37 Ridiculously Unrealistic And Fake Movie And TV Moments That Make These Films Borderline Unwatchable
A few months ago we wrote about wildly fake movie moments that took people right out of what they were watching — and now we’re back with more from the BuzzFeed Community. Here are 37 more tropes and common mistakes that frustrate viewers to no end, with examples!*
*Some of the examples are from Reddit, with links if you’d like to read more!
1.Anytime actors are clearly miming playing instruments, like in this scene from Friday the 13th.
“The camp counselor in the opening scene of the original Friday the 13th was obviously not strumming the guitar, but only waving her hand up and down safely clear of the strings.”
—bravemeat504
2.Bad CGI, especially when it comes to monsters, like this one from It Chapter Two:
New Line Cinema
“The fake monsters in the remake of It completely destroyed the movie for me. We were supposed to be inside the minds of the actors who were supposed to be seeing these things as terrifying. I was terrified by the old lady who acted so strangely, and then you see her run across the screen, and you’re like OMG, getting ready to scream, and then they send out an obvious CGI monster that was plastic-looking. If they had kept the monsters looking realistic, it would have been so much more horrifying than horrible.”
—abourque
3.And weird de-aging tech, which always looks unnatural, like in Stranger Things:
Netflix
“CGI Eleven in Stranger Things…it’s still a good show, but they really couldn’t find an extra or an actor that looked right? And it was one of the most important parts of the seasonðŸ˜.”
4.A lotttt of things about stunt jumps — in particular, this scene from Lethal Weapon, where the two actors’ handcuffs obviously come apart, so they hold hands instead (which you can see more clearly in the video):
“When Mel Gibson and the guy jump off the building, the ‘handcuffs’ come apart and they are obviously just holding hands as they fall — but when they climb out of the air-pillow, the handcuffs are intact.”
5.Anytime backpacks or duffel bags are very obviously packed with something light, like in this scene from Salt, where Angelina Jolie’s bag is just bouncing up and down:
Columbia Pictures
“The one that always gets me is luggage, especially duffel bags. Packed to the gills but picked up with no effort whatsoever.”
“One movie that always really bothered me was Salt with Angelina Jolie. She goes running around, escaping from the authorities while wearing a duffel bag of sorts. It seems like the prop masters threw a few pillows in it to make it appear full, but the lack of weight makes it bounce up so much that it’s completely distracting and ruins the entire sequence.I get that they didn’t want to wear out their star, but come on, have someone tie the bottom of the bag to her belt loop or something, so that it can’t keep popping up and looking absurd.I spent eight years in the Infantry carrying bags like hers so maybe I’m just more attuned to how bad it looks but I ask anyone with access to the film to check it out and tell me if I’m on point.”
6.Half the cigarette smoking in Hollywood, but especially Jennifer Love Hewitt’s smoking in Heartbreakers:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
“The weird thing I always notice (because I’m a smoker) is obviously non-smoking actors trying to handle a lit cigarette. It’s so oddly distracting to me — like, their fingers are too straight, or something? IDK, but I always notice it.”
7.Any “hacking” scene where the so-called hacker breaks through security in seconds…but especially this scene from Swordfish, where the main character breaks into the Department of Defense in a minute, with a gun to his head and a woman giving him oral sex:
“Hackers who can infiltrate a complex computer network like a bank or the US government with a few dubious commands in a terminal window. ‘Ok, we’re in!'”
8.Anytime “metal” or other firm materials are clearly made out of foam or other flexible materials, like in this scene from X-Men:
Marvel Entertainment Group
“The moving, foam iron girders in the Statue of Liberty scene of the first X-Men movie that are supposed to be holding back the team kill me.”
—marcosdv
9.Anytime family photos are obviously photoshopped, like in this scene from Home Improvement:
ABC
“I can tell a film is good if family pictures or pictures of the characters when they were younger actually look realistic. I never understood the bad photos of the characters as they look in the movie. How hard is it to snap a picture on a cell phone and print it out, then stick it in a frame?”
—KavaBuggy
10.Or worse, when they obviously use an actor’s headshot, like this scene from Spawn of the Slithis:
“When 8×10 actor headshots are used as family pictures on set.”
11.Or when they straight-up use photos/videos of the actors from past movies in security footage, family photos, etc., like in this scene from Loki, where Loki’s literally just watching The Avengers:
12.Just terrible, unnecessary wigs, like this one from The Vampire Diaries finale:
The CW
“My biggest pet peeve is the wigs they use. It’s so obvious. The wigs are always too thick. If the wig or topper were the correct consistency, no one would even notice. But when it looks like the person had a double head of hair, it’s awful and distracting from the movie.”
—truthmatters
13.And also when characters — especially brunette ones — dye their hair in one step in gas station (or similar) bathrooms, like in this scene from Alias:
ABC
You do NOT go from brunette to neon red hair this easily. As a brunette, she’d need to completely bleach her hair first, probably multiple times, wash that out thoroughly, then apply red dye. It’d be a LONG process that you would need a much more reliable sink for, and you’d likely end up with dye all over your face and hands if you’re not a professional. Your hair would possibly break off. The color would be uneven. And then there’s the fact that she’s very obviously wearing a Party City quality wig.
14.Relatedly, anytime historical characters have modern hairstyles, like in Reign:
“What I hate is a period movie or show where the actors are wearing correct period clothing but have modern hairstyles and makeup. The exception is Bridgerton — that’s a fantasy, so I will excuse it, lol.”
—naraniel
15.And also obviously plucked brows with modern makeup, like Angelina Jolie in Alexander:
16.When people’s teeth are perfect in period pieces and also post-apocalyptic worlds:
Suggested by laughingorc556
17.And also women with hair, makeup, and perfect brows in post-apocalyptic movies, like in Zombieland: Double Tap:
“For the women in apocalyptic movies, it’s also the perfectly plucked eyebrows and shaved legs/arms and armpits for me.”
—yellowblue
18.Aaaand when women wake up from long comas with their hair and makeup done, like in Senior Year:
“Also, when a woman has been in the hospital for months or in a coma and wakes up with fully plucked eyebrows and perfect hair.🙄”
—yellowblue
19.When crew members are obviously visible, like in this scene from Gremlins, where you can see a crew member shaking the tree:
“In Gremlins, when the Gremlins attack out of a Christmas tree, you can very clearly see a crew member in a green sweater shaking the tree from behind.”
20.Obviously fake pregnancy tests, like Meredith’s in Grey’s Anatomy, which clearly uses a sticker:
“In Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith’s positive pregnancy test! I hate it.”
—raven6012
21.Characters moving the wheel WAY too much while driving, like in this scene from Bridesmaids:
“When they are driving and moving the steering wheel vigorously back and forth. You would be all over the road!”
—ba228
“I haven’t necessarily noticed this one in more recent years, but oh man, didn’t it seem like that (vigorously steering back and forth while the car looks to be driving a straight stretch) was the standard for like 50 years? It made me think, ‘Do people in Hollywood even know how to drive?’ every single time.”
22.And characters constantly looking away from the road, like in this moment from One of Them Days:
“People driving cars and looking over and talking to the passenger and not looking back at the road for long periods of time.”
—oldzombie192
“This one!!! I always anticipate a crash when they look away for too long. 😅”
—pastellamp19
23.Characters never having to reload, like in The Tomorrow War:
Prime Video
“Any movie or TV show where a) all guns have unlimited ammo capacity without reloading, and b) suppressors/silencers on revolvers.”
—sassymoon612
24.Relatedly…characters with a bow and arrow who never run out of arrows, like Legolas in The Lord of the Rings films:
25.When characters wear light jackets, unzipped/unbuttoned, in winter, like on Gilmore Girls:
“When people never close their front door behind them, or when it’s a blizzard and everyone is walking around with their jackets half unzipped with no hat, scarf, or gloves.”
—qu4ntuml34p
“Gilmore Girls being in CT and almost always winter… but their coats were always unzipped.”
—j4d64f7396
26.Cars constantly exploding in basically all action movies, which is actually lampshaded in 21 Jump Street:
“ALL cars explode instantly upon being shot and/or rolling down an embankment.”
—sassymoon612
27.And anytime you can’t see a character’s breath onscreen despite it being super cold, like in Fargo:
“If I don’t see someone’s breath in a scene that’s supposed to have cold weather, it takes me out of what I’m watching completely.”
—kavabuggy
28.Whenever you can see the bullet wound before the actor is actually shot, which happens more than you’d think, like in this scene from The Godfather:
“In the first Godfather movie, when Michael is in the restaurant to get his revenge on the man who ordered his father’s assassination attempt, he shoots the police chief twice, in the neck first, but you can see that the blood pellet in his forehead bursts when he’s shot in the neck.”
—Ginny Jensen
29.When it’s clearly not the right time of day/night when they’re filming, like in Titanic, where in some scenes, it appears to be daytime while the ship is sinking:
“In the movie Titanic, the ship sinks in the middle of the night. However, during the sinking scene, when people are panicking and trying to get off the ship, the windows in some of the interior rooms are as brightly lit as if it were the middle of the day!”
—jomariem
30.Any time modern/normal things are in fantasy shows and movies, like this water bottle in Game of Thrones:
31.And in Excalibur, when an extra appears to be smoking a cigarette:
“The castle siege scene in Excalibur, where one of the knights is running into battle with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Love the film, but I can never unsee that.”
32.Specifically, when there are cars in the background of historical movies and TV shows, like in this Braveheart scene:
“There’s the battle scene, where in the background of Braveheart, there’s a bus on the road.”
—youngcloud79
33.And in fantasy movies/TV shows, like in this scene from The Fellowship of the Ring:
“There are so many in the LOTR movies. But in Fellowship, as Sam and Frodo are about to leave the Shire, a car is zipping along in the background. But it’s only on the VHS tape now.”
—wickedduck88
34.Whenever a boom mic falls into the shot, like in these scenes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
“In an early season of Buffy, I spotted a boom mic slowly drop into the scene from above, then disappear again, lol. It was kinda fun to spot something like that.”
—psychicelf40
35.Whenever a character is obviously drinking water (or nothing), and not whatever they’re supposed to be drinking, like in this scene from Law & Order: SVU, where Munch pours water into his coffee cup:
“In Season 1, Episode 1 of Law & Order: SVU, Detective Munch goes over to the coffee pot, picks up a pot of water that is next to a pot of coffee, pours it in his mug, and drinks it like nothing is weird about drinking plain hot water.”
36.Anytime a character brings a single suitcase for a vacation, then has a ton of elaborate outfits, like in My Norwegian Holiday, where the main character brings one suitcase, then wears six different coats:
Hallmark
“I hate it in movies and TV shows where a person, usually a woman, travels with one small suitcase/bag she easily carries but then has elaborate outfits (with scarves and hats and shoes!) for a whole week.”
37.And finally, not *quite* a movie, but…whenever a character is clearly not using a messaging app to text, like in Nelly’s “Dilemma” (ft. Kelly Rowland), when Kelly “texted” but was actually on an Excel sheet:
UMG (on behalf of Motown)
Suggested by melyssarave
What TV or movie mistake always pisses you off? Let us know in the comments below!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.