Hi Scott -- There's a bit of a hero's journey here as well. We open on Amy's ordinary world. Then girl meets boy is the call to adventure. She resists the call to adventure, but then crosses the threshold. We meet her mentor (her sister -- even her dad could be viewed as a mentor). She approaches the inner most cave (he say's he loves her!) and then there is the ordeal -- she is too scared to let him in, so she pushes him away. But she finds a road back, and the whole thing ends "happily ever after." And she is transformed. It's very satisfying -- even if it is fantasy -- because it hits all these story notes. I actually think I enjoyed it so much partly because it DOES have a traditional structure. The treatment was fresh and young -- but the structure was old reliable. I think that's great! Cheers! Susan W.

Excellent structural take, Susan. Absolutely Amy goes on a Hero's Journey. And in my conversations with writers who promote the idea of a Heroine's Journey, that's probably even more apt because the 'dragon' Amy has to slay isn't a physical Nemesis, but rather her instincts imposed on her by her father ("Monogamy isn't realistic!"). However you look at it, she does go through a transformation which as Joseph Campbell said is the point of the Hero's Journey. Thanks for that take, Susan. Spot on!

Kenny posted a link elsewhere to a good article: Why Was Trainwreck So Much Better Than Spy?. Interesting take on genre films and how Spy is more about the plot while Trainwreck is more about the characters, and the former suffers for it, while the latter benefits from it. Get no argument from me. I'm not anti-plot, but I am certainly pro-character.

I've been reading of a female analog of the Hero's Journey called the Virgin's Promise by Kim Hudson. (Given Amy's character, there's a joke in there somewhere.) I think what you call the "Heroine's Journey", Scott, is just that. Right? The story behind "Trainwreck" matches that template, where the "hag" is her father and the "crone" is her sister. Her goal is not more power in the male sense (exerting one's will over others) but rather more autonomy in her own life, closer connections in her local network, and breaking away from the "dependent world" (the morals imposed by her father).

David, I reached into the archives because I actually interfaced with Kim Hudson on this very subject back in 2012. Go here and specifically here to read more about the Heroine's Journey and the Virgin's Promise. But yes, I agree with your take on Trainwreck is spot on and builds really well on the point I made previously, that Amy does go on a 'journey,' but the 'battles' she wages are more intrapersonal in nature than what we may typically associate with a Hero's Journey.

Howdy. I didn't find the structure too traditional, or predictable, at all. I think what makes a trope work well, is when the viewer is allowed to anticipate (to a degree) how a movie may play out, while still being surprised by exactly how that happens. "Trainwreck" handled that well. For example, I didn't see the surgery postponement scene coming whatsoever ... that was a great way to derail the relationship. Likewise, having Colin Quinn's character die was not something I expected to see in a comedy -- and, also why I think this movie was so good when it dipped into the dramatic realm. I think tropes are like great songs ... there are only so many chords and strum patterns, but lots and lots of great, and different, songs. The unpredictability of where the song is going the first time you hear it, is where the magic is. Same with great movies. ;-)