# Movies that insult your intelligence. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2002, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499 "2002-12-29T13:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/1 "2002-12-29T13:38:21Z")
I thought of this topic after having seen the trailer for _The Core_ for the second consecutive night. šŸ˜‰ Every movie, to some extent, asks that you suspend disbelief, to accept an unlikely or unfamiliar premise as real or the truth as it leads you along. Some ask you to think in a world where elves, wizards, and magic are natural and commonplace, where forces of good and evil fight epic wars. Some ask you to modify your understanding of natural laws and phenomena or manmade technology. Others hold that outwardly normal people can have superhuman abilities, have telepathy and psychokinesis, see the future, or transform into another being during certain conditions. Though we see little of these things in the real world, we can usually accept the presuppostions these movies put forth. Some movies, though, ask a little too much. No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot accept what itā€™s asking you to believe. Others so horribly mangle facts or reality that you lose all desire to continue watching the movie, as it can do nothing to redeem itself. Which movie asked too much of you? ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/2 "2002-12-29T15:37:29Z")
Argggggg . . . _Mission to Mars_. As soon as I managed to get my disbelief propped up on some flimsy scaffold, supported by a few two-by-fours, judiciously applied duct tape, and a big sloppinā€™ bucket of good will, another howler would come down the pike, and _CRASH_, there Iā€™d be, my disbelief in a heap in my lap. After a while I gave up. Nothing about the characters or the story made me _want_ to believe. Plus, what was _with_ the soundtrack??? (My absolute favorite was the ā€œpoint of no returnā€ indicator. I couldnā€™t stop snickering even though this was a Very Dramatic Point in the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/3 "2002-12-29T15:46:26Z")
I felt something akin to awe during **Armageddon** at several points. The first point was when they nonchalantly decided to start spinning Mirā€“_Mir_ā€“to get rid of the hassle of weightlessness. By the time one of the shuttles crash-landed on the Armagederoid, and sent the flight crew smashing through the window just like a non-seatbelted car crash, I was giggling madly and waiting for it to end. I have high hopes that **The Core** should be able to top that. Honorable mentions to \*\*Volcano/b], wherein a volcano suddenly starts spewing lava in downtown Los Angeles, but Tommy Lee Jones saves the city by damming the lava flow (which is thoughtfully confining itself to main roads) by using concrete i-beams. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/4 "2002-12-29T16:18:51Z")
Yeah, _The Core_ looks pretty bad. I donā€™t think I could suspend my disbelief enough to accept the premise. But one film that _really_ insulted my intelligence was _Wargames_. At the very end the computer says ā€“ over, and over, and over, and over ā€“ ā€œThe only correct move is not to play the game.ā€ Okay, Iā€™m a reasonably intelligent person. I _was_ able to pick up on the message without _being hit over the head with it_. I hate it when the filmmakers say, ā€œOur audience is stupid. Letā€™s make The Point so clear that _no one_ will have to do any thinking to figure it out.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/5 "2002-12-29T16:58:10Z")
I know Iā€™m going to get slammed for this, but my nomination is **The Matrix**. Letā€™s keep all the people on the planet alive and dreaming so we can use their bio-energy toā€¦ something, something, something, change reality only when the plot demands it, rebels, drugs, guns, explosions, whoa. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/6 "2002-12-29T17:02:16Z")
I saw the previews for The Core at Two Towers. Embarassed the hell out of my friends by howling with laughter from the moment they said ā€œthe Earthā€™s core has stopped spinningā€ until midway through the next trailer. My husband has pointed out that it is sci-fi in the 1950s pulp tradition of completely ignoring reality. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/7 "2002-12-29T17:09:57Z")
Hands down to **Double Jeopardy** on this score. Iā€™ve seen some pretty fast and loose summaries of the law, but this one takes it. Not only does the movie tell you that Ashley Judd can kill her husband in broad daylight after sheā€™s been sent up for killing him, it also assumes that she has no legal recourse in identifying her very high-profile husband whoā€™s very well known in another town. And it also screws around with her daughter, who should either be a lot more traumatized by all this, or should be her conduit to help by the authorities (what do you mean you lost my daughter?). And the ending is contrived, contrived, contrived. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/8 "2002-12-29T18:59:31Z")
Iā€™m gonna jump on \*\* The Matrix \*\* as well. Utterly irrational. Iā€™ve always had a problem with a movie I actually like a great deal, except for one aspect of it, and that is \*\* The Green Mile. \*\* The supernatural aspects of it donā€™t bother me at all, that is something set apart. But on the earthly endā€¦ itā€™s the Depression. Itā€™s the South. Itā€™s a mob. Itā€™s a giant black man with two white female children in his arms, dead and covered in blood. \* And he goes to jail? \* Bwahahahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/9 "2002-12-29T19:11:29Z")
**Attack of the Clones** , when Dooku shows the deathstar model on screen again, just to make sure no one in the viewing audience missed it. **Stargate** I remember the trailers for this movie saying they will take you ā€œlightyearsā€ into the future. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/10 "2002-12-29T19:14:42Z")
Any Rambo-esque movie. The idea that one man can defeat a respectibly-sized army just doesnā€™t seem right. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/11 "2002-12-29T19:19:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Drastic \*I felt something akin to awe during **Armageddon** at several points. The first point was when they nonchalantly decided to start spinning Mirā€“_Mir_ā€“to get rid of the hassle of weightlessness. Well, technically, it was ā€œThe Russian Space Station.ā€ They never actually called it Mir. It didnā€™t make sense anyway, no matter what they call it, but, anyway . . . ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/12 "2002-12-29T19:42:00Z")
\*Jurrasic Park.[/] ā€œOh no, dinosaurs. Oh, no, but it couldnā€™t be. Not those dinosaurs. No, it canā€™t be happening. No, itā€™s unbelievable. What?!ā€“No, itā€™s not possible! Not _those_ dinosaurs!ā€ The book was bad and the movie was worse. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/13 "2002-12-29T19:45:07Z")
_Panic Room_ ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/14 "2002-12-29T20:19:02Z")
Good Lord, where to start?? Well, most recently I saw **Bless the Child** , which was two hours of my life Iā€™ll never get back. The most ridiculous segment was when Nicole Kidman gets knocked out by the bad guys, but they donā€™t kill herā€¦instead, she wakes up DRIVING THE WRONG WAY down a freeway!! Good job, driving all those miles while unconscious. **24** also lost me with that bomb that went off at CTU, killed 32 people, and yet everyone is still there WORKING IN THE BUILDING, the phones & computers still work, thereā€™s NO NEWS MEDIA swarming aroundā€¦and donā€™t even get me started on Jackā€™s stupid daughter and that battered brat. But by far the worst example was when Jack only took 15 minutes to drive from downtown L.A. to Simi Valley (which is 40 miles away.) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/15 "2002-12-29T20:23:25Z")
Another vote here for ā€œDouble Jeapordyā€, for the same reasons ably discussed by Mighty Maximino above. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/16 "2002-12-29T20:26:32Z")
This would be a shorter discussion if we discussed films that _didnā€™t_ insult your intelligence. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/17 "2002-12-29T20:27:51Z")
There was a made-for-TV disaster movie about twenty years ago called _Starflight: The Plane that Couldnā€™t Land_ that was staggeringly bad. It was about a hypersonic airliner that accidentally (it may have been sabotage) goes into orbit. So right there, itā€™s pretty obvious that Physics wasnā€™t real high on the screenwriterā€™s list of priorities. But since everybody was weightless now, the crew strung a rope along the seatbacks so people could move around. When they did, they went hand-over-hand along the rope, _while walking on the floor in slow motion_! Oh my god! Itā€™s the magical gravity rope! And there was one I caught a few minutes of once, I later found out it was _Turbulence II: Fear of Flying_. The passengers on a hijacked airliner fight the hijacker and disarm him, but the guy who winds up with the gun is also on the plane to hijack it. Later, during the tense-negotiations-with-his-arch-nemesis-from-the-FBI-in-the-control-tower scene, the hijacker decides to Show Them Heā€™s Serious[sup]TM[/sup]. He takes one of the passengers to the back door of the plane. The passenger fights back, and they struggle for a minute until he gets pushed out. The hijacker yells ā€œThis oneā€™s for you!ā€ or something, _and the falling body hits the control tower_! Cruise missiles should be so accurate. ---
**Author:** ![mogiaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mogiaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mogiaw)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/18 "2002-12-29T20:39:35Z")
That film is a complete mess. If you think about it for more than a second, the whole story collapses IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/19 "2002-12-29T20:39:51Z")
Each of the three **Jurassic Park** movies was pretty insulting. Oddly enough, the second least of all - in terms of the dinosaurs themselves (though still pretty insulting with respect to the plot). The third one had me wailing and gnashing my teeth at what they did to _Spinosaurus_. And those ā€œraptorsā€. And the pterosaurs. And the plot. Andā€¦andā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/20 "2002-12-29T21:06:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*KGS \*\*\* > Well, most recently I saw **Bless the Child** , which was two hours of my life Iā€™ll never get back. The most ridiculous segment was when Nicole Kidman gets knocked outā€¦ Actually, it was [Kim Basinger](http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0163983). Other than that Iā€™m totally with you, although Iā€™m surprised you were able to narrow it down to one outstanding instance of shocking implausibility in this movie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499.md?page=2)