# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/81 "2009-01-26T01:23:13Z")
I always get thrown off whenever a movie features the current President in some way. I have no problem featuring the pres when you’re going back a decade, but can’t you just make up a fake president? Worse examples are the stock footage of Bill Clinton in _Contact_ and the fake George Bush in _Transformers._ Especially when it’s played up for a laugh. Let’s leave the jokes to the late night talk shows okay? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/82 "2009-01-26T01:50:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It’s the “No \*parent \*should ever outlive \*their \*child” rather than "No **father** should have to outlive **his son** that mostly bothers me. It’s too contemporary a phrasing. And un-Tolkien. John Ronald was too well educated to use a singular “their.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/83 "2009-01-26T01:53:58Z")
> [@flex727](#): > > Characters who don’t say goodbye after talking on the phone. They have their last line of dialogue and just hang up. Wait, I’m supposed to say goodbye on the phone? This is what I get for trying to learn American customs by watching American movies. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/84 "2009-01-26T02:24:29Z")
Mine is when the main characters are parts of organizations, but pretty much just do as they please. This is at the top of my mind after having seen The Wrath of Khan, in which nobody EVER phones home to confirm an order (or that they’re on the RIGHT FUCKING PLANET). Plus, Kirk letting a ship that’s not answering hails get close enough to fire? GAH! Anyways, you see it a lot - bureaucracy isn’t terribly exciting, true, but having the main characters just ignore the rulebook with no consequences will bring me out of a movie like nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/85 "2009-01-26T08:03:34Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > For me, it’s perfect hair. When a caveman, a castaway on a desert island, or someone who’s just been lost in a jungle for a week, has the kind of hair that you can only have just after walking out of a very expensive beauty salon. I know it’s standard practice in Hollywood, but it never fails to badly jar my suspension of disbelief. What gets me is something similar, when you can tell when a movie set during a historical time period was made by looking at the characters hair. For example, in a movie about pirates made in the 1970s, many of the characters will have long feathered Shaun Cassidy hair. Another unrelated thing is when an actor says something that you are not used to coming out of his or her mouth, either in character or in person. An example would be in the movie Bull Durham when Kevin Costner proclaims, “I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman’s back…” What the hell- Costner doesn’t talk like that! ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/86 "2009-01-26T08:55:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Morbo** :One notable exception to this, for me: In _Iron Man_, when Tony’s just been rescued, and the first thing he wants back in the States is a hamburger, which arrives in a very prominently-marked Burger King bag, clearly visible to camera. Just goes to show you, different strokes and all that. It was totally jarring to me and threw me out of the movie for a few minutes because (1) they made such a big freaking in-your-face deal out of it and (2) no way is an LA billionaire who can have anything he wants after a long, harrowing period of deprivation going to ask for freaking Burger King. In-N-Out, sure. Tommy’s, maybe, but Burger King? Pfooey. ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/87 "2009-01-26T09:00:33Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I have a theory that Indiana Jones didn’t really see _anything_ in Temple of Doom that can’t be explained away by a simpler explanation. But couldn’t that theory work for every movie ever? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/88 "2009-01-26T09:10:07Z")
In _Copying Beethoven_ when Luwdig “mooned” Anna? Could I be mistaken in that we didn’t have that phrase **or** that particular visual joke back then? Anyway, whether we did or not, while it didn’t _ruin_ the film, it did give me pause. Q ---
**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:** [January 26, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/89 "2009-01-26T09:36:07Z")
I don’t get bother much by product placement. I sometimes note it in passing. The one time I remember that was particularly jarring was in the second Fantastic Four movie (I know, not exactly Citizen Kane). Reed Richards calls for the new jet car he built. It arrives and Johnny notes the Chrysler embelm. “It has a Hemi, right?” “Of course”. For one we saw Richards building the dawn thing. It wasn’t built by Chrysler. Why would it have a Chrysler emblem on it? And it has a Hemi? Hemi refers to the hemispherical shaped combustion chambers in a Hemi engine. So this obviously jet powered vehicle has a combustion engine? > [@](#): > > What gets me is something similar, when you can tell when a movie set during a historical time period was made by looking at the characters hair. For example, in a movie about pirates made in the 1970s, many of the characters will have long feathered Shaun Cassidy hair. The hair thing I would put more in the mistake category. For me, because of my background, this usually happens when a character is supposed to be in the military. In the movie _Spy Game_ we see Brad Pitt in Viet Nam. He doesn’t look too out of place as a sniper. The hair is too long but he is in the field and trying to blend in. Not washing, eating native foods. Then we see him later in a deadend job in Germany. He is still a Marine in uniform but with Brad Pitt hair. It would never happen. Again in the TV show Las Vegas the charatcer played by Josh Duhamel gets called up as a Marine Reservist. He couldn’t commit to the role enough to get a haircut. There are a bunch of others. There are some many mistakes about the military that it is more rare to see a movie that gets it right. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/90 "2009-01-26T09:42:24Z")
Good Eye (and brain!), **Loach**! Also, a mini-hijack about military head-wear that maybe someone can answer? When I was in the service, my helmet and my dress hat/cap made me look like a doofus. They both seemed too damn big and I could barely see out from under them. Do those things get made/tailored so that they fit the actor(s) and not just given a 7 1/4 etc.? Q ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/91 "2009-01-26T09:44:34Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What other term could they have used? It’s not as they had Keira Knightley saying “We’re a parliamentary democracy akin to the United Kingdom.” Indeed. A galaxy far, far away wouldn’t be speaking English in the first place, but we kind of have to give them that bit of suspended disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/92 "2009-01-26T10:12:46Z")
A weird one for me, but when characters never ever seem to plug in their laptops ( **Casino Royale** , for instance). If I have a plug nearby, usually I’ll just plug the thing into the wall so I don’t have to worry about draining the battery. But that might just be me. And another vote for “Spotting an actor”. My favorite big example is David Schwimmer playing the duty officer in Flight of the Intruder, explaining to Lieutenant Grafton that he and Tiger Cole will be flying an Iron Hand mission that night. Also, bonus points if it takes me some time to recognize the actor, ie: Ioan Gruffudd (AKA Horatio Hornblower) playing an American officer in Blackhawk Down, or Jamie Bamber (AKA Archie Kennedy, from the same movies as Hornblower) playing the brown-haired, pony-tail-less, distinctly not-English Captain Lee Adama. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/93 "2009-01-26T10:32:16Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Another response to the OP: > > I’ve long enjoyed watching films from the 1920s. I’ve never had any problem accepting the lack of color and audible dialog and the (sometimes) histrionic acting as artifacts of the time. But at some point recently it hit me that everyone I’m watching is dead. Of course I knew that most of the stars were long gone, but I didn’t think about it too much. But at some point it struck me that they’re _all_ gone. The hero? Dead. His buddy? Dead. The love interest? Dead. The rival for affection? Dead. That sad little orphan on the corner? Dead. Those 200 extras milling about on the sidewalk? Dead. (I know about the occasional [exceptions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_silent_film_actors), but for the most part, anyone who was in an 80-year-old film is more likely to be dead than alive.) It doesn’t stop me from watching the films and it in fact adds another level of poignancy, but I find that I’m often thinking about the _actors_ as people, wondering what they’re stories were, where they came from and what happened to them, as often as I’m thinking about the _characters_. Reminds me of the final words in the movie “Barry Lyndon”, the obituary of Sir Charles Lyndon, the “Epilogue” of the film: “It was in the reign of George the III that the above named personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now.” ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/94 "2009-01-26T11:11:15Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > In _Copying Beethoven_ when Luwdig “mooned” Anna? > > Could I be mistaken in that we didn’t have that phrase **or** that particular visual joke back then? > > Anyway, whether we did or not, while it didn’t _ruin_ the film, it did give me pause. I don’t know about that particular phrase, but I’m pretty certain flashing your ass at someone has been a near-universal insult for centuries. And I don’t have a cite handy, but I remember reading that Beethoven was often a very crude individual, even to the nobility who were supporting him. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/95 "2009-01-26T11:29:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I said that it would be too common an occurrence for Theoden to think it a change in the order of things, or to remark upon it thus Well can I just pop in with a cite: > [@](#): > > In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons. Written by Herodotus c.450BC. I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers were thinking of this when they did the line, but as you say they have degenderised it (is that a word?). I always get jolted out by the line as well, as it always makes me think of Herodotus. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/96 "2009-01-26T13:18:48Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Just goes to show you, different strokes and all that. It was totally jarring to me and threw me out of the movie for a few minutes because (1) they made such a big freaking in-your-face deal out of it and (2) no way is an LA billionaire who can have anything he wants after a long, harrowing period of deprivation going to ask for freaking Burger King. In-N-Out, sure. Tommy’s, maybe, but Burger King? Pfooey. Well, now, I’m in the UK, so it may be because I can’t judge where Burger King stands in the er… food-chain food chain, but it didn’t seem out of place to me. In the comics I remember reading, Tony Stark drank Dr Pepper – wouldn’t a Whopper go with that? ---
**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:** [January 26, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/97 "2009-01-26T14:39:46Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Well, now, I’m in the UK, so it may be because I can’t judge where Burger King stands in the er… food-chain food chain, but it didn’t seem out of place to me. > > In the comics I remember reading, Tony Stark drank Dr Pepper – wouldn’t a Whopper go with that? It didn’t seem out of place to me either. He wanted a burger and he wanted it now. It felt to me like that was the first place they passed. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/98 "2009-01-26T14:51:48Z")
I get distracted watching movies that take place in the past, when the makeup artists not only make heroine extra attractive but make all the other women extra ugly. See, for example, Catherine Zeta-Jones in **Zorro** and Nicole Kidman in **Moulin Rouge**. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/99 "2009-01-26T15:10:14Z")
I can usually take product placement with a grain of Morton’s salt. I mean, when I see a scene set in someone’s house, and I see a bottle of Coke and a Domino’s pizza box, I fully realize that Coke and Domino’s paid to have them there, but it’s not like there’s a rogue Fabrege Egg on the coffee table or something. We expect to see things like pop bottles and pizza boxes in someone’s house. Hell, if you walked into my apartment right now, you’d swear I had a placement deal with Fresca and Dorito’s. However, in two movies I’ve seen lately - _Transformers_ and _I Am Legend_ - the car placement was completely over the top. And I blame the “Low Angle Front Bumber Logo Prominently Displayed” shot. It’s the same one you see in every car commercial and it is featured prominently in both those movies. I mean there is a cut that might as well come with a big “ADVERTISEMENT” disclaimer, that shows the Camaro (in _Transformers_) and the Mustang (in _I Am Legend_) in all their MSRP glory, perfectly spotless, and ready to sell. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629/100 "2009-01-26T16:19:06Z")
> [@longPath](#): > > Yes, this dates me terribly, but, perhaps someone else recalls the 1970’s film: “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea”, Sarah Miles, Kris Kristofferson. > > A stunningly beautiful film. That is, until the son of the Sarah Miles character and his strange friends kill the cat. > > I don’t even find it amusing when the Simpsoms do it. But, that’s just me. What they did to Kris Kristofferson at the end of the move was alright, then? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-a-mistake-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie/482629.md?page=6)