Line #1 Film/YouAgain


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/you_again_2010_movie_poster.jpg]]
3
4	''You Again'' is a 2010 comedy film directed by Andy Fickman and starring Creator/KristenBell, Creator/JamieLeeCurtis, Creator/SigourneyWeaver, Creator/OdetteYustman (she hadn't changed her last name to Annable then), Creator/BettyWhite, Creator/VictorGarber, and Creator/KristinChenoweth.
5
6	When former high school loser Marni Olsen (Bell) realizes that her older brother is about to marry her high school bully Joanna (Yustman), she sets out to expose the fiancée's true colors. Things get out of hand when it turns out that her mom Gail (Curtis) and the bride's aunt Ramona (Weaver) are in a similar situation.
7	----
8	!!''You Again'' provides examples of the following tropes:
9
10	* ActorAllusion: Catherine Bach plays [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Daisy]].
11	* AlphaBitch: Joanna, [[spoiler:formerly]].
12	* TheAtoner: Joanna is genuinely ashamed of how she behaved in high school and spent years trying to compensate for it, but having to directly deal with Marni made her panic and claim to not remember her at all.
13	* BigBrotherInstinct: Will is very protective of Marni, and even offers himself to solve all of her issues if she just gives him the names of the girls who bullied her. He also [[spoiler:breaks off his engagement to Joanna as soon as he sees how she treated Marni in high school]].
14	* BlasphemousBoast: In [[spoiler: Joanna's time capsule video, true to her [[AlphaBitch character]]]], she boasts to the camera "The meek shall ''[[DarkReprise not]]'' inherit the Earth". [[spoiler: This [[IronicEcho comes back to bite her]] when a [[{{Irony}} meek]] Joanna (who TookALevelInKindness in the years since) has her engagement broken off by Will.]]
15	* BookEnds: Gail and Ramona's friendship was ruined [[spoiler:and years later rebuild]] in a pool.
16	* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Simultaneously, both sides are wrong. Joanna shouldn't have just assumed that, [[spoiler:if they would ignore what happened in high school, things would be okay and they could start again]], not that Marni's decision to [[spoiler:publicly shame her for the person she was in high school]] instead of attempting to look for a way to solve the issue with discretion and dignity was any better.
17	* TheBrideWithAPast: Marni realizes her brother is about to marry the AlphaBitch who made her life miserable in high school.
18	* BullyingTheDragon: It's pretty unwise of Joanna to belittle and refuse to apologize to Marni (her former victim), especially when the latter just so happens to be the sister of her fiance. [[spoiler: Later, Marni makes good on her resolve to make Joanna regret her choices.]]
19	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Played with. When Joanna first meets Marni as Marni's future sister-in-law, she seemingly doesn't recognize or remember Marni in the slightest. Later when Marni confronts her in private, [[spoiler: Joanna shows that she remembers perfectly and is unrepentant, dismissive, and condescending]]. Later, [[spoiler: after Marni blows up the wedding rehearsal by exposing Joanna's lies, Joanna admits to Marni that she really is sorry and only invoked the trope because she was terrified of the fact that she was marrying the brother of her former victim]].
20	* ButtMonkey: Marni, throughout the film, she suffers the most humiliation and AmusingInjuries as well as gets CoveredInMud and [[CoveredInGunge lard.]]
21	* TheCameo: [[spoiler:Wrestling/DwayneJohnson, uncredited, as the Air Marshal on Marni's plane; and Cloris Leachman (also uncredited) as Helen. And, of course, Hall And Oates perform at the end. Also [[Series/{{Dallas}} Patrick Duffy]] as Ramona's high school crush (grown up, of course).]]
22	* CoolUncle: Ramona to Joanna. At one point, Ramona confesses that [[spoiler:Joanna is the only thing resembling a family she has]].
23	* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: [[spoiler:If Joanna had just apologized to Marni from the start, they really could have started over like she said she wanted. The blame for the mess is not one sided, however. Marni could have just as easily confronted Joanna in private rather than go on the RoaringRampageOfRevenge that she did and get the apology she wanted in a quiet and dignified manner]]
24	* CringeComedy: Try to watch the scene where Tim gives a speech at the wedding recital without cringing. [[SchmuckBait I dare you.]]
25	* DancePartyEnding: It's a romantic comedy with a wedding climax, of course it will show the reception over the end credits.
26	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: The scene in the kitchen after the wedding is ruined, until revealed to be otherwise, is shot to make the audience feel like the ex-bride-to-be is about to commit suicide after the wedding is ruined.]]
27	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: After a lengthy flashback of her ExtremeDoormat past, we see Marni's developed (over)defensive streak in the present rather quickly, angrily snapping at two individuals who try to browbeat her quiet in a plane.
28	* EvilIsEasy: Implied. [[spoiler: In her video, Joanna's younger self boasts about how high school is "''so'' easy". How? Why by [[AlphaBitch being top dog and using the position to make everyone's lives miserable]], just like she does. As she so puts it, "it's better to be bad". This is deconstructed, however, as Joanna not only [[IHatePastMe regrets this mindset]] in the long run, but has to face consequences in the form of Will calling off the wedding.]]
29	* FairyTaleMotifs: An Aesop called "The Cat and Venus". A cat (Joanna) prayed to Venus (Marni) to change her into a woman (pretend their past never happened) so she could be with a man (Will). Venus initially allows the cat her wish, but suspects the cat hasn't really changed all that much. She sends a mouse (drops hints about Joanna's past) to test the cat, and the cat-turned-woman chases it (sings "We are the Champions"). Venus is offended to see that the cat hasn't truly changed. And so, she changes the woman back into a cat before the man's eyes (Sabotages the reception, via [[spoiler: Tim's speech and Joanna's time capsule video]].)
30	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A meta example. In the poster, Bunny is shown among the other still vengeful women over high school issues, [[spoiler:the end shows that she herself still has beef with a former classmate and cheerleader Helen]].
31	* {{Forgiveness}}: Played with. At first, it's clear that Marni would have every good reason to ''not'' want to forgive Joanna, especially when the latter keeps trying to sweep the past under the rug and act like it wasn't a big deal. [[spoiler:Ultimately, once a [[BreakTheHaughty humbled]] Joanna acknowledges the pain she'd caused Marni and that she's [[IHatePastMe genuinely sorry for everything she did]], Marni finally finds the closure to truly let go of the past.]]
32	* FunWithAcronyms: Marni Olivia Olsen. M.O.O. [[DeconstructedTrope Unfortunately]], Joanna used that to bully Marni back in high school.
33	* GenerationXerox: Played with. Marni was a dork in school and Joanna was the AlphaBitch. While the same situation applies to Gail and Ramona, it was Gail who was the popular one and Ramona who was always left in the dust. [[spoiler:For Grandma Bunny, see HereWeGoAgain.]]
34	* GreenEyedMonster: Ramona. [[spoiler:Most of her actions spark from jealousy towards Gail. Gail got everything Ramona ever wanted easily by being the most popular girl in high school. This sparked again when, after meeting her again, Ramona realizes that Gail has a successful marriage and a family, something she could never have.]]
35	* HereWeGoAgain: [[spoiler:Grandma Bunny turns out to be an old rival of Joanna's grandma Helen.]]
36	* IHatePastMe: Joanna with regards to her past as an AlphaBitch bully.
37	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Gail [[spoiler:genuinely had no idea all her accomplishments throughout high school left Ramona feeling stuck in her shadow and that Ramona’s crush asked her to prom.]]
38	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Grandma Bunny, played by Creator/BettyWhite, [[spoiler:has an old high school rival]] of her own in Helen, played by Creator/ClorisLeachman. They had worked together on ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow''.
39	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: She [[IHatePastMe already wasn't proud of her past]] as a bully, but seeing herself caught on film violently shoving Marni and gloating about it is what really opens Joanna's eyes to just ''how'' badly she had treated Marni in the past and drives her to genuinely apologize.
40	* NeverBeHurtAgain: After graduation, Marni moved to another town to attend college and work in and radically reinvented herself from an ExtremeDoormat geek to a more glamorous and assertive (if not downright aggressive) woman, all so that she would never be a victim of bullies like Joanna again.
41	* NeverMyFault: Joanna causes issues from this tendency:
42	** One of Joanna's cruelest acts of bullying in the past was pushing Marni into her brother during a fateful throw in a basketball match, and then chewing her out for ruining the game. Overlaps with NoSympathy, since it's implied everyone else blamed Marni as well despite the obvious.
43	** In the present, despite her desire to prove she has changed for the better, she stubbornly refuses to acknowledge and apologize for her wrongdoings towards Marni, which she later reasons was because she thought it would be better to just leave it all in the past and start over.
44	* OnlySaneMan: Marni's father, who unleashes a withering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on his wife and daughter after their escalating antics [[spoiler: seemed to tear the wedding weekend apart.]]
45	** Grandma Bunny initially, but [[spoiler:ultimately averted after her own long-lost rival [[HereWeGoAgain shows up at the end of the movie]].]]
46	* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: Joanna's apology is what finally cements her HeelFaceTurn.]]
47	* ReformedBully: Played with. Joanna is not a bully any longer, she has no intention of mistreating Marni as they meet again and [[SincerityMode genuinely]] does want to put the past behind them. However, she does this by acting like what happened back in high school was not that big a deal, much to Marni's consternation.
48	* ReformedButRejected: Joanna, though she re-TookALevelInJerkass partway through the movie. [[spoiler: She reforms after [[BreakTheHaughty her wedding is called off]], and this time, it sticks.]]
49	* ReplacementGoldfish: Joanna admits to Marni that, at least partially, the love she receives from Marni's family seems to come from the fact that they ''miss'' Marni.
50	* ReviewIronicEcho: Creator/RogerEbert couldn't resist beginning his review, "Oh no, not ''You Again.''"
51	* RuleOfPool: The conflict between Gail and Ramona started when the latter pushed the former to a pool during prom. [[spoiler:[[WhereItAllBegan They reconstructed their friendship after falling to the pool after their catfight.]]]]
52	* SchoolBullyingIsHarmless: Subverted and deconstructed. The bullying Joanna put Marni through deeply hurt Marni to the point that she moved away from their hometown as soon as she got the chance and drastically reinvented herself so as to never experience that pain again. When they finally confront each other years later, Marni directly states that Joanna can't just brush off her actions just because they happened in high school because the bullying did a great deal of lasting damage to Marni's mental health and self-image.
53	* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Played with - Joanna was an AlphaBitch who constantly tormented Marni in their school years, but then became a ReformedBully who genuinely wants to put the past behind them and start over fresh. However, throughout the movie, she tries to play off everything as not being that big of a deal, which angers Marni because for her, it ''was'' a big deal.
54	* SmugSnake: Probably why [[spoiler: teenage Joanna thought it was a good idea to bully Marni in front of the camera and bitterly advertise "It's better to be bad" was because she was certain at the time that nobody would see the video for 50 years. [[TemptingFate How wrong she was]].]]
55	* SureLetsGoWithThat: When Will blames [[spoiler:the collapsing treehouse]] on termites, Marni and her brother don't try to explain the truth.
56	* TeensAreMonsters: Joanna certainly was, and her friends back her up. Will was an aversion, he was a good guy both in school and later in life.
57	* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After becoming increasingly infuriated by Marni not letting her AlphaBitch past go, Joanna reverts to her catty ways towards her. Cue the catfight.
58	* TitleDrop: PlayedForLaughs several times in the plot.
59	* TookALevelInKindness: Joanna, though it takes Marni the entire movie to realize it's genuine.
60	* TookALevelInJerkass: Marni does some low things trying to get back at Joanna, and Joanna herself regresses to her former Alpha Bitch personality partway through the movie.
61	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Gail and Ramona. [[spoiler: They got better.]]
62	* WorstWeddingEver: Played with. [[spoiler: The ''reception'' is the worst ever, as Marni uses it to not only expose how Joanna was previously engaged to Tim, but also the video tape documenting her bully-some past. Ironically, the wedding itself goes swimmingly well, even though it takes place at the hospital where she and Will are recupperating.]]
63	* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Marni uses this to assure that Will would stop running and come talk to her]].

Context Film / YouAgain