# Poorly Done Moments in Otherwise Good Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299 "2009-10-27T14:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/1 "2009-10-27T14:29:19Z")
Inspired by the “Good Moments/Mediocre Movies” thread, let’s do the opposite. In the movie “Carrie”, there’s a scene where the boys are trying on rental tuxes. One of them is reluctant to wear a tux. Inexplicably, the movie goes into fast action and the boys start talking like Alvin and the Chipmunks. I suppose it was meant to suggest that an extended discussion is taking place, but it seems more like sudden technical difficulties in the projection room. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/2 "2009-10-27T15:02:46Z")
In the movie **Charlie** for which Cliff Robertson won his oscar, there is a scene when Robertson’s mentally maturing character is sewing his wild oats. It come accross as so fakey it almost ruins an otherwise very good film. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/3 "2009-10-27T15:06:07Z")
Purple Rain was one of my favorite movies way back when but the part where he runs skittering on his high-heeled boots to stop his dad from beating on his mom was unintentionally hilarious-- at a far too emotional scene to look so silly. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/4 "2009-10-27T15:10:17Z")
Otherwise good movie? I guess I can’t mention Minority Report then. But there’s a scene where Tom Cruise is having a tender moment with one of the mediums. Everything is quiet, then suddenly she shouts right in his ear. Did Mel Brooks direct it? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/5 "2009-10-27T15:13:36Z")
_Jagged Edge_ (1985) was a well-made, taut, exciting crime thriller. Until the very end, when the killer is finally unmasked, from a very … odd … camera angle. _Wait, is that… ? It kind of looks like, but I can’t really… huh…_ \*\*The End. \*\* _Whuh??_ ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/6 "2009-10-27T15:15:27Z")
My go-to for this is the first **X-Men** movie. Great superhero flick, a lot of fun. But then there’s Storm: “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning? _ZAP_ Same thing that happens to everything else.” It…it _sounds_ like it’s supposed to be witty, but there’s no joke there! It’s like asking “What’s grey and has four legs? An elephant.” Yeah…okay, so? It’s like the writers came up with Storm’s question and loved it, but couldn’t find a suitably clever answer. So instead of tossing out the question, they came up with a lame-ass non-joke and hoped nobody would notice. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/7 "2009-10-27T15:28:12Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > My go-to for this is the first **X-Men** movie. Great superhero flick, a lot of fun. But then there’s Storm: > > “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning? _ZAP_ Same thing that happens to everything else.” Joss Wedon, (of Firefly and Buffy fame) who wrote the line said Hallie Berry screwed up the delivery and that the second part was supposed to be delivered as sort of a casual aside. I kinda like it as delivered, but I seem to be pretty much alone in that regard. My entry: The original script of the Matrix had Morpheus explain to Neo that the Machines kept the humans in the Matrix so that they could use their brains as special computer processors. For whatever reason, someone decided that this wasn’t accesible enough for the movie-going public, so it was replaced with the non-senseical “humans as batteries” speech, by far the worst part of that otherwise good movie. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/8 "2009-10-27T15:39:19Z")
The temptation of Galadriel from _The Fellowship of the Ring_. Most people had no idea what was going on, what she was saying, or why the effects looked so shitty compared to the rest of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![pan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@pan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pan1)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/9 "2009-10-27T15:43:37Z")
Mike Myers scene in Inglourious Basterds ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/10 "2009-10-27T16:04:31Z")
Baz Lurhman’s _Romeo + Juliet_: It’s the final scene…Juliet has just woken up, and Romeo is dead. It’s all very sad and tragic and beautiful. And then Claire Danes ruins the scene by letting out this harsh, barking, totally fake sob. Jerks me out of the movie every time I see it. I hate it! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/11 "2009-10-27T16:08:35Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The temptation of Galadriel from _The Fellowship of the Ring_. Most people had no idea what was going on, what she was saying, or why the effects looked so shitty compared to the rest of the movie. Really? Because most people I talk to were like “why the fuck is Legolas using that shield as a surfboard?” And personally, I thought the glowing Scrubbing Bubbles that saved Minas Tirith was the worst Army of the Dead ever. Everyone talks up \*\*The Deer Hunter \*\*as one of the greatest 'Nam films ever. But I felt the 5 minutes of actual combat scenes in Nam were the worst. Basically they wrap up their bachelor party in a poignant moment at the bar. Next scene Deniro is lying in a ditch in some ville in Vietnam as what appears to be the lone survivor of a Special Forces team. Some lone NVA drops a grenade into a pit full of civilians. Deniro kills him with a flamethrower. A Huey drops of a team of regular Army soldiers (who happen to be his two home-town buddies). Oh and for some reason it’s very obvious they spliced in some archive file footage. We see a company of NVA approaching from the distance and next scene everyone is a POW. It all seemed rushed and disconnected. And it didn’t make any sense. Why would they drop a few guys into a village for no reason with no support? Where they there to rescue the Special Force team and if so why did the helicopters leave? The movie would have been better off if they either fleshed out the combat part a bit more or just cut the whole thing entirely and the story just jumped to the POW camp. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/12 "2009-10-27T16:10:33Z")
The parapsychologist/psychic dude in _Paranormal Activity_ - either he’s a terrible actor or he was just phoning it in. ---
**Author:** ![Dorothea\_Book](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dorothea\_Book](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorothea_Book)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/13 "2009-10-27T16:15:39Z")
Weird sex-with-wife scene in _Munich_ interspersed with flashbacks to terrorist violence. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/14 "2009-10-27T16:43:41Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > …I kinda like it as delivered, but I seem to be pretty much alone in that regard… No, I’m with you. I’ve never understood all the fanboy hate for that line. It’s just a throwaway superhero “witticism,” and no worse than many of them. Seconded as to Legolas on the shield/surfboard, and the Army of the Dead “scrubbing bubbles” at Minas Tirith. There’s a laughable sfx shot of an obviously fake autogyro in Hitchcock’s early masterpiece _The 39 Steps_. David goes medieval on the packaged identical boy-robots at corporate headquarters in _A.I.: Artificial Intelligence_. Made no sense to me. In the Genesis Cave picnic scene in _Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan_, Kirk has a clunky communicator that looks even less sophisticated than those of a decade earlier. Why would Starfleet’s equipment have gotten _worse?_ Then there’s the shifting bloodstain on his uniform after Scotty’s badly-burned nephew grabs him. Continuity goofs like that always bother me. In _Watchmen_, there’s “Hallelujah” playing loudly during Nite Owl’s and Silk Spectre’s lovin’ over the skies of Manhattan. Ugh. Too much. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/15 "2009-10-27T16:43:50Z")
The Nazi airplane chasing Henry Sr. and Jr into the tunnel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It’s mildly comical to have a baffled pilot looking at the duo in slack jawed amazement, but to think a pilot would actually follow them in there is a pretty big stretch. Couple that with the fact that the special effect of the plane looks like a toy on a blue screen poorly superimposed over the scene just drags me straight out of the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/16 "2009-10-27T16:44:14Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The temptation of Galadriel from _The Fellowship of the Ring_. Most people had no idea what was going on, what she was saying, or why the effects looked so shitty compared to the rest of the movie. Good one. By far the worst special effects in the movie, it looked like they did it in MS Paint. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/17 "2009-10-27T16:46:00Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Really? Because most people I talk to were like “why the fuck is Legolas using that shield as a surfboard?” > > And personally, I thought the glowing Scrubbing Bubbles that saved Minas Tirith was the worst Army of the Dead ever. **DigitalC** was talking about Fellowship only. The scenes you mention are from the other two movies. But I agree with all three. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/18 "2009-10-27T16:46:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > In _Watchmen_, there’s “Hallelujah” playing loudly during Nite Owl’s and Silk Spectre’s lovin’ over the skies of Manhattan. Ugh. Too much. Hollywood should just retire that song. I have nothing against the tune itself. It’s a very good song with some powerful vocals, but it’s. So. Overused. I wonder if the guys putting the soundtrack to Watchmen got together and thought “Hmmm, well we haven’t heard this one since Shrek, let’s put it in!” ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/19 "2009-10-27T16:52:18Z")
Every scene with Mickey Rooney in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299/20 "2009-10-27T16:55:16Z")
The scene in **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** with Indiana Jones and company jumping out of the crashing plane using a life raft has always bothered me. Those people should have multiple broken bones, having not only fallen out of the plane in the first place onto the snow, but then off the cliff into the river. And they should have fallen out both times. Don’t try to excuse it with the Mythbusters episode using a raft as a sorta parachute – they used it differently, and not from as great a height. Don’t abuse my Suspension of Disbelief so badly at the very start of the film – you won’t get it back. Of course, the most recent Indiana Jones movie is even worse – Follow the Magnetic Gunpowder??? Don’t abuse my common sense. The only good thing to say about it is that it makes Indy’s escape in the Flying Lead-Lined Refrigerator seem believable by comparison. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poorly-done-moments-in-otherwise-good-movies/515299.md?page=2)