History Film / AlexanderAndTheTerribleHorribleNoGoodVeryBadDay

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Phillip Parker and Elliott Gibson haven’t done anything wrong in the books. In the film they played a more direct role in making Alexander’s day miserable (Phillip Parker making his birthday party on the same day as Alexander’s and Elliott Gibson posting pictures of Alexander with boobs).

* ButtMonkey Alexander, clearly, but downplayed later in the movie. Later in the movie, his whole family suffers, and Alexander doesn't.

* {{Homage}}: To the Disney family comedies of the mid-1970's.

* {{Jerkass}}: Phillip Parker appears to be this, since he apparently decides to have his birthday party earlier, on the same day as Alexander. And he doesn't care about the difference between Australia and Austria. Elliott Gibson also qualifies when he [[KickTheDog posts pictures of Alexander with boobs.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Anthony, especially before the bad day. He then switches between being a {{Big Brother Bully}} to a {{Big Brother Instinct}} to Alexander; [[spoiler:he even cancels his prom date with his girlfriend Celia in order to stay with his family]].

* MythologyGag: A recurring line from the book about how he's going to move to Australia to get away from his problems is turned into a general obsession with the country, [[spoiler:culminating in an Australia-themed birthday party arranged by his father]].

* RecycledInSpace: Mr. Cooper describes his video game idea as “''[[Series/{{Survivor}} Survivor]]'' on a space station.”

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In the books, Anthony was just a straight {{Big Brother Bully}} with no redeeming qualities. Here, he is noticeably less cruel to Alexander, at least at the film progressed.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: [[spoiler: The horrible day does have a few upsides; the misprint in Kelly's book and faulty reading causes the incident to go viral, resulting in a ''lot'' of free publicity, while Ben's disastrous interview actually impresses the executives, getting him hired.]]

* DisasterDominoes: Each screw-up by the family members segues into the next one for somebody else. The events of the titular bad day are kicked off by Alexander accidentally destroying Trevor's pacifier, making him cry all night, causing Emily to rehearse outside and the parents to be up all night soothing him. This results in Kelly's car battery being drained, Emily catching a cold, the parents getting to work late...and it all gets worse from there.

* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: The beginning of the movie takes place in one day, while the rest of the movie happens the following day. For ''one day'', a lot of stuff happens, yet it never gets any darker outside nor do the characters get burnt out until the end, so you'd be forgiven for forgetting that the title is ''Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day'', emphasis on "day".

* {{Jerkass}}: Phillip Parker appears to be this, since he apparently decides to have his birthday party earlier, on the same day as Alexander. And he doesn't care about the difference between Australia and Austria. Elliott Gibson also qualifies when he [[{{KickTheDog}} posts pictures of Alexander with boobs.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Anthony, especially before the bad day. He then switches between being a {{Big Brother Bully}} to a {{Big Brother Instinct}} to Alexander [[spoiler: he even cancels his prom date with his girlfriend Celia in order to stay with his family.]]

* SadisticTeacher: The driving instructor tries to trick Anthony into answering his phone during his driving test just so she can fail him. This backfires ''spectacularly'' as his distracted driving nearly gets them both killed; she is understandably traumatized. But of course she does fail him.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Elliot Gibson, the boy who posted the pictures of Alexander with "boobs", gets suspended.

''Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'' is a family comedy film released on October 10, 2014. It was directed by Miguel Arteta from a screenplay written by Rob Lieber. The film stars Creator/SteveCarell, Creator/JenniferGarner, and Ed Oxenbould, and is a AdaptationExpansion of Judith Viorst's 1972 children's book of the same name.

* DrivingTestSmashers: Anthony insists on taking his driving rest on the day when every is going wrong, because he wants to drive Celia to the prom that night. During the test, his driving examiner intentionally distracts him by convincing him to pick up his cell phone, causing him to destroy several parking meters and damage the family minivan, and ultimately fail.

* CompanyCrossReferences: Celia's teacher calls Anthony "WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph" after he knocks over the school's trophy cases.

* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: The beginning of the movie takes place in one day, while the rest of the movie happens the following day. For ''one day'', a lot of stuff happens, yet it never gets any darker outside nor do the characters get burnt out until the end, so you'd be forgiven for forgetting that the title is ''Alexander's Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day'', emphasis on "day".

* KarmaHoudini: The sleazy driving test supervisor is never shown to get any punishment for being negligent during Anthony's test.

* MakeAWish: A more subtle example, but when by himself with a birthday sundae, he wishes his family could experience the disappointments he does everyday.
** He apologizes toward his family that their day was jinxed because he wanted them to understand his pain.

* RealityEnsues: Elliot Gibson, the boy who posted the pictures of Alexander with "boobs", gets suspended.

** Celia's teacher calls Anthony "WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph" after he accidentally knocks over the school's trophy cases.
** The costumes for the ''Peter Pan'' school play resembles the [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Disney version]].

* TyopOnTheCover: In-universe example: The book Kelly is launching is supposed to be called ''Jump on the Potty''. Instead, the title reads ''Dump on the Potty''.

* ButtMonkey[=/=]TheChewToy: Alexander, clearly, but downplayed later in the movie.
** Inverted later in the movie when his whole family suffers, and Alexander doesn't.

* CrosscastRole: In-universe example. Emily portrays ''Literature/PeterPan'' for a school play.
** GeniusBonus: There are three traditions of the stage version of Peter Pan. The first one is Peter Pan must be played by a female actress, the second one is whomever plays Wendy’s father is also Captain Hook, and the last one is whomever plays Nana the dog is also the crocodile.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Celia and the driving test supervisor.

* TackyTuxedo: A mix-up at the tuxedo rental place causes Anthony's tux to be given to someone else. The only tux they have left in his size is a hideous powder blue one with a frilly shirt and a huge bow tie. He ends up wearing this to the prom. [[spoiler:Well, he doesn't make it past dinner at least, but for other reasons.]]

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Having a [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar GCPTR-happy]] (although not ''that'' much) comedy style akin to the family movies of the early-to-mid 2010s, it's quite hard to believe that it was done by the same studio that years ago vetoed [[Film/BackToTheFuture a certain film]] because of its content.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: For a family-friendly movie, this film seems to get away with a few stuff.
** Kelly bumps into a wall in the morning rush and yells out a partially censored expletive ("Mother—!")
** Among the few Disney films to say the word "penis". And in ''this'' context:
--->'''Anthony:''' You saw my penis! ''(referring to his mother, Kelly, walking in on him while he was changing in the bathroom earlier that morning)''\\
'''Kelly:''' I've seen ''all'' of your penises! (She's their mother, so she's ''had'' to have seen them naked when they were younger.)\\
'''Ben:''' Yep... she ''has''... (He's the dad, so, [[ParentalSexualitySquick well...]])
** [[spoiler:Creator/DickVanDyke reads a book with a misprint that implies that children should "take a dump" in various ways]].
** Alexander says that Anthony and Celia will probably make out in the back of the family van before Anthony drives Celia back home after the prom, which [[TooMuchInformation everyone else is grossed out by]].
** [[spoiler:The "authentic" Australian cowboys at Alexander's birthday party are actually strippers. Fortunately, Alexander's parents realize this early on enough in the performance to tell the cowboys to "make it PG."]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: For a family friendly movie, this film seems to get away with a few stuff.

* BlackBestFriend: Paul

* CompanyCrossReferences: Celia's teacher calls Anthony "Disney/WreckItRalph" after he knocks over the school's trophy cases.

** Celia's teacher calls Anthony "Disney/WreckItRalph" after he accidentally knocks over the school's trophy cases.
** The costumes for the ''Peter Pan'' school play resembles the [[Disney/PeterPan Disney version]].

* CompanyCrossReferences: Celia's teacher calls Anthony "WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph" after he knocks over the school's trophy cases.

* TackyTuxedo: A mix-up at the tuxedo rental place causes Anthony's tux to be given to someone else. The only tux they have left in his size is a hideous powder blue one with a frilly shirt and a huge bow tie. He ends up wearing this to the prom.

'''Kelly:''' I've seen ''all'' of your penises! (She's their mother.)\\

** Kelly bumps into a wall in the morning rush and yells out a partially censored expletive.
** Among the few Disney films to say the word "penis".
** [[spoiler: Creator/DickVanDyke reads a book with a misprint that implies that children should "take a dump" in various ways]].
** [[spoiler: The "authentic" Australian cowboys at Alexander's birthday party are actually strippers. Fortunately, Alexander's parents realize this early on enough in the performance to tell the cowboys to "make it PG."]].

* CrosscastRole: In-universe example. Emily portrays PeterPan for a school play.

* IntoxicationEnsues: Emily takes an overdose of the cold syrup medicine, and starts to act drunk when she was doing the Peter Pan play.