Best drama movie stupidity of all time

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Double Jeopardy picture

Stupidity: Ashley Judd finally tracks her husband down and what does she do? She doesn't try to capture him to prove her innocence, she doesn't notify the police, she doesn't take his picture and send it to every police dept in the US, she doesn't even follow him to find out where her son is. Instead all she does is ask for her kid back. What was she going to do even if she got him back? She is still on the run from the law, with little money and resources and she doesn't even know if her kid even remembers her.

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Suggested correction: As you said, she's on the run from the law. Why would she call the cops and risk going back to prison and losing her son again? Even if her husband was alive, she has no way of knowing what will happen to her. This was her best shot (especially in her mind) to getting her son back, thinking her husband would rather give up the boy's location rather than die; whereas height keep the boy's location a secret if all he was facing was possible jail time, if that.

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Hancock picture

Stupidity: Why on earth would the prisoners gang up on Hancock in the prison yard and threaten him with violence? They know who he is, and they know he is an invulnerable superhero and could take everyone of them down painfully with one hand. Even those who don't have personal experience of him would know from the media reports that he cannot be beaten by a human being. Don't tell me they think he is a reformed character or that he has somehow been 'weakened' by his imprisonment - they continue attacking him AFTER he has violently punished two, brutally humiliating two of them for merely threatening him - and they hurt themselves hitting him even when he just stood still and took it. Basic prison mentality - do not attack an opponent that you cannot beat. Losing a fight means losing status, losing face, and in a hellhole prison like the one in which Hancock is incarcerated, that can be - and often is - fatal.

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Suggested correction: It wasn't so much as them believing they could beat him. But several factors here. The invincible superhero is suddenly in prison and not breaking out. It is reasonable to believe that a lot of inmates would think that perhaps he has been weakened and thus vulnerable and see this as opportunity for revenge. Even if that's not the case, basic prison mentality is to prove dominance and show no weakness. Attacking Hancock would demonstrate to the other prisoners that they did not have fear and were tough, even if they couldn't win as a way of proving themselves. Not only this, but the type of people in a prison tend to not be the most forward thinking type.

Quantom X

This correction is just plain wrong. Do you think Mike Tyson was ever attacked during his incarceration? Not a chance. I was in the Melbourne Remand Centre when a karate expert - he came third in the world championships - joined us after being banged up on his sixth dui charge. He was "ghosted" - that's an actual thing in prison - treated as if he wasn't even there. Not even the toughest of the tough would even acknowledge his presence.

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Big (1988)

Big picture

Stupidity: After Josh runs away from home after being turned into an adult, nothing seems to be done about his "disappearance." The only indication that he is missing is his picture on the back of a milk carton. There's no flyers about him missing. No mention of his disappearance in any newspapers or TV news about his mom saying that he's been "abducted" by a stranger. Even when Josh writes a letter home, he uses the actual address of where he's staying, but no cops turn up at his door after his mom receives the letter.

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Flowers in the Attic picture

Stupidity: When Cathy, Chris and Carrie go into their late grandfather's room, they discover a copy of the grandfather's will that states that if it was ever discovered that Corrine had children, she would lose everything. Had they taken the will to their mom's wedding and showed it to her fiance, they would have been able to expose the scam much quicker. Instead, they take the dead mouse Fred with them and show it to everybody. What good would a dead mouse do when a will has more leverage?

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Suggested correction: We never see them put the will away. It's possible one of them had it in their pocket during the wedding scene, but they just never showed it because A. Showing the will would have given motive for their mother to want to kill them, but not have proved that these children were hers, and B. The dead mouse is a more visceral, hate-fueled move that matches Kristy's anger.

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The Great Escape picture

Stupidity: The scene in the outdoor Parisian cafe is incredibly daft. First, the cafe owners call James Coburn's bizarrely-accented Australian to the telephone to keep him out of the way as their accomplices assassinate three uniformed German officers seated in the cafe in a drive by shooting. They then toast the killings with cognac, and that is the mistake - not the shootings, not the luring away of Coburn - the mistake is that the cafe proprietors celebrate the assassination of the German officers in broad daylight, in the open, without even stopping to think that such an action would have them shot, because all of this is done in the direct view of passers-by in broad daylight. Do they think those three German officers were the only ones in Paris? How did they know Coburn wasn't an undercover Gestapo agent or a French collaborator? Don't they stop to consider that in an occupied city machine gun fire is going to draw some attention from the authorities, who might just wonder what a couple of bullet riddled corpses are doing lying about the place?

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Suggested correction: Regarding the French cafe proprietors making a toast, if questioned, they could simply claim they were celebrating surviving the incident and/or needed a calming drink. Considering any ensuring panic and confusion after the shooting, pedestrians would hardly notice the waiters. Attention would be on the dead Germans. French citizens most likely wouldn't care or cooperate with the authorities. Being indifferent to German officers getting killed is not proof of involvement. Most French hardly be remorseful over their enemies' deaths. Antagonism toward the Germans was normal. It would be more suspicious if the proprietors showed concern. As far as helping James Coburn, it was pretty obvious he was neither French or German, and they took a chance to protect an innocent bystander. Also, it was to inject some subtle levity into the scene.

raywest

Rubbish. During the occupation Paris was crawling with collaborators and undercover German agents. The cafe owners are drinking champagne - not much of a nerve stiffener! - and they clink glasses in celebration of the shooting of the German officers. Their actions are beyond obvious to anyone that can see them. They simply would not take the risk and would act as if they were horrified to see their customers shot dead in their cafe.

Nope. Even if collaborators were "crawling" around, no-one would expect any French citizen to care about Nazis being killed. If questioned they can claim it was for the other reasons already stated (and they are not drinking champagne). It does not prove their involvement. Little would come of them being interrogated. As mentioned, this is a movie, and the scene injects subtle humor and is intended to show the audience that they are involved in the coordinated plan.

raywest

Again, rubbish. The Nazis occupying Paris arrested anyone suspected of belonging to or assisting the Resistance on the slightest pretext, and the cafe owners who were celebrating the deaths of three German officers would be in a Gestapo prison cell before the bodies of the dead Germans were cold. What they do after the Germans are shot is blatant, irresponsible, dangerous and completely unnecessary. They could have saved their celebrations for later when it was safe.

Once again, NOPE. Clinking glasses is not proof of possibly belonging to or aiding the Resistance. They also were not wildly celebrating. It was a quick, low-key action, and they looked both nervous and relieved. Also, I re-watched the scene on YouTube. When the car pulls up to shoot the Nazis, the street around them is completely empty. No witnesses anywhere. People are only seen far in the background. The phone call just before the shooting is a signal and indicates this was well-coordinated and timed. Secondly, the story needs to move quickly, and insignificant characters would not be seen toasting later. This also showed James Coburn (and us) that the waiters were potential allies.

raywest

You think the Nazis needed proof of someone's involvement in the Resistance? They arrested, tortured and shot innocent people on the unsubstantiated word of pro-German informers! No witnesses anywhere? What about Coburn? They didn't know who he was or where he was from. For all they know he could have been a Gestapo agent himself. The scene is absurd. Nobody is so stupid as to do what they did at the risk of dying horribly if caught doing it.

It should also be noted that the cafe owners duck behind their counter before the car carrying the gunmen shows up, and they get Coburn to do the same. They just provided incontrovertible evidence that they knew about the assassinations ahead of time.

Yes, they absolutely were part of it, and the hit was timed and planned in advance for the opportune moment. This was not a random act, and the phone call is the signal that sets the events in motion. When they made the toast, they knew the street was completely empty and obviously felt it was safe to do so. Also, if Coburn was a spy or collaborator, he would have warned the Nazis, not hidden behind the counter. THIS IS A MOVIE, NOT REAL LIFE.

raywest

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Das Boot picture

Stupidity: No U-boat commander is going to "finish off" a ship that is dead in the water and is on fire from stem to stern. He exposes his boat and his men to mortal peril by surfacing, brightly lit by a full moon and the fires burning on the sinking ship, making them a sitting duck for the destroyers that might well be still in the area. He also wastes a precious torpedo for absolutely no net gain.

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A Quiet Place Part II picture

Stupidity: If the song "Beyond the Sea" can be continuously broadcast on the radio station as a "cryptic clue" that there are survivors living on the island and the aliens are unable to swim, then someone could verbally announce that information over the radio and otherwise communicate with other humans. The same thing about how Regan's hearing aid incapacitates the creatures. Rather than explaining how to weaponized the high-frequency sound, only the hearing aid's noise is broadcast and anyone hearing it has to figure it out.

raywest

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Where Eagles Dare picture

Stupidity: Why does Lt Schaffer attempt to sneak up on the German radio operator? The radio operator has his back to him and is distracted with the music from his radio so Schaffer easily has enough time to run up behind him and kill him before he raises the alarm. (01:41:30)

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Twister picture

Stupidity: Jo's dad builds a tornado shelter but uses a simple bathroom stall type lock for the door. How did he expect that to be strong enough?

wizard_of_gore

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Mrs. Doubtfire picture

Stupidity: Mrs. Doubtfire used the bathroom without first locking the door, enabling Chris (or anyone else) to walk in on her. A man who is dressed as a woman and doesn't want anyone to find out would make sure the bathroom door was closed and LOCKED. (01:07:09)

KeyZOid

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Suggested correction: Daniel is in his own house, and he may be used to using the bathroom without locking the door. Besides, he probably only thought he was going to be in there for a short time.

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Punisher: War Zone picture

Stupidity: Someone with the Punisher's tactical knowledge would not hang upside down from a chandelier to shoot in a 360-degree pattern at his targets. This would make him a sitting duck and it's only because of the movie tropes of Stormtrooper aim and cannon fodder henchmen that he isn't killed because of it.

Phaneron

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Under Siege 2 picture

Stupidity: Dane is a brilliant man who has invested countless millions (hence his billion asking price) and much planning into the operation. Yet he only makes one copy of the disk? Suppose that disk had been lost or broken? His whole operation would have been a total waste.

Gavin Jackson

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Robocop 3 picture

Stupidity: At the end of the film, the Rehabs recruit gang members and give them all kinds of guns from shotguns, handguns, and automatic weapons. The cops and deputized citizens have similar weapons. But for all the shooting, not one gang member is hit and only one citizen appears to be shot (aside from the three blown off the building roof by the Rehab tank.) I don't think anyone has any bullets.

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Guns of Navarone picture

Stupidity: Major Franklin is struggling up the side of the cliff while the rest of the group are on top of the cliff checking their equipment, then he slips and slides down the cliff side, breaking his leg. After seeing this, the group members reach for a long length of rope that was used to bring up the other members and the supplies. The commandos could have used the rope to help Major Franklin climb up and prevent him from falling and injuring himself.

Scott215

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Along Came a Spider picture

Stupidity: You'd think that Jezzie would have been a little smarter as a secret service agent. You know, like once they acquire Megan, to delete all the incriminating evidence sitting back on an unattended computer. Aside from the fact she also used quite a stupid password, a single password isn't very secure at all. And then the content, displayed instantly when you get in, might as well say things like "hey look, we know what the kidnapper looks like" and "wow, here's the boat he's in too" and "wow, a cabin for sale. Why don't we go hang out there with all the evidence." Come on....they might as well have left a trail of breadcrumbs, because they sure were asking to get caught.

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Mulan picture

Stupidity: Bori Khan is a skilled archer and a man without honor. He's not fighting fair, and cares just to win, as established and explicitly said. He shoots an arrow at Mulan, the Witch gets in the arrow's way sacrificing herself to protect her...and for no reason whatsoever he does not shoot anymore, giving the chance for the two girls to share their very special dramatic moment together, but creating a colossal plot contrivance. It is a know movie cliche for the fight to 'pause' around the main character, but here we have a sniper who desists completely (he won't shoot anymore) for absolutely no reason. (01:29:00)

Sammo

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God's Not Dead picture

Stupidity: Ayisha doesn't want her Muslim father to know that she has converted to Christianity, but she daftly listens to bible verses on her iPod with her eyes closed and the screen facing up with the screen-light on, which ultimately leads to her getting caught.

Phaneron

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Under Siege picture

Stupidity: If Jordan was inside the cake and the cake was right there in the room when the takeover began how did the bad guys forget she was still inside?

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How to Train Your Dragon picture

Stupidity: During one of the test drives, the hook that Hiccup uses to fasten himself to Toothless gets bent, so he takes Toothless to the blacksmith to cut the line. There are two ways he could have easily avoided this: He could just unhook the saddle, take that to the blacksmith and cut himself loose, or he could just untie the leather strap. What he does here is needlessly risky and just there for his awkward conversation with Astrid.

Friso94

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The Abyss picture

Stupidity: Monk steals the magazine from Coffey's SIG. However, I don't see how he could have jacked the slide to eject the round in the chamber without being noticed. Someone as paranoid as Coffey was at this point would not have left the chamber empty. (Just FYI, when you load an automatic pistol with a magazine, you have to pull back and release the slide to load the first bullet in the barrel.)

Grumpy Scot

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Suggested correction: Since we are never shown that Coffey did chamber a round, we cannot assume that he did based on his personality alone. Therefore this isn't a plot hole. However, it is ridiculous that he is threatening people with a gun without a chambered round. This entry should be listed as "Stupidity."

BaconIsMyBFF

SEALs don't carry weapons without a round chambered. The "maybe" here falls much more on the side of the round being in the chamber. And "Stupidity" wasn't an option available when this entry was originally submitted. :).

Grumpy Scot

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