Stupidity: After stealing the candy tin full of money, Joey gave it to Matt. Standing in front of the house, Matt opened the tin to see all the cash ($12,600). Joey asked him if anyone saw him, and Matt replied, "No. Let's go before they do." Instead of "hiding" the candy tin in his backpack, Matt carried the tin out in the open - and soon ran into a man wearing a security guard uniform.
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: In the opening scene, Sonny has come to her now-deceased father's house. Police and the coroner are in the basement taking notes while standing around the body - which is face down and awkwardly lying at the bottom of the steps. Det. Sabatino informed Sonny that the death was ruled accidental due to a high blood-alcohol level. Detectives or the coroner did not rule out other possibilities: natural cause, suicide, or murder. High blood-alcohol level could be secondary.
Stupidity: When Hugh O'Brian and the woman are on the beach, the Japanese planes shoot at them. Most unlikely that a plane would have gone out of formation to shoot at what appears to be a couple of civilians cavorting harmlessly on a beach, nor would the rear gunner have wasted his ammo on them.
Stupidity: At the end of the movie during the shootout. Cops would not engage in automatic gun fire with dozens of civilians in direct cross fire. Why not get a chopper and chase them down a bit maybe in an open area with fewer civilians? Then maybe engage in gunfire.
Stupidity: They have the technology to track the movement of the rebel troops, and while the Nigerian airspace is too hot for extract, the fighter jets landing behind Tom Skeritt on the carrier could easily wipe out 300 rebel soldiers.
Stupidity: Andy meets Tommy Williams who names another convict who described the scene of the murder of Andy's wife and her lover in sufficient detail to convince anyone that something was wrong with Andy's conviction. Andy then goes to the Warden, a man he knows to be utterly corrupt, a man who will suffer a huge loss if he is acquitted. Andy is an intelligent man - why would he do something as stupid as that? Why doesn't he write to his lawyer? This is a matter for an appeal court, not the Warden.
Stupidity: In the flashback about the way the victim was poisoned, it would seem that the murderer straight out went to a waitress and handed them a single chalice of poisoned champagne, ordering the waitress to give that exact glass to the victim. That's just a little bit absurd; if it's a flashback based on a testimony, the case should have been solved in 0.1 minutes once the waitress says that that very well known person asked them to bring a glass to the victim - it's a request highly unusual and that would be easily remembered. If it's just some wild guess of the detective, that's a mighty strange way to imagine how things went, rather than just the killer slipping venom in the victim's glass when they were not looking. (01:04:00)
Stupidity: Despite being assaulted by an intruder that she managed to temporarily fend off, the female neighbor takes forever to say something when she calls the police, which is just enough time for the villain to regain his senses and attack her with a huge drill.
Stupidity: Colette was holding the metal ladle close to the bottom of its long handle and near the top of the hot pot of stew she was serving, and yelled, "Ah." due to her hand getting too hot. She had a towel wrapped around the handle of the pot, but it was that hand that got too hot/burned (not the hand that was holding the metal ladle close to the top of the steaming hot pot of stew). (00:04:48)
Stupidity: When questioning the heavyset witness after his having seen Costner in the hallway, there is no mention of the most obvious identifiable feature...the pearly white Navy uniform he was wearing. Instead, Costner is described as being a common "everyman."
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?