Stupidity: Catherine, wearing a dress and coat, was outside in the snow chopping firewood while her teenaged son sat nearby playing video games on his tablet. This could also fall under "plot hole" because having the son close by made him available to try to help his mom when Pryce attacked her (with the intent to rape). (00:36:40 - 00:37:15)
Stupidity: The ending has a bit of a twist; apparently, octogenarian college professor Morgan Freeman somehow chased down and murdered offscreen 6'3" professional assassin Vernon Davis. That's not the toughest part to swallow, though; he also sent the two detectives (one of whom he is not even supposed to know of) via UPS 2-day delivery mail some body parts of his victim. We don't know which part Lavazzi gets (genitalia were mentioned earlier), but Boyd gets the eyes and decides to eat them. For starters, unrefrigerated 2-3 day old eyes would never look as pristine as the ones Boyd gets. Also, Morgan Freeman mentioned earlier in the movie that for the power of Muti to be effective, the body parts need to be taken from a victim that is alive, screaming, and eaten only mixed with herbs and other catalysts. So what the detective does doesn't make sense even in the movie lore.
Stupidity: The end fell apart. It took convincing to get the police at the picnic area; however, while Jack was cracking up, they just left alone with his gun. After the stakeout was a bust, why didn't the police just question the girl: "Who told you to come here? Who was to meet you here?" Also, they police see a smashed black station-wagon. Was there no connection to the previous child's drawing?
Stupidity: There is a scene in which the phone rings back at the house and Andy goes to answer it. None of the henchman respond immediately, but instead WAIT for him to almost answer the phone before becoming making a move. You would think they would yell at him to not answer it or have one of them rush to guard the phone the moment it rings. Obviously the entire scene was done this way for the sole purpose of suspense.
Stupidity: The highly trained commandos who knew everything about the NSA base and penetrated it during a perfectly planned operation through weapons and devices that pierce steel like butter, decided to stand outside the barn (so they knew something valuable was there) and its wooden door. It even has a direct line to the command center.
Stupidity: Rick tries to kill Frank at his boathouse by dumping gasoline all over the place and using Ray Coleman's lighter that Frank had. At this point, Rick has gasoline over his arm, but instead of properly cleaning it, he opens the lighter immediately and has his arm burned. Surely a criminal genius like Rick wouldn't have risked this as this is a loose end. Further mention goes to when he has the bathroom door open for no reason while medicating the burn mark, which enables his wife to see him and discover who he really is.
Stupidity: Lea had two "Notice of Auction" printouts (the correct one and the one she lied about to detectives) in her small purse when she had Casi meet her at a restaurant. Lea excused herself to go to the bathroom but did not take her purse with her. Women almost always take their purses with them and Lea should have, considering she had papers inside she didn't want Casi to see. While Lea was gone, Casi looked at the printouts and then knew Lea was lying to him about the Navigator's auction date. (00:32:33 - 00:35:04)
Stupidity: Molly was being hunted and didn't know if she could trust Rayburn when he encountered her. Rayburn told Molly that he wanted to help, wouldn't hurt her, put a blanket around her, and even carried her in the woods for some distance. When he put her on the ground (along with his backpack and rifle) to go find the rope to open the pitfall doors and had his back turned, Molly got out from under the blanket and hid nearby. Rayburn quickly found Molly, and Molly made a lame attempt at attacking him with some kind of club. The next day when Rayburn and Molly were in Rayburn's house and her hunter showed up and attacked Rayburn, Molly grabbed Rayburn's rifle and fired several shots at the hunter. Molly obviously knew how to use a rifle, so it was asinine for her to have hidden from Rayburn the previously night without taking his rifle (or the blanket). (00:36:22)
Stupidity: When he's using carbon monoxide to poison the corrupt detective Frank Masters, the windows in the car were operated by the key fob. Unusual, but OK. Maybe. But the detective could've simply opened the doors after McCaul left him in there. The door worked when he was forced into the car. (01:24:30)
Stupidity: Anyone with a job in the White House would have to be known to the Secret Service on a daily basis, so the two Secret Service agents that find Cory the janitor should have been aware of his identity without him having to state who he was and that he worked there.
Stupidity: Paul Manfield (Arthur Pope) and his family have been hiding from and eluding the FBI for fifteen years, but Paul gets so intoxicated one night that he loudly sings "Pretty Woman" walking toward his house - where neighbors could hear - and yells that he is not Paul, he is Arthur Pope. (00:52:18)
Suggested correction: People do seriously stupid things when they are drunk, and Manfield/Pope is very, very drunk.
Stupidity: In the original novel, the attempt on Mrs. Doyle at the temples was made rolling a boulder off a cliff. In this adaptation, the culprit is said to 'dislodge' a large stone from the temple; you can however see that the stone is already dislodged and sticks out from its place on the pillar, and he had no way to know that the Doyles would be in that particular spot, making this attempt to Linnet's life rather nonsensical (requiring also herculean strength, no pun intended). (00:47:40 - 01:39:30)
Stupidity: Dr. Cocteau's choice to unleash an enhanced Simon Phoenix without any way to restrain him is incredibly reckless and stupid. Even if Simon were to kill Eager Friendly, in the best case situation, you'd still have a madman with total computer access, martial arts knowledge, etc., that you would have no way to rein in. Sure, he can't kill Dr. Cocteau, but what would stop him from say, holding the city hostage or something? Why not add in a kill code or something to keep him in check?
Suggested correction: Who says he didn't? Cocteau has put in mental conditioning compelling Phoenix to kill Edgar Friendly and make him unable to kill Cocteau. Who says he hasn't put in something that makes him kill himself after the deed is done? Or perhaps paralyze him so he can be put back on ice. It's just that Cocteau didn't count on the fact that his henchmen could kill him. He doesn't care about how dangerous he is, not until he has done the deed.
Dr. Cocteau is a narcissistic egomaniac type that would see himself as a king or a god, even. And Simon is making him very angry. He even tells Simon, "you're beginning to be more trouble than you're worth..." Someone with an ego like Cocteau wouldn't stand for Simon's antics for very long. And would happily enjoy putting Simon back in his place by shocking, paralyzing, etc.
But he first needs him to kill Friendly. Until he does that, he'll let him play. He still sees no danger to himself.
Stupidity: With the threat of strangulating Jess, Garriga coerces a false confession from Nicky about the complicity of Jess. Garriga then laughs, calls Nicky out on it, and points out the confession's deficiencies. The film treats the whole scene as an astute reveal à la Sherlock Holmes! Nobody notices, let alone points out, that a coerced confession is worthless. In reality, Garriga would feel very stupid because he almost murdered someone. For the same reason, Jess must feel very angry.
Stupidity: Angela ran over to her neighbor Mr. Charlie when she heard him come home. Angela was complaining that his son and friends make too much noise, do whatever the want, are bringing property values down, act wild/crazy, draw attention to everybody, and she doesn't want the police coming. These may be legitimate complaints, but the way Angela expressed them would bring down property values! Not only was she yelling in the street, she used "m-f-ing" several times, as well as other select words. (00:02:35 - 00:03:07)