# not a mistake but it takes you out of the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629 "2009-01-23T13:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/301 "2009-02-09T08:27:40Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I was in SAC in the early 70’s. When on guard duty, we were loaded all the time. > > (With ammo, of course) > > Q Hell, I’m not loaded _now_ and I’m in Iraq. I do have ammo. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/302 "2009-02-10T15:21:17Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > **Oceans Twelve** , when the Julia Roberts character was able to get into the art museum and meet Bruce Willis by pretending to be… Juila Roberts! WTF? Good call on this one. One of the biggest WTF moments in movies, and how can ya concentrate after that? A real fridge-nuker 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/303 "2009-02-10T15:59:59Z")
When a character does something solely to advance the plot but otherwise makes no sense. For example in Friday the 13th (the original from 1980), in the very end after seeing everyone has died the last surviving girl pushes a canoe on the lake and gets in it where she falls asleep. I know they did this to show Jason come out of the lake, but it makes no sense that she would have done that. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/304 "2009-02-10T17:56:04Z")
> [@Yumblie](#): > > It’s always a little jarring in a movie when some supernatural disaster befalls modern civilization, and so the dramatic tension isn’t undercut, the characters can’t ironically recognize that they are part of a movie plot that’s become real to them. Like, in the modern world, if zombies attacked, people would be frightened, but it wouldn’t be that much of a shock because of the familiarity our culture has with them from zombie movies. > > I’d like to see more movies with typical disasters like zombies, alien invasion, monsters trashing cities, and so on, but take place in a past time when people weren’t desensitized to such events. A _War of the Worlds_ movie taking place in 19th century London…or [Pride and Prejudice and Zombies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=504802). I’m not desensitized to any of those events because they’ve never happened, and if they did happen I’d be shocked. Because I’ve only seen them in movies. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/305 "2009-02-10T18:33:22Z")
This is going to sound weird, but I just watched _Changeling_. And the choice to show the murderer as simply rounding up boys for the exclusive purpose of murder was jarring and made no sense. Why would he do that? He didn’t of course, he rounded them up to rape them first. But the complete removal of all suggestions that that was the case took up too much space in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/306 "2009-02-10T19:32:14Z")
In Dog Soldiers, a horror/thriller about a military unit who gets ambushed by werewolves while on a training mission, one of the characters with the nickname “Spoon” gets ripped to hamburger by a werewolf. Two soldiers find the remains, one asks, “Where’s Spoon?” The groan-inducing reply? “There is no Spoon.” ---
**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 10, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/307 "2009-02-10T19:48:41Z")
> [@Asylum](#): > > I’m not desensitized to any of those events because they’ve never happened, and if they did happen I’d be shocked. Because I’ve only seen them in movies. This. By **Yumblie** ’s logic, no woman who has ever watched _Lifetime_ movies should be traumatized by being raped or beated by her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/308 "2009-02-10T19:56:32Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > RE: unnecessary nudity. The winner here has to be **Under Siege**. Bad guys have machine gunned everyone except Seagal… > > …and Erika Eleniak, who was waiting inside a cake the whole time. When Seagal comes into the room she rises out of the cake and takes her top off. Uh…she didn’t think anything was wrong? Didn’t look around first? How long was she going to sit in that cake? Was it a soundproof cake? It’s been a while, and I have no desire to be witnessed defending a Seagal movie…but wasn’t she given some drug on the flight over? I can’t remember if it was intentional, or if it was just something for sea/air sickness… She just woke up at an inconvenient time and immediately went into dancer-mode. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/309 "2009-02-10T20:06:43Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > It’s been a while, and I have no desire to be witnessed defending a Seagal movie…but wasn’t she given some drug on the flight over? I can’t remember if it was intentional, or if it was just something for sea/air sickness… > > She just woke up at an inconvenient time and immediately went into dancer-mode. > > -Joe I guess after she landed someone could have changed her out of her airplane clothes, dressed her in her stripper bikini, carried her from her flight to the aircraft carrier and into the room below, and stuffed her sleeping body into a giant cake. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/310 "2009-02-10T20:30:28Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I guess after she landed someone could have changed her out of her airplane clothes, dressed her in her stripper bikini, carried her from her flight to the aircraft carrier and into the room below, and stuffed her sleeping body into a giant cake. **OBVIOUSLY**. It could have been the best scene in the movie, but from what I read Ms. Elaniak was against having two nude scenes in one feature. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![echowit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@echowit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echowit)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/311 "2009-02-11T10:10:40Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > In addition to never saying “hello” and “goodbye,” how about when we only hear one side of a phone conversation and the person repeats everything the other party is saying? > > Real-life example, if you were in the same room as my wife: > > Me: Hi, honey, I’ll be getting home a little late. > My Wife: You’ll be getting home a little late? Why? > Me: I’m stuck in traffic. > Wife: You’re stuck in traffic? What time do you think you’ll be home? > Me: Probably about 6:30. > Wife: About 6:30? > Me: _Why the hell are you repeating everything I say??_ Sounds like Bob Newhart from the standup days ---
**Author:** ![Professor\_Murder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@Professor\_Murder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Professor_Murder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/312 "2009-02-11T13:22:58Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > It was a mistake, and it took me out of the movie: > > the first X-Men movie, outside the train station. Magneto uses his magnetic control powers to snatch the guns out of all the cop’s hands and then point them back at the cops. So far, okay. > > But he shoots one of the cops and stops the _lead_ bullet right at the man’s forehead. Pofessor X says in the movie that Magneto can control metal and create magnetic fields, so doing that bullet stopping trick isn’t that big of a stretch, in movieland anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Professor\_Murder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@Professor\_Murder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Professor_Murder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/313 "2009-02-11T13:31:34Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Yes, Magneto said that, but I think that was a misread line or a flaw in the script. There was no reason for him to cock and fire a weapon and then halt the bullet. Xavier glances at Jean when Magneto says that, and her look says “I can’t stop them all.” I have this on DVD, watched it last week, Magneto fires the bullet at the cop, stops it, then Xavier tries to reason with him using his mind powers, Magneto cocks all the other guns, and says something like ‘I can’t stop them all Charles’. Then Xavier lets magneto escape in his helicopter. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/314 "2009-02-11T14:38:52Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > And they do NOT do the “if anyone gathered here can think of a reason for these two not to be wed” type of thing. And they don’t (officially) say “you may now kiss the bride,” though I’ve noticed a lot priests throw it in there somewhere. “You may kiss the bride” is part of my standard script, but then most brides here are more interested in Hollywood than Christianity. I also got a request for the “speak now, or…” line for one ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/315 "2009-02-11T21:02:47Z")
OK, here’s one that actually meets the spirit of the OP, I think, that just popped into my head. In _Scent of a Woman_, there’s a scene where Al Pacino strips and re-assembles a gun, then just afterward is threatening suicide. The Chris O’Donnell is trying to talk him out of it, then grabs the gun and pops out the clip. And all I could think about through the rest of their dialogue in the scene was, “Guys, that gun’s still loaded!” At the end of the assembly scene, Pacino had worked the slide to chamber a round, you see … It seemed like a stupid filmmaker mistake, but it was an intentional character mistake. At the end of the scene, after O’Donnell has talked him down, Pacino glares at him, then spits out, “You forgot the one in the chamber,” and works the slide again to eject the last round from the gun. I had to watch that movie again just to actually listen to the dialogue in that scene. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/316 "2009-02-12T16:08:00Z")
In the Usual Suspects, just as they’re done discussing and working out the plan for the heist, one of the characters (I think McManus) says “News says it’s raining in New York.” The line is apropos of nothing and seems really random and distracting. The job they’re planning isn’t in NY and neither are they. I suppose, in retrospect, it’s to add a degree of realism to the film… because they’re all a little stunned at this point about how hard this assignment is gonna be to carry off, and he sorta throws it out there just to break the silence. And people would actually do that, just say something to say something. Plus it could be, I guess, a bit of gallows humor — “we all might die. Oh and not only that, but it’s raining back home.” But it’s a bit tangential in an otherwise notoriously smooth film. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/317 "2009-02-16T08:14:25Z")
**Spoiler for God Emperor of Dune** A book rather than a film, but in _God Emperor of Dune_ Leto falls in love with an ambassador named Hwi. In the final chapter, Siona and Idaho attack Leto’s procession sending Leto and the ambassador plummeting to their death. As he falls, Leto shouts his love’s name. And all I can picture is a giant worm flying through the air, shouting “Wheeeeee!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=15)