# STUPIDEST movie you've seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 6, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354 "2021-03-06T20:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [March 9, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/81 "2021-03-09T19:02:15Z")
Although I loved Doug Trumbull’s post-2001 and pre-CGI special effects and the Peter Schickele score (See? He _can_ do things besides P.D.Q. Bach) and the lovable Drones Huey, Dewey, and Louis that undoubtedly helped inspire R2D2 and Lucas’ other “droids” , I thought that **Silent Running** was really, really stupid. All the plants are put into orbit on cargo ships? Why? What are people on Earth breathing? Where’s the gravity come from? Even if the average temperature in space at our orbit is close tpo 300K, you get masive heating on one side and cooling on the other. Making the domes opaque and insulating them would probably be a good idea Our eco-hero doesn’t realize that the plants are dying off as they get further from the sun because they’re not getting enough light? Really? That thing about the average temperature dropping as you go away from the sun still holds. It’s not just light the plants are going to need – it’s heat, too. Where’s the power for those light bulbs coming from? Does the nuke that’s embedded in the dome serve as a power source as well as a bomb? Isn’t using a nuke to destroy a relatively small dome kind of overkill? > **[Silent Running](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Silent Running is a 1972 American environmental-themed science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse Vint. > In the future, all plant life on Earth has become extinct due to an unexplained cause. As many specimens as possible have been preserved in a series of enormous greenhouse-like geodesic domes attached to large cargo spaceships, forming part of a fleet of eigh... > **[Silent Running (1972) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/)** > > Silent Running: Directed by Douglas Trumbull. With Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint. In a future where all flora is extinct on Earth, an astronaut is given orders to destroy the last of Earth's botany, kept in a greenhouse aboard a... ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/82 "2021-03-09T20:52:03Z")
_The Day After Tomorrow_ was stupid in all respects, but still a fun watch. Most egregious was the terrible geography. Most notably, it shows a tsunami hitting NYC with Brooklyn nowhere to be seen – Manhattan is right on the ocean. The reason that NYC is such a good harbor is that Manhattan is protected from storms. Then the wave goes right up the avenue, which means it had to originate in New Jersey. And ever more ridiculous: the silly flash freezing winds are coming from the north. This is mentioned many times. But they hit the Empire State Building (34th St) before they hit the Public Library (42nd St). Oh, then there’s the flash freezing wind, too. The movie is big dumb fun, with the emphasis on _dumb._ ---
**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:** [March 9, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/83 "2021-03-09T21:06:39Z")
I’ve mentioned it before on this Board, but **10,000 B.C.** is an epically stupid movie with gorgeous CGI. It’s not just the gross historical errors and geographical lunacy. Or its not being sure if it’s about Ancient Astronauts or just hyper-developed ancient civilizations. Even if you take the story at face value and don’t ask questions about its background, just going by the internal logic, it makes precious little sense. Or logic. > **[10,000 BC (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10,000_BC_(film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > 10,000 BC is a 2008 American action-adventure film directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Steven Strait and Camilla Belle. The film is set in the prehistoric era and depicts the journeys of a prehistoric tribe of mammoth hunters. The world premiere was held on February 10, 2008, at Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. > The film was a box office hit, but consistently regarded by professional critics as Emmerich's worst film, as well as one of t... The Pyramid-builders kidnap people from the Yagahi tribe to act as laborers for them. In order to do this, they travel a helluva long way down a river, over deserts, and through a swamp filled with giant killer birds. The Yagahi must be _damned_ good slaves Not only do the pyramid builders kidnap people, evidently they steal wooly mammoths, too. I’d love to see how they get them onto those boats. If they’re just stealing mammoth babies, I want to know how they get them past the giant birds. At one point Our Hero is running after game and falls into a Tiger Pit. We know it’s a Tiger Pit, because there’s a Saber Toothed Tiger in it. You’d think that when the 15-foot tiger fell in, it would’ve taken whatever was camouflaging the trap with it, leaving a pretty substantial hole in the ground. But our hero, the wily hunter, apparently didn’t notice this. Not only that, but the people who set the trap wisely embedded punji sticks in the bottom to spear whatever fell in. But the Saber Toothed Tiger evidently didn’t impale itself on any of these. Neither did Our Hero. But the deer, which was smaller than both of them did get stuck. Nice trap building, guys. Our Hero, overcome with compassion – or stupidity – doesn’t just extricate himself from the pit. He helps the giant, ravenously hungry tiger out, too. The Tiger evidently knows his Aesop’s Fables, and doesn’t eat Our Hero. Nice of him. It’s even nicer that he didn’t follow Our Hero’s scent trail back to where his injured companion is waiting. _Hey, guy, thanks for getting me out of that trap. And for lunch, too._ And so on. It just keeps getting dumber. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/84 "2021-03-09T21:35:14Z")
I forgot I watched **Geostorm** on a plane a couple of years ago. Man, what a piece of shit that was. It makes the “science” in **The Core** look absolutely legit by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/85 "2021-03-09T23:52:11Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Woman becomes a weather scientist after seeing her father killed by a tornado. OK, revenge plot, why not. 🎶 My baby got killed by a tornado Big old tornado Gonna get that tornado! 🎶 > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > several minutes earlier she placed an instrument pack I can’t see how those little sensors can tell anything without each one having a GPS device that gives its position to about a foot. How can you tell what the internal windspeed and pressure is, if you don’t know where the sensor was when it gave the data. Gawd this movie was stupid! > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Yeah yeah, I know I’m just supposed to look at Helen Hunt and the spinny CGI clouds. I’m watching the film and thinking, which woman is he going to end up with? The one with the biggest boobs, of course! No, they’re about the same. The blonde! Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/86 "2021-03-10T00:06:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > All the plants are put into orbit on cargo ships? > Why? > What are people on Earth breathing? > Where’s the gravity come from? > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Where’s the power for those light bulbs coming from? I won’t disagree on the overall stupidity or not of the film, but these aren’t really strong problems, The plants are on cargo ships because people on earth 1) need space, and 2) don’t care any more. Also, I have this theory, never considered in the film, that “they” never intended to bring the plants back. Putting them into space pods instead of just bulldozing them was a sop to people like Freeman, who still cared. After ten years, or whatever it was, people just forgot that plants ever existed. Why else would they have self-destruct capability? It’s not like they’re a danger, or in danger and need to avoid capture. (weirdly, wikipedia calls it a “post-apocalyptic” film. I don’t know where they got that. The plants weren’t gone from earth because of any apocalypse, but because that’s what the people of earth wanted) The people on earth are breathing machine processed air. There was a comment that every place on earth has 72 degree temperature (IIRC). There’s no need for trees, because machines do all the work. People LIKE this in their “glorious” future. The gravity on the freighters comes from the same place it does in Star Wars, Star Trek, BSG, the MCU, etc. And lightbulb power? Seriously? Why freeman doesn’t realize it’s dark can be as simple as he isn’t that bright. He may be the most qualified botanist of his day, but maybe his day isn’t that bright. maybe they’re living in Idiocracy. Or the writers were. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/87 "2021-03-10T00:10:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And lightbulb power? Seriously? Very seriously. You need power to keep the plants illuminated. You don’t do that with a few packs of “D” cells. And this is clearly the near future – if we make a breakthrough significant enough to create artificial gravity, it would be a world changer. I can buy it in A Galaxy A Log Time Ago and Far Away, or in a few hundred years, but not in the Near Future. And I think you seriously underestimate the cost (in all ways) and power required to artificially re-oxygenate our air. A “Minor” problem that is not. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/88 "2021-03-10T01:56:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And this is clearly the near future It’s never stated, but I think this is many hundred years in the future. Of course, part of my reasoning is that they have 100% effective, reliable climate control for the entire planet. So, somewhat circular reasoning - they have power for the ships because they have enough power on earth. And the evidence they are have enough power on earth is they have enough power to run ships. My complaint of the movie isn’t the tech, it’s that it tried too hard to be emtionally manipulative. It’s a subtle as a brick in the face. And that Joan Baez song is the kicked puppy of excess. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/89 "2021-03-10T21:02:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You need power to keep the plants illuminated. You don’t do that with a few packs of “D” cells. Unless you’re [a bunch of alien mutant autistic savants.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tommyknockers) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/90 "2021-03-14T22:53:16Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The second is a comedy-horror zombie movie where a comet goes past the earth, and people are reduced to piles of red dust or zombified, and there are a handful of survivors, etc… Another one that I thought was supremely dumb even at 13. I’m not a movie re-watcher so I haven’t seen this in 40 years. However it was so over the top silly I really enjoyed it. I would probably enjoy it again if I had to watch it. > [@running\_coach](#): > > That’s where the pointer stopped. I know where you live. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > As stupid movies go, Telefon is pretty good. It’s a very 70s sensibility cold war movie. It doesn’t like either side. Sort of like Three Days of the Condor. Yeah, not top of the class but not bad for it’s genre. Plus, the nuanced acting of Charles Bronson. He is literally the man of a thousand faces. I don’t watch a lot of movies so I try to screen out bad ones but I’ll have to think about it, none occur to me right now. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/91 "2021-03-16T17:22:28Z")
**Twins** with DeVito & Schwarzenegger. Sorry, but I wanted to shoot myself afterwards, it was that stupid. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/92 "2021-03-16T18:19:40Z")
Re: Tank Girl Where else are you going to see Ice-T playing a mutant human-kangaroo hybrid? That’s worth the price of admission right there! ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/93 "2021-03-16T20:14:51Z")
I was expecting someone to mention **Quest for Fire** and I’m happy they haven’t (yet), but I’ll preemptively say that I have a soft spot for this film. From the “making of” videos, they clearly put some level of effort into _trying_ to get things right, although the cave bear was really, really embarrassing costuming. The actors (the whole crew, really) suffered for their art, too; challenging conditions. But I can certainly see how someone coming across this while channel-surfing would be aghast at the apparent ridiculousness (hey! they didn’t even need to write dialog!). The recent Jarmusch film **The Dead Don’t Die** was, grading on a curve, the most apparently bad film with excellent talent. I know there is a substantial subset of people that love this thing, but it really comes off as a lot of actors owed Jarmusch a favor. The fourth-wall-breaking was embarrassingly heavy-handed and flat. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/94 "2021-03-16T21:30:43Z")
I’d nominate Ad Astra, as I just saw it and its stupidity offended me. Though in this case its stupidity is magnified by the fact that the movie _thinks_ its really really deep and smart, but is in fact really really dumb. In would in fact have be a pretty decent movie, if instead of having Brad Pitt do some kind of navel-gazing Kubrick-esque meditation on humanities place in the universe, they just cast some action star like The Rock and turned the action sequences into flat-out over the top mindless fight scenes. Pretty much the only movie ever thought that about. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/95 "2021-03-16T22:13:19Z")
Tank Girl I liked for just the sheer fun & Devo! One I got roped into in high school that made me want to claw my eyes out was The Perils of Gwendoline with Tawny Kitaen (1984). Only reason I went was because a buddy worked for the theater and got us in free. I still wanted to ask for my money back. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/96 "2021-03-16T22:21:39Z")
The stupidest movie i have ever seen is Evil Bong 666 and it is not even close. I would say it’s impossible to make another movie that stupid, except that there are other movies in the Evil Bong series. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/97 "2021-03-17T04:11:28Z")
> [@DeadTreasSecretaries](#): > > The stupidest movie i have ever seen is Evil Bong 666… > [@DeadTreasSecretaries](#): > > …there are other movies in the Evil Bong series. That is a lot of Evil Bong movies! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/98 "2021-03-18T05:44:14Z")
I’m just going to point out that there are no fewer than 4 Roland Emmerich films mentioned in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/99 "2021-03-18T06:42:03Z")
> [@Red Riding Hood - Worst Movie of All Time?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-riding-hood-worst-movie-of-all-time/581495): > > Saw it last night and was almost enjoying the badness of it. It really was an all-around failure - acting, script, direction, CG, art direction and costume, they all sucked spectacularly. I’m not easily appalled by movies and try to find redeeming qualities in even the most bland romantic comedies, but damn, they sure went all the way. Didn’t really know what to expect beforehand, but I did imagine the fairy tale to have at least some significance to the plot other than a 30-second dream sequenc… ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354/100 "2021-03-18T08:57:42Z")
Roland Emmerich arguably only has one actually good film, and the rest are garbage of varying degrees that gets worse and worse as the years go on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-movie-youve-seen/937354.md?page=6)