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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rebeccaryandrunk.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:[-Can speak five languages, but [[CantHoldHisLiquor can't hold her liquor]].-] ]]
3
4->''"Dimitri," said Rebecca, "you know I always get my man, even when he's a woman."''
5
6A 1984 romantic comedy thriller directed by Creator/RickRosenthal, starring Creator/JoBethWilliams and Creator/TomConti.
7
8Rebecca Ryan, a [[DistaffCounterpart Lady]] Film/JamesBond {{Expy}} (although she's a private detective instead of a secret agent), is the main character in a popular series of novels by Margaret [=McMann=]. The author's son, Alan (Conti), has been living the life of a playboy, until one day a woman (Williams) shows up claiming to ''be'' Rebecca, and causing all sorts of trouble.
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10It turns out she is actually Cathy Palmer, a {{Housewife}} stuck in an unhappy marriage. Her best escape has been these novels, and after winning a trip to Paris, she suffers a concussion, and is now living as her favorite character. Of course, she doesn't have any of Rebecca's skills and sees danger when there isn't any, and Alan is helplessly caught in her wake.
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12But perhaps there is some danger.
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14This light comedy doesn't have the madcap situations this setup implies, but it does have a good degree of {{Deconstruction}} of the kind of character Rebecca is.
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16Unrelated to the 2018 thriller of the same name starring Creator/JimGaffigan.
17
18----
19!!This film provides examples of:
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21* AmericanTitle: "American Dreamer"
22* AscendedFanboy: Fangirl in this case. [[spoiler:Cathy becomes a co-writer for the books.]]
23* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Victor Marchand]] suffers a lot in this movie (poisoning, multiple broken bones) after meeting Rebecca. However, he's the leader of a drug ring and a murderer, and at least some of his injuries were caused by his backfired attempts to kill Rebecca.
24* BigBad: Count Reneleau in the books, who Cathy unconsciously imagines as her husband, Kevin. [[spoiler:Drug dealer Victor Marchand]] is the villain in the actual movie.
25* BondOneLiner: Cathy finishes off her story with one, but has a few false starts.
26* ButtMonkey: Alan "Dmitri" [=McMann=] for most of the movie. Caught up in Rebecca's whirlwind, and in a perpetual state of [[OnlySaneMan "What the hell?"]]
27* ChekhovsGun: Several different ones, either [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] or [[DoubleSubversion double subverted]].
28* ColdBloodedTorture: Hanging upside down can apparently be very painful if done for too long.
29* CurtainCamouflage: Subverted. It was just shoes Alan had left there.
30-->'''Alan:''' It's my shoes, see? My shoes. (''Rebecca shrugs.'') There's nobody in them - not even me!
31* CreatorBacklash: InUniverse. The writer of the Rebecca Ryan books thinks they are "cheap pulp".
32* DeadpanSnarker: Alan is this, until some people try to shoot him and "Rebecca". Then he starts to [[LargeHam ham it up]] in his frustration.
33* DeconstructiveParody: This movie is a spoof of the sort of stories Rebecca would have appeared in, by having the hero be a housewife who doesn't actually have the knowledge and skills of such a character.
34* EasyAmnesia: How Cathy becomes Rebecca.
35* EscapistCharacter: InUniverse, this is what Rebecca is to Cathy, and the plot could be summed up as her literally escaping into this character.
36* FollowThatCar: and Alan actually says [[LampshadeHanging "I can't believe I said that."]]
37* GirlySkirtTwirl: Done with a full-length fur coat, by Cathy during on her shopping spree.
38* ManicPixieDreamGirl: This is an UnbuiltTrope example. Cathy as Rebecca has many of the traits of the trope, but her actions are living out the life ''she'' always wanted instead of just enriching Alan's life.
39* ManipulativeBastard: Kevin tries to be this, but Cathy only falls for it to a certain point. He fails to keep her from going on the trip, and [[spoiler:after Cathy regains her memory, he fails to get her to just go home as though nothing happened]].
40* MeaningfulEcho: at one point Rebecca overhears a couple arguing very much like Cathy and Kevin did.
41--> '''Rebecca''': It's not the cathedral, Harold. It's the last 15 years.
42* MistakenForCheating: Alan carrying a very drunk Rebecca, bridal-style, into his apartment, where his girlfriend Jacqueline is waiting, dressed for the party Alan and Rebecca just attended. [[GroinAttack It's a very short break-up]].
43* NoodleIncident: [[spoiler:while writing their escapades into the next Rebecca Ryan novel]], Cathy and Alan have this exchange:
44--> '''Cathy''': So what happened next?
45--> '''Alan''': You know what happened next!
46--> '''Cathy''': Yes, but we can't tell them ''that''!
47* OfficialFanSubmittedContent: InUniverse Cathy wins a contest to write a Rebecca Ryan story and come to Paris.
48* OnlySaneMan: Alan [=McMann=] is this when trying to explain Rebecca's antics, though that starts to break down.
49* PrettyInMink: Rebecca's glamorous wardrobe includes several furs, so Cathy buys some in her shopping trip. The film even starts out with Rebecca wearing a red fox jacket and hat as she catches the bad guy.
50* SeparateSceneStorytelling: It turns out the opening scene is this when Cathy can't think of a good one liner.
51* ShoppingMontage: An amusing misunderstanding allows Cathy to pay for all the clothes.
52* StayInTheKitchen: Even Cathy going on the trip is too much for her husband, who insists she just stay home. He even brags about his success to his buddies, but it's at that moment that [[DefiedTrope they see Cathy all packed up and heading off to the airport]].
53* TheUnfairSex: This is downplayed. Cathy does sleep with Alan, but as Rebecca, and she still thinks he's Dimitri, her sidekick. Plus lovemaking isn't Cathy and Kevin's problem. It's just that he's a condescending, controlling jerk.
54* UnresolvedSexualTension: Although Dmitri is gay, Cathy thinks this is going on between him and Rebecca.
55* UnwillingSuspension: When Cathy and Alan are kidnapped by drug dealers, they are tied up and left hanging upside down from the ceiling.
56* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: An apparent ending really isn't. [[spoiler:After Cathy and Alan realize they love each other, they get kidnapped by the drug dealers Cathy had accidentally antagonized as Rebecca.]]
57* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Alan tries his best to explain to the police chief that yes, "Rebecca" is insane, but someone ''is'' still trying to murder her. It goes badly.
58-->'''Alan:''' No, someone ''is'' trying to kill her, but ''not as Rebecca''. The woman is ''crazy''!
59-->'''Police chief:''' She is not the only one!

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