Look, we don’t want to shock you or anything, but the things that happen in the movies and TV shows you watch aren’t real. However, that doesn’t mean that the lessons they teach us or the way the narratives that are told don’t have value. Quite the opposite! When we go to the cinema or we turn on the magic light -and-sound box in our living rooms, we know we’re often in for a dose of fiction. But we’re willing to suspend our sense of disbelief for the sake of experiencing the story as though it were real.

So film creators have some leeway in terms of how they shape the story. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us, the audience), they have to adhere to some rules. Even in a fictional setting with fictional problems, the events on the screen have to be believable and the characters have to appear real, in the context of the story. In short—things have to make sense and follow certain rules of logic. We wouldn’t blink twice about a character from Looney Tunes surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge; but we think it’s very odd when Indiana Jones does it.

Though pretty much everyone has some minor quibbles that never fail to end their immersion in the plotline. Redditor u/xwhy started up an interesting thread on r/movies after asking people to share the dumbest things that end their suspense of disbelief in films. We’ve collected some of the most interesting answers. You’ll find them as you scroll down.

Bored Panda has reached out to u/xwhy via Reddit, and we’ll update the article once we hear back from them.

#1

I get distracted when I don't understand how a character is earning money, or they have a lifestyle that seems unaffordable with the job they're supposed to have.

Image credits: lifeofmammals

#2

The jeep in Jurassic World still being in perfect operating condition, with viable fuel, after 20+ years in an abandoned garage.



Caught myself saying "That's so unrealistic" out loud, watching a movie about man-eating genetically engineered dinosaurs.

Image credits: NickelAntonius

#3

I know this is a staple of the character but every time Clark Kent rips open his shirt to reveal his costume it drives me nuts. WHERE DOES HE KEEP THE CAPE??

Let’s put it this way. We’re completely fine with there being wizards and dragons in the stories we read and watch. However, they still need to behave more or less like wizards and dragons. If dragons can teleport around the world instead of, you know, actually flying to places, we’re going to start asking questions. Similarly, if their strength, resilience, and the power of their breath all vary wildly from scene to scene because the plot demands it, we’re going to sigh and say, “C’mon!”

The same can be said about character motivations. Yes, people grow, adapt, and change their minds. However, you can’t expect the audience to get emotionally invested in the characters themselves if they change their minds about what’s right and wrong from scene to scene and episode to episode. There needs to be consistency and logic! Some recent TV shows are absolutely great at destroying the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief.

#4

In the The Day After Tomorrow I was totally ok with all of crazy weather and crazy explanations for what was happening. I was even mostly ok with them running from “the cold” as they barely made it in to the roof of a Wendy’s, but when they started grilling circle shaped hamburger patties instead of square shaped patties inside that Wendy’s, that was it for me. Everyone knows Wendy’s has square patties, how dare you!! I just could couldn’t take anything seriously after that point.

Image credits: live_laugh_redrum

#5

Independence Day, when Jeff Goldblum plugs the Apple into the alien ship and infects them with a virus.

Image credits: KalayaMdsn

#6

People have their necks snapped when their head is slightly pulled to the left or right, instead of the full 180 you'd need. It makes you think they were always one violent sneeze or sudden head lean away from killing themselves.

Image credits: TrueLegateDamar

Things that low-key irk us include characters teleporting around Middle Earth seemingly in an instant in The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. It’s also hard to stay invested in the story when it’s hard to grasp the timeframe. And don’t even get us started on how low-quality some of the costumes were… Look, if you’re doing something related to The Lords of the Rings, you have to get the details right. 

In a similar fashion, as much as we enjoyed House of the Dragon, we had a hard time actually liking some of the characters just because of how often their motivations and personalities flip-flopped. However, watching the show got us to read George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood about the entire Targaryen dynasty, so we still call that a win. There’s far more consistency to be found in the pages of the book than in the show, but we’re still eagerly waiting for season 2. (Maybe they've heard the feedback from fans and they'll fix the lighting in some scenes! The stories are dark, but the scenes don't have to mirror that in an all-too-literal sense; we want to see what's going on.)

#7

In The Queen‘s Gambit, when Anya Taylor-Joy's character loses control of her life, and she’s sitting there in a satin nightgown with perfect hair and makeup. Sure. That’s what I look like when I lose control over my life too

Image credits: punkpearlspoetry

#8

Narrow specialty doctors drawing bood, doing microscopy and other routine stuff that doctors don't normally do (looking at you, House).

Image credits: AdNecessary7680

#9

Makeup and hair done in unrealistic settings or wrong eras

You are in a post apocalyptic world trying to survive and somehow you have your hair done with a bit of cat eyeliner.

Another one is historical movies with modern hair and makeup. Wank my eyes out.

Image credits: Dull-Bid-7051

At the end of the day, there will always be particular decisions that storytellers make that will upset us (and us specifically), and we either have to actively ignore them or move on to a better film/show/book. One small ‘mistake’ probably won’t prevent us from immersing ourselves in the story. But these errors in continuity and logic can quickly add up.

The best thing that moviemakers can do is to try and find realistic (again, realistic in the context of their world) solutions to their narrative problems, instead of going for lazy solutions. If we wanted to watch a low-budget film or read a poorly-written piece of fan fiction, we would’ve chosen to do that instead.

#10

My number one pet peeve is when characters who speak the same language are all speaking in English to each other with accents. I get they do it because they’re targeting an English-speaking audience and a lot of this group can’t be bothered to read subtitles, but that always takes me out. I’m also anti-dub because I like to hear the actors speak in their native language, even if I can’t understand it.

#11

Hollywood's insistence that getting shot with a shotgun will throw you back several feet.

Image credits: Hagsnot

#12

The opening of A Quiet Place, when the camera pans to a newspaper vending machine and the headline reads, “It’s Sound!!”

I could not get past the idea that the world (maybe just the area?) is being destroyed by creatures with such super hearing that we later see children playing Monopoly with pieces of felt because the sound of plastic on chipboard will evidently risk death, and someone had to write a story about something so obvious, then it was proofed, then it was edited, then someone had to typeset it, THEN they actually ran the printing press - they’re *absurdly* loud - and some poor schlub had to brave their way through the streets, dodging sound monsters as the sun was coming up, so they could drive around the city and fill vending machines with newspapers.

I know it’s a throwaway moment in the movie, I get that it’s an homage to sci-fi movies of the 50s and 60s, but it’s just so dumb when you think about it.

Then, of course, you find out the protagonists have decided to put themselves and their family in complete danger by getting pregnant (you really think you can keep a baby completely silent through their being a toddler? And your best soundproofing is newspapered walls and one spring mattress?!) and I just couldn’t enjoy anything or take it seriously. I hate that movie with a vengeance.

Image credits: s_matthew

#13

In the movie Van Helsing it was the grey Gap sweater that Hugh Jackman wore. Like, everyone else had a vaguely Victorian steampunk looking outfit and his sweater was straight off the clearance rack. We made fun of that choice for YEARS.

Image credits: loyalbeagle

#14

Horses aren’t motorcycles.

Image credits: rb2001

#15

PERFECT TEETH. Whether it's someone from before 1950 or a strung-out junkie, they still have those perfectly straight white Hollywood teeth.

#16

Cars that explode like giant fireworks anytime they get into a wreck. Even for fender benders. Or when they drive a car off a cliff and it explodes before it even lands on anything. If this were true, would any of us even be alive?

#17

“The Dark Knight Rises”. Ok, so no one has seen Batman OR Bruce Wayne for seven years and then they BOTH show up in Gotham at the same time but no one notices the coincidence? Not even “Robin” because he says he figured it out by looking into his eyes. Took me out of the movie and that happened at the beginning. Oh and let’s not forget that Commissioner Gordon couldn’t figure that part out either but could all of a sudden remember a tiny conversation he had with a very young Bruce Wayne to put it together. Dumb.

#18

This is very niche, but as a professional musician “whiplash“ pissed me off. The scene where Miles Teller is practicing his drums until his hand starts bleeding is absolutely detrimental to his technique. If he does that regularly, he’ll be lucky if he can hold a pen let alone play the drums by the time he’s 40.

#19

When Dory the FISH and an octopus STOLE a CAR and DROVE it on the FREEWAY in Finding Dory. It was too wild.

Image credits: donewitdissh_t

#20

I love Mean Girls, but that scene where Regina George gets hit by a bus, while actually being very funny, also completely takes me out of the movie. She's standing in the street for a long time before a bus, that somehow doesn't see her, plows through her at full speed, all while making no sound whatsoever before it hits her

Image credits: saugoof

#21

Indiana Jones in a refrigerator being flung hundreds of yards by a nuclear explosion, fast enough to pass a car going full speed, and being unharmed.

In a movie with aliens, a teenager swinging from vines with monkeys fast enough to catch moving vehicles and alien ghosts.

Image credits: BringBackBoshi

#22

In 'End of Days' the movie goes out of it's way to show that the main character's life is in shambles and he basically doesn't care about anything anymore. He's a drunk who eats garbage and almost never leaves his apartment.

The problem? The main character is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, so we're supposed to believe that this guy who doesn't give a s**t about his health has the body of a guy who puts roids in his cereal and spends 4 hours a day at the gym.

Image credits: RegHater76

#23

Definitely the post apocalyptic setting where everyone is ripped with insane muscle mass even though getting anywhere near the calories required to maintain that physique would be impossible.

Image credits: neoncompass

#24

When underwater scenes are clear and bright. Even in really deep water. And the characters have their eyes open the whole time. Opening your eyes in salt water is painful I'm sure...

Image credits: Dee_NZ

#25

Any movie where they plug a flash drive in and get it right on the first try without looking.

#26

Prometheus: The ship arrives in another solar system. One of the characters says (something like): "we travelled millions of miles to arrive here." Me: so, you are, like, close to Mars? That's not even our backyard, dude. That's our living room!

Image credits: Tropical_Geek1

#27

Any scene in a movie where an ordinary person gets hold of a gun of any sort and instantly knows how to hold, accurately aim, fire, and reload it.

Image credits: harperfin

#28

This is a dumb one I know, but it irks me that everyone overslept in Home Alone 2.

There was no household power outage, and I'm supposed to believe that NOBODY had set an alarm clock besides Kevin's parents?

Image credits: Low-Cantaloupe9426

#29

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, they escaped the Goblin King's lair by scooting down a chasm on a physics-defying rickety tower that somehow always stayed upright while bouncing off rock faces. That was Looney Tunes-level silly

Image credits: the-grim

#30

Bullet Train. Aaron Taylor Johnson somehow climbing and holding onto the bullet train moving ridiculously fast. Then proceeds to smash the window and make it back inside the train.

Image credits: JohnWalI

#31

In “Thor Ragnarok”, Thor spends the entire film having to learn that he doesn’t need a weapon to be who he is, only to get his a*s kicked in “Avengers Infinity War” and spend the rest of the film getting a new and better weapon.

Complete stupidity and horrendous continuity writing

Image credits: SwimmingLaddersWings

#32

I was really surprised and taken out of the movie 3 Kings to see people hauling duffel bags of gold bars like they weighed nothing. It is not just one scene, the whole movie they are tossing around, carrying while running, passing from person these duffel bags we're supposed to believe are full of gold bars. One gold bar is 25 pounds so these bags would be easily be hundreds and hundreds of pounds

#33

Okay The Kingdom of Crystal Skull has been discussed a lot but for me it wasn't the scene where Indy gets into the refrigerator. That did cross a certain line of disbelief but I could live with it. For me, it was the scene where Mutt (an awful character) learns within minutes how to swing on vines from the monkeys, has enough arm strength to keep going at it and is so fast he can catch up with a speeding car.

Image credits: crazysouthie

#34

Gimli even knowing the phrase ‘Central Nervous System’ after he’s killed an Orc by burying his axe in it.

Orcs knowing what menus are too.

#35

In "The Mummy" when the plane crashes in the dessert, and then sinks in quick sand. Quick sand is not possible without water.

#36

This actually just occurred to me today: in The Matrix, the concept of "dying in the simulation kills you IRL" and "the body cannot live without the mind". I get that the simulation is *very* real, but it only interacts with your conscious brain by implanting images and sensations into your cerebrum. Your autonomic nervous system is controlled by the brain stem (cerebellum) and has nothing to do with your conscious interaction with the surrounding world.

Your brain stem doesn't "know" that you got shot; physiological changes due to the impact impair homeostasis, and interrupt vital functions. Your brain stem will still try to make your heart beat even if your heart gets ripped out of your chest (for the few moments it still has oxygen) so why would your brain stem "decide" to make your heart stop just because you think you got shot?

it makes no sense at all and considering much of the series relies on people dying for real because they died in the simulation totally ruins it for me

#37

Independence Day, when the aliens blow up Manhattan. The Empire State Building is shown to be in the center of an avenue, with a long stretch of side streets leading up to it. It’s actually in the middle of 34th street, so the camera angle is impossible.

Image credits: zerg1980

#38

As a Mexican , it’s the fake Spanish accents in movies. Or when a Mexican American actor tries to speak Spanish but they have a very thick English accent and just doesn’t fit the character

Image credits: pandavega

#39

When things are conveniently silent: Talk about someone in a normal voice when they're three feet away. "Can I have a word with you for a minute?" Steps to the other end of the couch for a long conversation about something secret.

Or, sneaks into the back of a car when someone is right there. Car doors make a lot of noise.

Image credits: cloud_watcher

#40

Aliens in Sci fi films that look and talk like modern Americans, and even share their same values and human biology. But they have spots on their face so they're definitely alien.

#41

Anyone in a NYC apartment that doesn't immediately lock their doors after entering. That is, unless the character grew up in the suburbs. In that case, they're too dumb to live in a city.

#42

When 102 pound actresses dispatch a room full of dudes that look like Dave Babtista without taking a single knock in the process. Same can be true with make actors too.

Image credits: BurtReynoldsLives

#43

The way most movies very inaccurately portray teenagers, especially with the lingo or slang. It’s always either outdated or feels so forced and unnatural. I always think, oh my god KIDS DONT TALK LIKE THIS . .. why can’t writers spend time with some youth to see what they’re actually like

#44

In the Planet of the Apes remake, Estella Warren plays a human slave, wearing pelts and a loin cloth and living a tortured existence. But she looks stunning. She has flawless skin, bright red lipstick, and her hair looks freshly done at all times

#45

In Avatar when the element "unobtainium" was shown. The dialogue in that scene and the name just sunk the movie for me. It's too ridiculous.

#46

For some reason, the helicopters carrying around the giant metal robots in Pacific Rim really pissed me off, just looked so implausible... I know it's a movie with a bunch of impossible things happening in it, but for some reason that stuck out to me lol...

#47

John Wick isn’t about a man who can fight really well it’s about the luckiest man in the world.

#48

In the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet (which takes place in the 14th century), "Romeo had a cool mop-top haircut right out of swinging London and Juliet had long straight hippie hair

#49

I hate when vehicles no one heard suddenly burst onscreen and hit someone.

The worst example I’ve seen was a company of helicopters. I don’t remember the name of the movie or what was taking place but it was a night scene in a compound high in a mountain range.

Suddenly, three or four helicopters anyone with ears would have heard coming from miles away swoop in and take everyone by surprise.

Time and money wasted.

#50

Game of Thrones: I know there was plenty of awful writing in the later seasons, but armies just started teleporting around the place. Armies on horseback and foot. I grew up on a farm and do you know how much food animals need for 6 week. And people. When winter is coming in, so zero grass growth. And moving that food around with the army. And then carts, wheelwrights to fix the carts wheels. They had spent a lot of time showing how far sone parts were from each other.

#51

Any example where there’s a race against time that requires being somewhere in 5-10 minutes that would clearly take 30-45 *minimum*.

I understand that mechanically it’s probably easier to build a sense of momentum when the race against time roughly corresponds to the runtime itself, but whenever someone says “I’ll be there in 5 minutes,” I can’t help but get distracted thinking how it’ll take them that long just to get going and on the road, let alone cover the 45+ minute commute between locations.

It’s not something so egregious as to ruin the film/episode, it’s just something I immediately notice and therefore necessitates an active suspension of my disbelief.

#52

A Burmese python living in the jungle on an island off the coast of Central America in the 1st Jurassic park movie.

(“Clever girl” scene)

#53

In Iron Man, when they introduce Tony Stark as graduating Summa Cum Laude/top of his class at MIT. MIT doesn’t do class rankings or honors graduations.

Related: in Good Will Hunting, when they show the “hallways” at MIT and it’s clearly a f*****g high school with Lockers and everything.

Double related: in Legally blonde when they show the law school grads living in little dorms like undergrads. Also when they show Elle getting sun in the late fall in Boston. XD

#54

It's a toss up between that scene in Batman Returns when Bruce rips off the mask and the black eye makeup just disappeared or the chase scene late in the Dark Knight Rises and I recognized the street it was filmed on having gone to school and worked in Pittsburgh.

#55

I just watched Smile. The way this woman, a highly regarded and talented therapist, approaches the experience is ridiculous. She behaved more immature than the kids in It Follows. The disbelieving boyfriend trope is exaggerated to the douchebag husband in Paranormal Activity.

I couldn’t get into it because it a plot made possible by the incredulity of dumb decisions layered on top of one another.

#56

In "Ready Player One", an army of game players descend upon the video game fortress in the third challenge. You see a LOT of pop culture references from the Iron Giant to Tracer from Overwatch, because those are the avatars the players chose.

The thing that didn't make sense to me was that each avatar was unique. There was only one Tracer, for example. You can't tell me that there wouldn't be duplicate avatars in such an army.

Image credits: danielsangeo

#57

SPOILERS FOR MIDNIGHT MASS ON NETFLIX

I can suspend my disbelief pretty far, but it seems like the one thing I really can't ignore is people who live ostensibly in "our world" not knowing or acknowledging the mythical creature that appears in the story. My main example would be Midnight Mass, where apparently not a single person has ever heard of a vampire before.

#58

That Matthew McConaughey can travel light years from Earth and still keep his tan in Interstellar.

#59

End Of Days. Arnie meets a bunch of religious guys who claim that the number of the Devil was mistranslated. It should have been 999, not 666. But the guy in the movie goes "it's not 666, it's 999 as in 1999!"

Where the hell did the 1 come from?!!!