Mixing a Narrative Up

Now, just make this clear, I absolutely adore stories that are told in an unconventional manner. Just any way they do it, works for me. Movie's like Pacific Rim that introduce the conflict immediately in the opening sequence, rather than spending the first half hour setting it up (something far too many movies do these days, to the point where sometimes the conflict doesn't even begin until an hour and half in). Even the occasional non-linear narrative structure, which, as the name implies, doesn't tell the story in chronological order. It just makes the story all the more unique and engaging when it is able to surprise by using this structure. It can also inspire more creative ideas for the writer/director, by telling the story in such a manner that encourages them to add more elements along the way.

A good example of non-linear narrative is the anime, Baccano!, which follows several different characters and goes to and from different points in time, from the present set inside a train, to the events that occurred before then, and even far back into the past. It's a really interesting anime, hard to follow at first but becomes very engaging eventually.

I think a linear, three act narrative structure is a major sign of a lack of creativity. I tend to avoid those types of stories, because they are usually very samey and uninteresting. They aren't necessarily bad, just not very interesting because I can usually guess what happens right at the beginning. Hollywood romances (aka "chick flicks") are examples of this because they always have the same exact structure of, flawed male character meets woman, falls in love, she gets with jerk guy, realises she loves the main guy, they get together, the end. It's not interesting at all, you know he's going to get with the girl in the end, regardless of setting and characters. Wedding Crashers was no different to something like Shark Tale, technically speaking. The same exact things happen but in different settings. What if in a story like that, they don't get with the girl in the end because they mess up so much throughout the narrative that she basically hates him? Or what if there was a romance where they are together the whole time? There are so many directions to go with this genre that people just refuse to go.