Romantic comedies are often seen as fluffy, mindless cinematic dreck. Audiences love to hate them, simply because they're simplistic stories made for and about women.

But if you watch enough rom-coms in your lifetime, you'll also start to notice on how these following character stereotypes always seem to be part of the story:

1. The Gorgeous Klutz

Example: Good Luck Chuck - Cam Wexler (Jessica Alba) plays a sometimes-clumsy, but-friendly marine biologist who catches the eye of eternal bachelor Chuck (Dane Cook).

2. The Girl Who Gives It All Up For Love

Example: Sweet Home Alabama - Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) gives marrying the mayor's son, Andrew (Patrick Dempsey) because she realizes she still loves her ex-husband Jake (Josh Lucas).

3. The Inexperienced Virgin

Example: The 40 Year Old Virgin - Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is the eponymous 40-year-old virgin who is involuntarily celibate. His friends try to help Andy lose his virginity, and he ends up getting it on with Trish Piedmont (Catherine Keener).

4. The Advice Taker


Example: Hitch -  Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor" who coaches other men in the art of wooing women, but ends up falling for gossip columnist Sara Melas (Eva Mendes) who isn't into his mind games.

5. Quirky-But-Hot Nerd Who Speaks Way Too Fast


Example: 500 Days of Summer - An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman named Summer Finn (Zoe DesChanel) who doesn't believe true love exists, until she meets a young man named Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who ends up falling hard for her.

6. Mr. Coincidentally Bumped Into You & Now We're In Love

Example: Pretty Woman - A beautiful prostitute (Julia Roberts) is hired by a charming but lonely businessman (Richard Gere) to escort him to social events, and they end up falling in love.

7. The Slacker Who Decides To Turn Over A New Leaf After Meeting "The One"


Example: 10 Things I Hate About You -  This modernization of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew involves a bittersweet romance between high school outcasts, played by Julia Stiles and the late Heath Ledger.

8. The Over-Enthusiastic Lovestruck Guy

Example: Can't Hardly Wait - Preston ( Ethan Embry ) has just learned that Amanda Beckett (Jeniffer Love Hewitt), a girl he's been infatuated with for the past four years, is finally single. He plans to reveal his true feelings to her during an epic high school party, but things don't turn out exactly as planned.


9. The Over-Opinionated Girlfriend

Example: The Break Up - Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn play a live-in couple who decide to split up, but still live with each other in their luxurious condo. The break-up proceeds to get uglier and nastier by the moment until one of them finally gives in.

10. The Meddlesome Ex

Mean Girls:  Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) is the newest member of the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of queenbee Regina George (Rachel McAdams).