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“That Was It For Me”: People Share 40 Ridiculous Movie Moments That Ruined It For Them
Interview With Author
Look, we don’t want to shock you or anything, but the things that happen in the movies and TV shows you watch aren’t real. However, that doesn’t mean that the lessons they teach us or the way the narratives that are told don’t have value. Quite the opposite! When we go to the cinema or we turn on the magic light -and-sound box in our living rooms, we know we’re often in for a dose of fiction. But we’re willing to suspend our sense of disbelief for the sake of experiencing the story as though it were real.
So film creators have some leeway in terms of how they shape the story. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us, the audience), they have to adhere to some rules. Even in a fictional setting with fictional problems, the events on the screen have to be believable and the characters have to appear real, in the context of the story. In short—things have to make sense and follow certain rules of logic. We wouldn’t blink twice about a character from Looney Tunes surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge; but we think it’s very odd when Indiana Jones does it.
Though pretty much everyone has some minor quibbles that never fail to end their immersion in the plotline. Redditor u/xwhy started up an interesting thread on r/movies after asking people to share the dumbest things that end their suspense of disbelief in films. We’ve collected some of the most interesting answers. You’ll find them as you scroll down.
Bored Panda got in touch with the author of the thread, writer Christopher Burke, aka u/xwhy. He was kind enough to answer our questions about the limits of the suspension of disbelief. You'll find our full interview with him below! Christopher is the author of the book 'In A Flash 2020,' a high school math teacher, and webcomic creator.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Any movie where they plug a flash drive in and get it right on the first try without looking.
Writer Christopher, aka u/xwhy, told us about the inspiration behind the thread. "I wanted to start a discussion, and I was curious if anyone else was as picky as I can be about details. As I told someone else on the thread, superheroes, aliens, and magic are the price of admission. That's what I'm paying for with the movie. After that, everything else should be relatable," he explained that even in fantastical settings, large parts of the story need to be grounded and believable.
He explained to Bored Panda how this works. "There can be a dragon. The dragon can swear, smoke cigars, and drink whiskey if it wants to. But if it starts talking about cigars and whiskey and gets basic facts (which are easily found) wrong, someone's going to notice, and that will pull them out of the moment. The audience will willingly accept the big stuff or they wouldn't watch the movie. It's the small stuff that's distracting, and sometimes you wonder if they could've avoided it."
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#2
The jeep in Jurassic World still being in perfect operating condition, with viable fuel, after 20+ years in an abandoned garage.
Caught myself saying "That's so unrealistic" out loud, watching a movie about man-eating genetically engineered dinosaurs.
#3
I get distracted when I don't understand how a character is earning money, or they have a lifestyle that seems unaffordable with the job they're supposed to have.
The author of the thread told us that he, like many other people, can ignore quite a lot. "But every now and then, I find myself focusing on something that just takes me out of it."
In his post on Reddit, he gave an example of the New York City subways. "Information is readily available. I would rather that the movie makers created a fictitious train, such as the T line, than use a real line and have it go where it doesn't belong (and no one has a problem with this)," he said.
"Using Vancouver or Toronto for Brooklyn is fine. I accept that. Using Hoyt–Schermerhorn as a stand-in for City Hall is fine, too." Christopher suggested that the best remedy for this is for movie creators to do some basic fact-checking.
#4
In The Queen‘s Gambit, when Anya Taylor-Joy's character loses control of her life, and she’s sitting there in a satin nightgown with perfect hair and makeup. Sure. That’s what I look like when I lose control over my life too
#5
I know this is a staple of the character but every time Clark Kent rips open his shirt to reveal his costume it drives me nuts. WHERE DOES HE KEEP THE CAPE??
#6
In the The Day After Tomorrow I was totally ok with all of crazy weather and crazy explanations for what was happening. I was even mostly ok with them running from “the cold” as they barely made it in to the roof of a Wendy’s, but when they started grilling circle shaped hamburger patties instead of square shaped patties inside that Wendy’s, that was it for me. Everyone knows Wendy’s has square patties, how dare you!! I just could couldn’t take anything seriously after that point.
"They'll never get all of it, especially the specialized stuff," he pointed out that, in his thread, some commenters were extremely well-versed in "medicine and guns, among other topics." Nobody's asking for perfection; but the basics, at least, should be gotten right.
"Say, putting the 4 train on the Brighton line will leave a lot of New Yorkers scratching their hands more than King Kong or Godzilla on the Boardwalk." If you're interested in flash fiction, you can take a peek at Christopher's book 'In A Flash 2020' here and here. Meanwhile, you'll find his fun webcomic right over here.
#7
Independence Day, when Jeff Goldblum plugs the Apple into the alien ship and infects them with a virus.
#8
PERFECT TEETH. Whether it's someone from before 1950 or a strung-out junkie, they still have those perfectly straight white Hollywood teeth.
#9
Makeup and hair done in unrealistic settings or wrong eras
You are in a post apocalyptic world trying to survive and somehow you have your hair done with a bit of cat eyeliner.
Another one is historical movies with modern hair and makeup. Wank my eyes out.
Let’s put it this way. We’re completely fine with there being wizards and dragons in the stories we read and watch. However, they still need to behave more or less like wizards and dragons. If dragons can teleport around the world instead of, you know, actually flying to places, we’re going to start asking questions. Similarly, if their strength, resilience, and the power of their breath all vary wildly from scene to scene because the plot demands it, we’re going to sigh and say, “C’mon!”
The same can be said about character motivations. Yes, people grow, adapt, and change their minds. However, you can’t expect the audience to get emotionally invested in the characters themselves if they change their minds about what’s right and wrong from scene to scene and episode to episode. There needs to be consistency and logic! Some recent TV shows are absolutely great at destroying the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief.
#10
Definitely the post apocalyptic setting where everyone is ripped with insane muscle mass even though getting anywhere near the calories required to maintain that physique would be impossible.
#11
People have their necks snapped when their head is slightly pulled to the left or right, instead of the full 180 you'd need. It makes you think they were always one violent sneeze or sudden head lean away from killing themselves.
#12
I hate when vehicles no one heard suddenly burst onscreen and hit someone.
The worst example I’ve seen was a company of helicopters. I don’t remember the name of the movie or what was taking place but it was a night scene in a compound high in a mountain range.
Suddenly, three or four helicopters anyone with ears would have heard coming from miles away swoop in and take everyone by surprise.
Time and money wasted.
Things that low-key irk us include characters teleporting around Middle Earth seemingly in an instant in The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. It’s also hard to stay invested in the story when it’s hard to grasp the timeframe. And don’t even get us started on how low-quality some of the costumes were… Look, if you’re doing something related to The Lords of the Rings, you have to get the details right.
In a similar fashion, as much as we enjoyed House of the Dragon, we had a hard time actually liking some of the characters just because of how often their motivations and personalities flip-flopped. However, watching the show got us to read George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood about the entire Targaryen dynasty, so we still call that a win. There’s far more consistency to be found in the pages of the book than in the show, but we’re still eagerly waiting for season 2. (Maybe they've heard the feedback from fans and they'll fix the lighting in some scenes! The stories are dark, but the scenes don't have to mirror that in an all-too-literal sense; we want to see what's going on.)
#13
Narrow specialty doctors drawing bood, doing microscopy and other routine stuff that doctors don't normally do (looking at you, House).
#14
My number one pet peeve is when characters who speak the same language are all speaking in English to each other with accents. I get they do it because they’re targeting an English-speaking audience and a lot of this group can’t be bothered to read subtitles, but that always takes me out. I’m also anti-dub because I like to hear the actors speak in their native language, even if I can’t understand it.
#15
The opening of A Quiet Place, when the camera pans to a newspaper vending machine and the headline reads, “It’s Sound!!”
I could not get past the idea that the world (maybe just the area?) is being destroyed by creatures with such super hearing that we later see children playing Monopoly with pieces of felt because the sound of plastic on chipboard will evidently risk death, and someone had to write a story about something so obvious, then it was proofed, then it was edited, then someone had to typeset it, THEN they actually ran the printing press - they’re *absurdly* loud - and some poor schlub had to brave their way through the streets, dodging sound monsters as the sun was coming up, so they could drive around the city and fill vending machines with newspapers.
I know it’s a throwaway moment in the movie, I get that it’s an homage to sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s, but it’s just so dumb when you think about it.
Then, of course, you find out the protagonists have decided to put themselves and their family in complete danger by getting pregnant (you really think you can keep a baby completely silent through their being a toddler? And your best soundproofing is newspapered walls and one spring mattress?!) and I just couldn’t enjoy anything or take it seriously. I hate that movie with a vengeance.
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
The newspapers were printed when the fact was discovered, meaning most areas were not effected yet, and you can only imagine the look on everyone's faces when they read the headline being printed
At the end of the day, there will always be particular decisions that storytellers make that will upset us (and us specifically), and we either have to actively ignore them or move on to a better film/show/book. One small ‘mistake’ probably won’t prevent us from immersing ourselves in the story. But these errors in continuity and logic can quickly add up.
The best thing that moviemakers can do is to try and find realistic (again, realistic in the context of their world) solutions to their narrative problems, instead of going for lazy solutions. If we wanted to watch a low-budget film or read a poorly-written piece of fan fiction, we would’ve chosen to do that instead.
#16
Any scene in a movie where an ordinary person gets hold of a gun of any sort and instantly knows how to hold, accurately aim, fire, and reload it.
Thomas Bentley 1 year ago
Weapons are quite simple, if there is a trigger; pull it to make boomstick go boom, if there is a lever near the magazine housing, fiddle with it to make the magazine fall out, charging handles are more complex, but in video games you see someone pulling a handle to charge the weapon, so in movies in the present will have that to help them. the exception is stoppages, but by then, a competent person will have got themselves another weapon, and can discard the current one.
#17
Cars that explode like giant fireworks anytime they get into a wreck. Even for fender benders. Or when they drive a car off a cliff and it explodes before it even lands on anything. If this were true, would any of us even be alive?
N Miller 1 year ago
It's a leftover from when cars were far less safe. It's become a trope because it's expected - the collective consciousness "knows" that cars explode on impact because they did (used to do that). Cars also are completely undrivable after taking to the air via ramp and landing with enough force to break an axle, but I've not seen that one on the list so far....
#19
This actually just occurred to me today: in The Matrix, the concept of "dying in the simulation kills you IRL" and "the body cannot live without the mind". I get that the simulation is *very* real, but it only interacts with your conscious brain by implanting images and sensations into your cerebrum. Your autonomic nervous system is controlled by the brain stem (cerebellum) and has nothing to do with your conscious interaction with the surrounding world.
Your brain stem doesn't "know" that you got shot; physiological changes due to the impact impair homeostasis, and interrupt vital functions. Your brain stem will still try to make your heart beat even if your heart gets ripped out of your chest (for the few moments it still has oxygen) so why would your brain stem "decide" to make your heart stop just because you think you got shot?
it makes no sense at all and considering much of the series relies on people dying for real because they died in the simulation totally ruins it for me
Dan Baxter 1 year ago (edited)
The brain stem is more than just the cerebellum, it has three parts. Moreover, the cerebellum is the primary motor cortex, which controls our bodily movements especially in response to sensory cues, and not the piece of the brain that controls the heart: that is the hypothalamus (located below the thalamus). If you want to pick apart the Matrix, the idea that jamming a big metal rod into the longitudinal fissure in the brain - most likely severing or damaging the corpus callosum in the process completely removing the ability to form long-term memories among other major damages -- would somehow completely immerse you in sensory information would be completely wrong, for a variety of different reasons. I still enjoyed the movies, but as a psychologist, I very much had to suspend disbelief at a number of the aspects of their explanation of the Matrix and how it would work in the brain.
#20
Game of Thrones: I know there was plenty of awful writing in the later seasons, but armies just started teleporting around the place. Armies on horseback and foot. I grew up on a farm and do you know how much food animals need for 6 week. And people. When winter is coming in, so zero grass growth. And moving that food around with the army. And then carts, wheelwrights to fix the carts wheels. They had spent a lot of time showing how far sone parts were from each other.
#21
This is very niche, but as a professional musician “whiplash“ pissed me off. The scene where Miles Teller is practicing his drums until his hand starts bleeding is absolutely detrimental to his technique. If he does that regularly, he’ll be lucky if he can hold a pen let alone play the drums by the time he’s 40.
#22
I was really surprised and taken out of the movie 3 Kings to see people hauling duffel bags of gold bars like they weighed nothing. It is not just one scene, the whole movie they are tossing around, carrying while running, passing from person these duffel bags we're supposed to believe are full of gold bars. One gold bar is 25 pounds so these bags would be easily be hundreds and hundreds of pounds
Ian Webling 1 year ago
In years gone by, if you went on a tour of a South African gold mine, you were shown standard sized gold bars. You were told if you could carry one of them one-handed out of the door you could keep it.
#23
Anyone in a NYC apartment that doesn't immediately lock their doors after entering. That is, unless the character grew up in the suburbs. In that case, they're too dumb to live in a city.
Liz Clarke 1 year ago
Most places have doors that lock when you close them (in the UK at least). I've only lived in one place in my life (35 years old) that didn't, and that place was out of date in many other ways. I'd just assume that was the case if they didn't manually lock their front door.
#24
Hollywood's insistence that getting shot with a shotgun will throw you back several feet.
#25
When 102 pound actresses dispatch a room full of dudes that look like Dave Babtista without taking a single knock in the process. Same can be true with make actors too.
Lord Mysticlaw 1 year ago
Also when you have a woman who works out all the time and kicks a*s in a fight, but has a figure like a stick insect without any visible muscles. I specifically remember Black Canary annoyed me so much when I was watching Arrow.
#26
“The Dark Knight Rises”. Ok, so no one has seen Batman OR Bruce Wayne for seven years and then they BOTH show up in Gotham at the same time but no one notices the coincidence? Not even “Robin” because he says he figured it out by looking into his eyes. Took me out of the movie and that happened at the beginning. Oh and let’s not forget that Commissioner Gordon couldn’t figure that part out either but could all of a sudden remember a tiny conversation he had with a very young Bruce Wayne to put it together. Dumb.
#27
When things are conveniently silent: Talk about someone in a normal voice when they're three feet away. "Can I have a word with you for a minute?" Steps to the other end of the couch for a long conversation about something secret.
Or, sneaks into the back of a car when someone is right there. Car doors make a lot of noise.
#28
Aliens in Sci fi films that look and talk like modern Americans, and even share their same values and human biology. But they have spots on their face so they're definitely alien.
InvincibleRodent 1 year ago
I understand that this whole "Technicolor Space Babes" trope comes from a time when aliens had to be played by humans due to technical constraints, but nowadays, with CG, the WILDEST aliens would be possible. I hope when (fingers crossed) Project Hail Mary gets a movie adaptation, they'll do my boy right...
#29
I love Mean Girls, but that scene where Regina George gets hit by a bus, while actually being very funny, also completely takes me out of the movie. She's standing in the street for a long time before a bus, that somehow doesn't see her, plows through her at full speed, all while making no sound whatsoever before it hits her
#30
Indiana Jones in a refrigerator being flung hundreds of yards by a nuclear explosion, fast enough to pass a car going full speed, and being unharmed.
In a movie with aliens, a teenager swinging from vines with monkeys fast enough to catch moving vehicles and alien ghosts.
Luke Branwen 1 year ago
Let's just agree that Indy is extra durable because he drank from the Holy Grail :)
#31
This is a dumb one I know, but it irks me that everyone overslept in Home Alone 2.
There was no household power outage, and I'm supposed to believe that NOBODY had set an alarm clock besides Kevin's parents?
#32
In 'End of Days' the movie goes out of it's way to show that the main character's life is in shambles and he basically doesn't care about anything anymore. He's a drunk who eats garbage and almost never leaves his apartment.
The problem? The main character is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, so we're supposed to believe that this guy who doesn't give a s**t about his health has the body of a guy who puts roids in his cereal and spends 4 hours a day at the gym.
René Sauer 1 year ago
Well, maybe he is only at beginning of it and his body didn't have time to detoriate.
#33
As a Mexican , it’s the fake Spanish accents in movies. Or when a Mexican American actor tries to speak Spanish but they have a very thick English accent and just doesn’t fit the character
#34
Prometheus: The ship arrives in another solar system. One of the characters says (something like): "we travelled millions of miles to arrive here." Me: so, you are, like, close to Mars? That's not even our backyard, dude. That's our living room!
Cthulhu is Alive 1 year ago
I never got how she was running in the shadow of the crashing spaceship instead of just running to the side.
#35
Okay The Kingdom of Crystal Skull has been discussed a lot but for me it wasn't the scene where Indy gets into the refrigerator. That did cross a certain line of disbelief but I could live with it. For me, it was the scene where Mutt (an awful character) learns within minutes how to swing on vines from the monkeys, has enough arm strength to keep going at it and is so fast he can catch up with a speeding car.
#36
The way most movies very inaccurately portray teenagers, especially with the lingo or slang. It’s always either outdated or feels so forced and unnatural. I always think, oh my god KIDS DONT TALK LIKE THIS . .. why can’t writers spend time with some youth to see what they’re actually like
#37
Any example where there’s a race against time that requires being somewhere in 5-10 minutes that would clearly take 30-45 *minimum*.
I understand that mechanically it’s probably easier to build a sense of momentum when the race against time roughly corresponds to the runtime itself, but whenever someone says “I’ll be there in 5 minutes,” I can’t help but get distracted thinking how it’ll take them that long just to get going and on the road, let alone cover the 45+ minute commute between locations.
It’s not something so egregious as to ruin the film/episode, it’s just something I immediately notice and therefore necessitates an active suspension of my disbelief.
#38
In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, they escaped the Goblin King's lair by scooting down a chasm on a physics-defying rickety tower that somehow always stayed upright while bouncing off rock faces. That was Looney Tunes-level silly
#39
In Avatar when the element "unobtainium" was shown. The dialogue in that scene and the name just sunk the movie for me. It's too ridiculous.
Samuel Pelatan 1 year ago (edited)
That's an actual scientific name and commonly used among scientists tho https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unobtainium
#40
In the movie Van Helsing it was the grey Gap sweater that Hugh Jackman wore. Like, everyone else had a vaguely Victorian steampunk looking outfit and his sweater was straight off the clearance rack. We made fun of that choice for YEARS.
What do you think ?
Sunny Foxglove 1 year ago
Any movie that portrays women as warriors or having to go into battle wearing skimpy clothes that could only pass as a swim suit or dominatrix lingerie, always gets to me. If I'm going into battle I'm wearing bullet proof vests, chainmail, and a suit of armor. I'm not slinging a bow and arrow over one shoulder of my deep cut, belly shirt, sporting a fashionable leather gun holster wrapped around my waist emphasizing my curves, while wearing a loin cloth and knee high stiletto boots carefully concealing knives like some weird filming for Girls Gone Wild, Warrioress Edition.
Amy Moore 1 year ago
It's all the long hair everywhere for me. Tie it up otherwise it will be a)in your face, obstructing your vision or b) your opponent can use it has handle to control you/slam your head against something or to drag you. Tie it up or restrain it!
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Henrik Schmidt 1 year ago
Today I learned that superhero movies and animated movies are unrealistic. Who'd have thought, eh?
Brandon Parisien 1 year ago
There's suspension of disbelief and going too far....like the (Star Trek) Discovery crew suffering no effects of oxygen deprivation in season 3.
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Sunny Foxglove 1 year ago
Any movie that portrays women as warriors or having to go into battle wearing skimpy clothes that could only pass as a swim suit or dominatrix lingerie, always gets to me. If I'm going into battle I'm wearing bullet proof vests, chainmail, and a suit of armor. I'm not slinging a bow and arrow over one shoulder of my deep cut, belly shirt, sporting a fashionable leather gun holster wrapped around my waist emphasizing my curves, while wearing a loin cloth and knee high stiletto boots carefully concealing knives like some weird filming for Girls Gone Wild, Warrioress Edition.
Amy Moore 1 year ago
It's all the long hair everywhere for me. Tie it up otherwise it will be a)in your face, obstructing your vision or b) your opponent can use it has handle to control you/slam your head against something or to drag you. Tie it up or restrain it!
Load More Replies... Henrik Schmidt 1 year ago
Today I learned that superhero movies and animated movies are unrealistic. Who'd have thought, eh?
Brandon Parisien 1 year ago
There's suspension of disbelief and going too far....like the (Star Trek) Discovery crew suffering no effects of oxygen deprivation in season 3.
Load More Replies...
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