# 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:** 12
**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:** [January 5, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/221 "2003-01-05T11:00:05Z")
Those of you who are just saying “Such and such movie was terrible…”-- can you elaborate? What assertations or premises were factually flawed or misleading? I’d like to focus on those types of insults to one’s intelligence, rather than have another ‘movies I hated’ thread. ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/222 "2003-01-05T11:44:28Z")
Simpsons episode… “We haven’t had a case this solid since The Neverending Story” . LoL. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/223 "2003-01-05T15:59:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > **Exactly what bugged you about it…** It was actually that the movie had a ‘message’ (i.e. beauty is skin-deep) and then subverted that message by using Gwynnie looking skinny and hot to represent that inner beauty. I can’t help thinking that if they had used an obese actress throughout, and created the illusion of beauty through Jack Black’s acting, it would have been much more powerful. That, and it didn’t make me laugh once. ---
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/224 "2003-01-05T16:05:58Z")
The Fast and the Furious ---
**Author:** ![Pucky\_Schumer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Pucky\_Schumer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pucky_Schumer)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/225 "2003-01-05T21:39:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruffian \* > **This just seems to me a Hollywood tradition. The audience can’t really tell it’s a dog, you see, unless it barks …** Also, audiences cannot tell that it is night unless crickets are chirping. And they can’t tell that a car is going fast unless the tires squeal. Even on gravel! All this and more I learned from [Jabootu](http://www.jabootu.com/) ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/226 "2003-01-05T22:56:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruffian \* > \*\*This just seems to me a Hollywood tradition. The audience can’t really tell it’s a dog, you see, unless it barks. The same holds true for cats–if there’s one onscreen, then the audience MUST hear a meow to confirm that ah yes, it IS a cat! And, most annoying to this equestrienne, if a horse is onscreen…it has to whinny. Has to. Horses only whinny for very particular reasons, and none of the horses I ever see…excuse me, _hear_…whinnying on screen are either separated from their herd or about to be fed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. > > The audience, that is…at least according to the dumbsh\*t producers/directors who demand such cheap effects. \*\* Omy GOSH you made me laugh with this one, Yes, yes, I know…you are SOOOO right. Actually our family (both mine ANd the bf’s) has a habit of finding it fun to pick out the idiotic things in movies. There’s actually a website where they post “errors in production” of movies. For instance, a guy in modern blue jeans and 1990s clothing appears in the “triangle” between a horses face and neck in the “gladiator”. There is an airplane in the sky in one of the scenes from 10million bc. (not sure if I have the name on that one right). And then there are the, what my bf calls “bullsh\*t flags,” we have a lot of fun with them. I mean, whoever it was (in this post) that said “most hollywood movies” was SO correct, so why not have fun with it?? I was just watching the old Stephen King movie “Carrie” this am on cable for a few minutes before running off to get coffee. In one scene one of the main characters is at the beauty parlor getting her hair done for the prom that night. Then in the very next scene, there she is helping decorate the gym (which had been said to have been decorated for TWO WEEKS in a previous scene,lol) in PIGTAILS!! Oh well, that was the 70s, editors were probably smokin’ and tokn’,lol ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/227 "2003-01-06T00:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptMurdock \* > \*\ ***Red Dawn**. You seriously ask me to believe that the Russian Army could mobilize three-four million troops, along with all their support personnel, tanks, planes, etc. and the U.S. government has no clue until the invasion??? Even the CIA, at their most incompetent, could not have missed this buildup. > > \*\* And, the Russian Army is terrorized by a bunch of teenage American rebels. “Wolverines!” Gah! ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/228 "2003-01-06T01:11:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dale The Bold \* > \*\*I have a “sort of” explanation for the **Independence Day** computer virus flaw. Early in the movie, Jeff Goldblum’s character discovered the diminishing numeric countdown. (etc) \*\* The stupidest part of that scene, though, was the nice graphical interface that had a progress bar with “Uploading Virus” written on it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/229 "2003-01-06T04:58:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Super Gnat \* > \*\*They could turn the forcefield on and off, 'member? It’s not so implausible that they could turn it off, put the coke can on, and then turn it back on for the demonstration. > > Of course, this still doesn’t excuse the rest of the stupidity. \*\* I thought they did sort of explain that. Maybe I was just assuming that the forcefield was against high velocity assault and that movement in and around it wouldn’t be stopped unless detected at a certain level (a “smart” force field"?). Like corn starch after you mix it with water. You can sloooowly stir it and it remains liquid, but if you try to stir it violently it stiffens up. But, maybe I imagined that that’s what the deal was with the force field. lol ---
**Author:** ![ruralrage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@ruralrage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruralrage)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/230 "2003-01-06T05:18:25Z")
There was a movie i rented a few weeks ago called BALLISTIC: ECKS VERSUS SEVER. I rented it in the good hopes that i would have a cheap plot with a lot of explosions and death and blood and sex…gotta have that somewhere now, come on! Now, what surprised me, was that it had everything but the sex. I was seriously surprised that this movie insulted me. I watched it, waiting for some line to piece everything together, but it was an excuse to have Lucy Liu shoot high explosive weapons and kick DARTH MAUL’s ass, not that it needed any more kicking. But what made me drop my mouth a few yards was when the bad guy dies by a device he seemingly never had: his little assasination bug thingamagiger… Did anyone see this movie as well? I didn’t quite expect it to meet my low expectations, but hey…it can happen. Oh yeah, maybe it was just me, but the sound was terrible. They would talk in whispers and shoot very loud weapons…very interesting to watch in the middle of the night, with family sleeping all around… ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/231 "2003-01-06T05:58:57Z")
Almost everything with Steven Seagal in it. Especially “On Deadly Ground” - the only movie I actively sought to fall asleep in. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/232 "2003-01-06T06:01:42Z")
… and then there was the movie version of “The Saint”. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the entertainmant value of the darkened ceiling of a movie theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/233 "2003-01-06T06:16:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tblue \* > \*\*Almost everything with Steven Seagal in it. > \*\* Ohhh, I second this. Whatever the crap he was in where he was a cop in a coma for what…8 years? and then _ **POOOF!** _\*\* he’s out of the coma and back on the case. Ahhhhh, wouldn’t his muscles be atrophied just a little bit? The opening scene in \*\*Lethal Weapon \*\* where the hooker jumps out of the window and lands 25 plus floors down atop the roof of a car and her body is in \*perfect shape \* made me damn near walk out of the theater. Then I remembered I hadn’t seen \*\*Mel \*\* yet, so I sat back down and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the flick. One of my favorite action films of all time. But that opening landing still rankles my dander. ---
**Author:** ![StPaul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@StPaul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StPaul)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/234 "2003-01-06T06:40:17Z")
Don’t forget (or don’t bother to remember) the made for TV movie **Atomic Twister.** Every tired old disaster movie cliché ever inflicted on an audience was plopped in to this movie. Here are some of my favorite “highlights”: There are only two people on duty at the nuclear plant because everyone else has taken the day off. The two people that are there are of the caliber that you expect to see manning the late shift at a 7-11. There’s no processes or procedures for the staff to follow. Of course none of the backup systems work. No one can hear the tornado until they open a screen door and step out into the parking lot. And the tornado turns around and comes back again and again until the film has hit its allotted 90 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/235 "2003-01-06T08:56:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanvasShoes \* > \*\*I thought they did sort of explain that. Maybe I was just assuming that the forcefield was against high velocity assault and that movement in and around it wouldn’t be stopped unless detected at a certain level (a “smart” force field"?). > > Like corn starch after you mix it with water. You can sloooowly stir it and it remains liquid, but if you try to stir it violently it stiffens up. > > But, maybe I imagined that that’s what the deal was with the force field. lol \*\* GOdamnit, 2 different people have already said this, and I was first anyway!!! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/236 "2003-01-06T09:14:31Z")
Langston Hughes knew why the caged bird sang, but apparently nobody can hear a goldfish in a bowl. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/237 "2003-01-06T11:26:30Z")
**Silentgoldfish** , we were just ignoring you because you left off the cornstarch analogy. The world needs more [cutting-edge cornstarch research scientists](http://www.iftps.org/Abstract1.htm), in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/238 "2003-01-06T11:38:11Z")
Yes, yes, I always forget to simplify for the plebs. Ok, angry smiley face withdrawn. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/239 "2003-01-06T14:17:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Interesting. I had no problem with the eating ash; there are plenty of examples of animals with specialized diets (the koala and eucalyptus). Perhaps the dragons needed elavated levels of potassium, for example. The problem is that Ash is practically worthless from a nutritional perspective. Most of its energy content has been burned off. Its _HIGHLY_ unlikely to be usable, unless these dragons can digest raw carbon. There are something I simply am not going to accept. ANd animal that eats ash as aprimary foodstuff is one of them. > [@](#): > > Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was ridiculous as well, In what way? It doesn’t all make sense from a freshman westerner perspective, but I assure you, the movie is entire logicaly if you understand the underlying cultural ideas its based on. Could you give me something more to work with here? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499/240 "2003-01-06T20:14:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silentgoldfish \* > \*\*GOdamnit, 2 different people have already said this, and I was first anyway!!! :mad: \*\* SORRRRR EEEE!! LOL I scrolled and scrolled and I’m sorry, but I missed them… Which brings me to a question (and Yes! I checked the FAQs etc, but couldn’t find this). Is there a way to “upthread” so that you can go to the post which answers another post? Sorry not making sense here… In many of the other communities I go to, if you get to a post that has a reference to a previous post, there is an “upthread” type link which takes you directly to the previous post for that person. In other words, say a person’s post says something like “well billy bob, you’re wrong about that”. In many communities you can then go to "billy bob’s original post to see what he was talking about. (I probably made that clear as mud). In THIS case, I would have been able to “upthread” to whoever was talking to each other re: the force field incident". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-insult-your-intelligence/145499.md?page=13)