# Little mistakes that take you out of the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969 "2009-02-22T19:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/81 "2009-02-27T21:43:17Z")
This isn’t really a little mistake, so I suppose I’m cheating here, but Helen Whatsherbucket in “As Good as it Gets” and her intermittent (Brooklyn, was it?) accent really chapped my hide. Seriously, lady, get it together. And why did the director never yell “Cut!” and have her fix whatever mess she was creating with her voice? ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/82 "2009-02-27T22:10:09Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > It’s an order of magnitude worse when chess terminology is tossed in gratuitously with bogus opening names, fictitious champions and even master players, and all the other trappings that even club players know to be bogus. I mean, if they can’t fool the basic chess amateur, how do they expect to fool anybody who really knows what’s going on? That leaves people who haven’t the foggiest about chess, and I guess they deserve to think chess players are really all that much smarter then the average domino player. My favourite example of this is from The West Wing. There’s an episode where the president is giving out chess boards as gifts to members of his staff, and he ends up playing games against several of them. One scene has him playing against a character named Toby, and it goes something like: > [@](#): > > Toby plays 1.e4. > > President: Aha! The Evans Gambit! > > Toby: There’s no such thing as the Evans Gambit. > > President: Of course there is, it’s from the 19th century, and derived from the Giouco Piano opening… So this is basically nonsense. What he says about the Evans Gambit is true, but you have to get to White’s 4th move to recognize that the Evans Gambit has been played. That’s fine, so when I was watching this I just assigned it to the “TV nonsense” category. The odd thing is, though, that the two of them _do_ play the moves of the Evans Gambit as the game goes on. It seems that they did go to the trouble of planning this out, but either put the dialog in too early relative to the game, or played a _very_ obscure joke that hardly anyone in the audience would notice. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/83 "2009-02-27T23:22:50Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > The odd thing is, though, that the two of them _do_ play the moves of the Evans Gambit as the game goes on. It seems that they did go to the trouble of planning this out, but either put the dialog in too early relative to the game, or played a _very_ obscure joke that hardly anyone in the audience would notice. It does sometimes happen that scenes get rearranged a little for dramatic effect during the editing process. It’s possible the writers had that line come later in the game, when the gambit had actually been played, but someone else decided that the line worked better earlier in the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/84 "2009-02-27T23:43:59Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > So this is basically nonsense. What he says about the Evans Gambit is true, but you have to get to White’s 4th move to recognize that the Evans Gambit has been played. That’s fine, so when I was watching this I just assigned it to the “TV nonsense” category. The odd thing is, though, that the two of them _do_ play the moves of the Evans Gambit as the game goes on. It seems that they did go to the trouble of planning this out, but either put the dialog in too early relative to the game, or played a _very_ obscure joke that hardly anyone in the audience would notice. I suspect this is a case of a little knowlege being a dangerous thing; the writers (or whoever) did a little research and found the Evans Gambit. (It wasn’t uncommon for President Bartlett to wax intelligently about rather obscure things.) But they didn’t know enough to realize how many moves it would take to reveal the Evans Gambit. I’m still impressed. Most of the time chess is shown in movies or TV they don’t even bother to turn the board right. (Well, if it’s right half the time I’m willing to bet that’s just luck.) The folks at _The West Wing_ went two steps beyond what anyone else would have bothered with. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/85 "2009-02-28T00:12:13Z")
Most of the time lately, my willing suspension of disbelief comes to a screeching halt shortly after the words, “could you enhance that?” are uttered (or sometimes “zoom that in”). Yep. We all know that fuzzy video from cheap 20-year-old black & white security cameras can be enhanced to the point where a fuzzy blob all of two scanlines high becomes a readable license plate. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/86 "2009-02-28T00:59:33Z")
Oh my gosh, yes. Enhancing pictures and rotating video from satellites always makes me wince. Oh, then there was the time Knight Rider had KITT track a suspect, and the video was clearly from an auto racing game on the Intellivision console. I had played that game many times, and there’s no way it was anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/87 "2009-02-28T01:43:43Z")
It doesn’t actually take me out of a movie because it’s so common, but it frosts me every time. Evidently nobody in Hollywood has _ **EVER** _ looked thru a pair of binoculars. You idiots, you don’t see the scene in two round views, but in one round view. Probably everyone in the country over the age of six knows this but not in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/88 "2009-02-28T04:03:40Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > Again, I understand that language evolves, and archaic words often stick around. But words like “typing” and “books” tend to stay the same because a more applicable word never really stepped in to much fanfare. > > Contrast that with a Saturn-V rocket. The exhaust gasses go out the tail of the craft. But who in their right mind ever called that section a “tail-pipe”? To be fair, it is difficult to predict what words will stick around and what won’t. And if you are going to be that pedantic, you should also complain about how the English is so close to current day English, instead of correctly representing 200+ years of changes. English from 1809 and 2009 are distinctly different, I’d imagine 2209 will look very different as well 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/89 "2009-02-28T18:14:22Z")
Teeth do it for me. You want to portray a pirate ship/old west/ Victorian Era and they’re just back from the dentist for a whitening? nah. I’m not buying it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/90 "2009-02-28T18:24:23Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > To be fair, it is difficult to predict what words will stick around and what won’t. **And if you are going to be that pedantic, you should also complain about how the English is so close to current day English, instead of correctly representing 200+ years of changes**. English from 1809 and 2009 are distinctly different, I’d imagine 2209 will look very different as well 🙂 Quite true. You see the notion of the language having evolved in _Firefly_, for instance. Malcolm’s stylized speech isn’t him being idiosyncratic or uneducated; the language is just slightly different. But (assuming we don’t suffer some apocalyptic calamity) I don’t think that 2209 English will be as different from 2009 English as the latter is from 1809. Though the greater prevalance of printing and standardization of dictionaries hasn’t stopped linguistic evolution, it certainly has slowed it. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/91 "2009-02-28T18:38:59Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > That and the man went through extraordinary lengths to cover his window to get some sleep when all he had to do was put a shirt over his eyes like I do when my girlfriend watches tv late at night. I couldn’t disagree more. I worked graveyard shifts for four years and never have I seen such a good representation on how I felt some days. Sunlight everywhere. Any crack any break and it would creep in and fill the whole room with light. I would cover my windows in tinfoil then have to go back and re-do the job if I left any space. I had to learn to ‘live’ with the sunlight coming from under my door. I shuddered a little when the desk clerk turned on the light and the whole world went white for a second I’ve had that experience many times when flipping on a light after a particularly restless day. Though I’ve never had it quite as bad as he does in the movie I could certainly relate. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/92 "2009-02-28T18:51:40Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Quite true. You see the notion of the language having evolved in _Firefly_, for instance. Malcolm’s stylized speech isn’t him being idiosyncratic or uneducated; the language is just slightly different. > > But (assuming we don’t suffer some apocalyptic calamity) I don’t think that 2209 English will be as different from 2009 English as the latter is from 1809. Though the greater prevalance of printing and standardization of dictionaries hasn’t stopped linguistic evolution, it certainly has slowed it. LOL GTG BRB! Are you sure? ; ) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/93 "2009-02-28T18:59:08Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > LOL GTG BRB! > Are you sure? ; ) Yeah, I thought of that. But that’s more of a change in written language thing than a spoken one. When I see “LOL GTB BRB” I “hear” the phrases “laughing out loud, got to go, be right back.” ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/94 "2009-03-01T09:56:54Z")
I recall a Bond movie where a spook team sky dive onto the Rock of Gibraltar and seconds later they’re all running around with their parachutes repacked on their backs. It ruined my involment in the story because I kept thinking how the hell did they do that? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/95 "2009-03-01T10:07:17Z")
NUMBERS A math problem that takes PhD’s weeks to solve that in reality a high school calc student could solve in 20 minutes ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/96 "2009-03-01T12:50:58Z")
> [@Mitijea](#): > > I’m always bugged by incorrect pronunciation of place names by supposed locals. How hard is it to call up some town and ask how they pronounce it? > > One I always hear wrong is Lompoc. If your character has supposedly done time in the Lompoc Penitentiary, then he’s definitely going to know it is lomPOKE not lomPOCK. > > Also, Jack Bauer’s mispronunciation of Visalia on 24 threw me out of the moment - especially when other characters around him were pronouncing it correctly. It really bothers me that Hollywood writers are convinced the entire country thinks state and interstate route numbers take a definite article. As far as I know Southern CA is the only place in the country that thinks so. I’m willing to accept that they’re not alone, but it really gets to me when the movie takes place where I **know** the locals would say “take 95 to the airport” not “take the 95 to the airport”. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/97 "2009-03-01T16:40:55Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > It doesn’t actually take me out of a movie because it’s so common, but it frosts me every time. Evidently nobody in Hollywood has _ **EVER** _ looked thru a pair of binoculars. You idiots, you don’t see the scene in two round views, but in one round view. Probably everyone in the country over the age of six knows this but not in Hollywood. I was watching an otherwise forgettable move on the Sci-Fi channel which got this one _right_ the other day. Seeing the view through the binocs as just a single circle was so unexpected…that it took me out of the movie! The movie was 2005’s _It Waits_, and otherwise unremarkable monster-of-the-week. The leading lady looked quite spectacular in a tight white tank top… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/98 "2009-03-01T16:50:11Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I was watching an otherwise forgettable move on the Sci-Fi channel which got this one _right_ the other day. > > Seeing the view through the binocs as just a single circle was so unexpected…that it took me out of the movie! > > The movie was 2005’s _It Waits_, and otherwise unremarkable monster-of-the-week. The leading lady looked quite spectacular in a tight white tank top… Off-topic, but not by too much, is a similar IRL memory. A work buddy mentioned at lunch one day that the night before he had been startled out of his sleep by a strange noise: silence. His apartment complex was right next to the interstate and apparently there was a lull in traffic long enough to jolt him awake. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/99 "2009-03-01T17:18:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I was watching an otherwise forgettable move on the Sci-Fi channel which got this one _right_ the other day. > > Seeing the view through the binocs as just a single circle was so unexpected…that it took me out of the movie! > > The movie was 2005’s It Waits, and otherwise unremarkable monster-of-the-week. The leading lady looked quite spectacular in a tight white tank top Good God! I might just have to rent that movie so I could see this. Been watching movies since 1936 and have NEVER seen a binco view done correctly! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/100 "2009-03-01T17:36:09Z")
I hate to keep on the OT subject of the moment, but it might be a reasonable twist on the theme to indicate movies where the little thing that took you out of the movie was something like, “Hey, wait! This [name of actor who usually sucks] movie didn’t suck!” Maybe not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=6)