Best mystery movie stupidity of all time

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Death on the Nile picture

Stupidity: When Poirot's team attacks the Germans, they do it through the cover of gas they release. The Germans are having a good time chatting and not taking the situation seriously when there's a big cloud of noxious gas advancing towards them. Despite Poirot's oh-so-clever plan, they should by all means know that something is coming their way, but they get caught entirely with their pants down.

Sammo

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Changeling picture

Stupidity: When she leaves him at home with a sandwich she says people will come check on him. When she gets home and he's not there, she doesn't go and ask those people where he is.

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Scream 3 picture

Stupidity: The killer manages to surprise Stone talking to him on the phone in the middle of the night without Stone managing to hear him; he was outside the trailer with the open door. (00:42:00)

Sammo

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Every Breath You Take picture

Stupidity: Both parents, Dr. Clark and Grace, separately told Lucy that James was a "very sick and dangerous man" and she was to lock all doors and stay inside. When James knocked on the door, Lucy was thrilled to see him and let him come inside the house, totally ignoring her parents' warnings.

KeyZOid

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Holes picture

Stupidity: Why would Stanley say the shoes fell out of the sky? It happened under a bridge. Any normal person would instantly realise someone threw them off the bridge.

MikeH

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Suggested correction: It's an idiom/expression. When something turns up out of nowhere, we say "it came/fell from the sky." In fact, Mr. Sir says this to Stanley when he finds Stanley with his empty bag of sunflower seeds, "Where did this come from? Did it fall from the sky?" Obviously a sarcastic way of saying, "it didn't get there by itself, someone put it there." So the shoes obviously fell from the bridge and Stanley knows this because Zero refers to the bridge later in the movie.

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Panic Room picture

Stupidity: When the police turn up the first time the mother lies to them to get them to go away but the burglars can't hear the conversation. She could have told them exactly what was happening and that she had to make it look like she'd got rid of them. She could have then smashed all the cameras and just let them in.

Danhit

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Suggested correction: This was a character decision, and a completely understandable one. Her daughter was being held hostage in the panic room. She decided to cooperate with their demands for the safety of her daughter. Your idea is a solid one, but she simply did not think of it in her state of mind. She opted to get rid of the police, and her decision is not a movie mistake.

jshy7979

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Kiss the Girls picture

Stupidity: The first time they see the bad guy in the Land Rover, Morgan has him in his sights but can't shoot, as he doesn't want to kill him. Clearly, the obvious thing to do is to shoot the car tires, but he doesn't and lets him drive off.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Shooting out car tires is not an actual effective strategy to get a vehicle to stop. A 9mm bullet simply doesn't cause enough damage to a tire to get it to go flat immediately. It causes similar damage as running over a nail. It is a movie cliche, similar to using a gun to shoot out a lock or a rope, it just doesn't happen in real life.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Escape Plan picture

Stupidity: The security system is able to automatically ascertain the malfunction to the exact valve, and the electrical problem, but the alarm is not triggered at that point, but only when the holding cells are already filled with water and Breslin is making his return. They are on a ship, the fact that it's taking on water feels like a pretty important issue to monitor.

Sammo

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Scream picture

Stupidity: Judy Hicks, a trained cop and sheriff with over a decade of experience, does not carry a back-up holstered gun on her when she is off-duty, one day after her son's close friend is stabbed seven times near to death. A trained police officer/sheriff would also question why the killer would tell her they are about to kill her son, before they do it, if not to bait them and lure them into a trap. (00:45:58 - 00:46:30)

AdventurePlace

More Scream stupidity
The Handmaiden picture

Stupidity: When Sook-Hee walks into Hideko's bedroom before the two of them have sex, she slides the door open when going into the room and never closes it behind her. Once the two of them are in bed together and when they have sex, the door is left the way it is and never closed. Considering a sexual relationship between the two would have been completely forbidden, and, if they were caught, would likely ruin the plot to steal the inheritance money, it seems very foolish of them to ignore the open door, especially taking into account there are other people inside the mansion who could walk by at any moment. (00:41:30)

Casual Person

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Luce picture

Stupidity: When Amy heard Luce coming toward the kitchen, she "hid" his school paper and bag of fireworks in a kitchen cupboard, apparently while knowing Luce would be doing the dishes (and putting them away in the cupboards). Amy and Peter were on the patio (with the door open) just outside the kitchen when Luce was doing the dishes yet Amy made no attempt to prevent Luce from finding his paper and bag of fireworks (which he did). (00:16:20 - 00:21:00)

KeyZOid

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Jagged Edge picture

Stupidity: After Jack is found not guilty, you would think the first thing he would do is to get rid of the typewriter he used to send the notes to Teddy to manipulate her into winning the case for him, especially when she is sleeping with him at his home. Not to even mention the fact he hid the typewriter in an unsecure manner in a closet behind a stack of towels, a place where it would very easily be found. This foolish mistake exposed the truth to Teddy and cost him his "freedom."

Movielover1996

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Rosewood Lane picture

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.

KeyZOid

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Cloverfield picture

Stupidity: When the Woolworth Building collapses and the gang runs into the convenience store to take cover from the dust, Marlena was last seen behind Hud and with Lily, Rob, and Jason. Switch to everyone running from the dust cloud, Marlena didn't make it into the store. Upon exiting the store, the gang finds Marlena stumbling from nearer to the Woolworth Building meaning she would have had to run toward the dust cloud, through the screaming crowd which was running away from the building.

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A Simple Favor picture

Stupidity: Stephanie empties Emily's large closet, but when she comes back with the movers, lo and behold, all of the dead person's belongings are back. They are back though exactly as they were with superhuman inch-perfect precision. Since this movie does not have a supernatural element, that appears really silly. (01:00:30)

Sammo

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No Way Out picture

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."

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Drowning Mona picture

Stupidity: Phil and Rona are in their usual cabin for their usual get-together when Phil tries to tell Rona that Mona is dead, but Rona says, "You'll find me floating at the bottom of the Hudson." If you are floating in a body of water, you are on the top, not the bottom.

kh1616

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Domestic Disturbance picture

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.

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Underwater picture

Stupidity: Norah is an experienced engineer and handywoman, still, she doesn't even bother herself for a second to at least TRY to fix the faulty escape pod.

Dangar

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November Criminals picture

Stupidity: Addison got out of his car to drop his college application into a USPS curbside mailbox. A curbside mailbox is designed to be conveniently accessible from a vehicle (provided the vehicle is pulled up close enough to the curb). (00:02:50)

KeyZOid

More November Criminals stupidity

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