possibly ''IDreamOfJeannie''. Since the former two series have romantic tension since they start out married, and the last has them start out in a master/more-powerful-servant relationship, a recurring plot is one or both spouses (or whatever) getting doubts or clashing, only to reconcile and learn AnAesop.
* The ''{{CSI}}'' episode "$35k OBO" begins with a couple leaving a restaurant, wishing one another happy anniversary and remarking, "And they said it would never last." Since it's ''CSI,'' it doesn't come as all that much of a surprise when the trope is almost instantly violently subverted.
** In more ways than one: [[spoiler: Not only are they both murdered, but it turns out they each hired ''the same hitwoman'' to kill the other]].
* In ''HomeImprovement'', Jill has occasionally mentioned that people tried to talk her out of marrying Tim.
-->'''Jill:''' Our wedding was so beautiful. I am so glad that I didn't let anybody talk me out of marrying you.
-->'''Tim:''' Who would try to talk you out of marrying me?
-->'''Jill:''' Oh, no one, you know, just my mom, my dad, my sisters, my family, the minister, the postman, some guy down at the mailbox...

[[AC:Music]]
* George Gershwin's song "[[http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/g/georgegershwin8836/theyalllaughed299724.html They All Laughed]]" is about a couple who had to go through this trope. It's the TropeNamer, in fact.
** The original working title of this trope "Let Them Say This Isn't Love" comes from "''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYJgkpFJyqk Niech mowia, ze to nie jest milosc]]''" by Piotr Rubik, a Polish symphonic pop song which also exemplifies this trope. (Major EarWorm warning!)
* The song "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain follows this trope quite well.
** As does the song "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" by Tanya Tucker.
** Adding to the list, "Anniversary" by Voltaire.
* Chuck Berry's ''Never Can Tell'' (you may recognise it from ''PulpFiction'') is titled after the refrain the old folks use to recant their naysaying while the song describes the kids going on to live happily.
-->''"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell''

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<<|LoveTropes|>>
<<|HappinessTropes|>>

[[WhosLaughingNow Who's got the last laugh now?]]\\
-->--'''GeorgeGershwin''', "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdLm9qRRdh4 They All Laughed]]"

->''"Just think, Herbert. In a thousand years time, this will '''still''' be controversial"''
-->-Lancelot, ''[[MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Spamalot]]''

-->''C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell''

** The original working title of this trope "Let Them Say This Isn't Love" comes from "''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssu8cNnXJsU Niech mowia, ze to nie jest milosc]]''" by Piotr Rubik, a Polish symphonic pop song which also exemplifies this trope. (Major EarWorm warning!)

* Episode 24 of ''{{Clannad}}'' is more or less this trope condensed down to twenty minutes. (For the record, this one episode deals with Tomoyo rather than Nagisa.)

* ''Knocked Up''.
* ''Say Anything:'' Near the end of the film, when the girl and the boy are getting on a plane together, the girl says to the boy, "They don't believe that this'll work out, right?"