Best crime movie stupidity of all time

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Outland picture

Stupidity: When the shuttle arrives with the assassins, O'Niel is shown loading a shotgun, then he carries that gun when he runs to his office. When he leaves his office again to confront the assassins he grabs another shotgun from the locker. Why didn't he just grab the gun he walked in with?

jbrbbt

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Con Air picture

Stupidity: For a brilliant criminal mastermind, Cyrus makes so many idiotic mistakes. (1) He leaves his entire escape plan hidden in the wall for the guards to find later instead of trying to dispose or destroy them (2) He makes the fatal mistake of trusting Santiago completely and never suspecting a double-cross. At the very least, he should have checked all of Lerner airfield just in case the plane was hiding (which it was). (3) He never notices or even questions Billy Bedlam's sudden absence until he sees his body. Odd considering he notice Santiago's absence immediately. And (4) When escaping on the firetruck, he (pointlessly) chooses to ride on the ladder instead of the front seat where he stands out, and Poe and Larkin both spot him. No surprise his whole plan failed.

Gavin Jackson

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Triple 9 picture

Stupidity: The bodyguard takes Michael's pistol from him and later shoots the pistol near Michael's ear, deafening him, then beats him a bit and leaves him on the ground. As the bodyguard is walking away he gives Michael his sidearm back by ejecting the magazine and tossing the gun on Michael's body. He however didn't eject the bullet in the chamber. Michael's gun, a Sig Sauer, doesn't have a magazine disconnect which prevents a gun from firing with a magazine removed. This was a safety feature for police. (01:33:00 - 01:37:00)

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery picture

Stupidity: The whole premise of the plan is summarized by Helen in the sentence "They don't know Andi is dead, so why would they suspect anything?" However, "they" conspired in unison to financially ruin her sister, and "they" did not answer the mail, none of them. The possibility that "they" all could have gathered and silenced her by force is one of the most likely ones, and yet neither she or Blanc consider even for a moment that the literal crime conspirators could have conspired.

Sammo

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RoboCop picture

Stupidity: Robocop is just about to be unveiled to the press for the first time, and they decide right beforehand is the perfect time to upload a massive amount of data, including his own attempted murder. Then, they seem shocked when that causes problems. No reason to do that right before a very public, time-sensitive moment except for the sake of the plot.

Jon Sandys

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Silver Streak picture

Stupidity: In Devereau's cabin, Hilly, George, and Grover are surrounding Devereau, with Grover and George training their pistols on him, but nobody notices Devereau slowly reaching for the "Call" button on the window sill which is in plain sight of Grover and Hilly.

Scott215

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Collateral picture

Stupidity: Vincent's choice to cut the power to the building that Annie is in does nothing but waste enough time for Max to save Annie. It would have been easier just to go up to kill her and he probably would have gotten away from the police if he did so.

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Suggested correction: It also slows Annie and Max down by forcing them to walk in the dark, and also, at this point, Vincent is really torn up from the crash, and the mere sight of him is going to make Annie very suspicious or even afraid, unless the power out (which for all she knows is just from the building) gives him a plausible reason for being so mauled.

dizzyd

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Joker picture

Stupidity: After one of the policemen decides to jump over the railing and right into the angry mob (!), Arthur just easily sneaks by ducking under it and takes a nice stroll that will lead him through an unlocked door. Nobody in the mob he is part of decides to do the same, and you can also see that one of the policemen is turned towards him, but does not even yell at him or move. And of course, with the theater packed with the Gotham elite basically under siege by a mob and guarded by the police, the door is unlocked and unchecked. Why not. (01:02:55)

Sammo

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Suggested correction: The point is they were all too distracted by the tussle to notice Arthur ducking behind the barrier. No cop sees him. The angry mob is controlled by the barrier and not all that large so they haven't taken extra precautions to keep the mob at bay, yet. The door Arthur gets in is probably a fire escape and can't be locked for safety reasons.

lionhead

I think that with an angry mob worth putting barriers and a big police dispatch, they'd tend to lock the door that is like a 20 feet of walk in a straight line. I mean, they have barriers in front of the stairs, but at the base of the stairs there's an unguarded, unprotected, unlocked door. It's just funny. Not even something in the back or around the corner, no; literally one step to the right of the blockade.

Sammo

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48 Hrs. picture

Stupidity: The fact that Nolte even gives in to Eddie's demands is ridiculous. Why not just interview him in prison, ask him where to look for certain people, etc, and if it's a dead end, report back and ask for further tips, etc. They had zero problem going to prison and asking Kirkland Smith in the sequel.

ckbyers

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Suggested correction: He refused to tell him anything unless Kates takes him out of prison.

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Blue Streak picture

Stupidity: It is pretty silly for Martin Lawrence to go undercover as a police officer when it would make way more sense to go undercover as a janitor/custodian since his main goal is to gain access to the vent. A janitor would be a way less conspicuous disguise than a detective and slipping through a backdoor entrance disguised as a janitor should not be all that complicated for someone as savvy as Myles. But of course this would make a far less entertaining film.

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Midnight Run picture

Stupidity: Jack has been using Mosley's badge and identification to pass himself off as FBI. He never once uses this trick to commandeer a civilian car for him and John when it would have been the safest way to get to L.A. much sooner.

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Suggested correction: Probably because If he did that, the car's owner like Red the bar owner would eventually call the FBI office to get their car back and then the feds would know the make, model, license plate, and the last location of Walsh and the Duke. The police would have caught them in minutes. Walsh had to keep a low profile.

Zorz

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Fast & Furious 8 picture

Stupidity: When the crew go to New York they are in the back of a fish truck carrying fish. There's no need for them to do that. So long as the truck looks normal outside to keep their cover, they could have the inside kitted out any way they want. When they get to the fish factory they open up the warehouse in front of the workers to reveal the cars, so the workers are in on it being a front - it makes no sense to actually have fish in the back of the truck.

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Amityville Uprising picture

Stupidity: At the police station, a bucket of tools was left along the wall within a couple inches of the jail cell door where so-called "Amityville Strangler" Joe Gallo was detained. Gallo was able to reach the tools, use something to unlock his cell, and have a weapon - sledgehammer - "to go." (00:46:57 - 00:57:30)

KeyZOid

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Becky picture

Stupidity: Becky possessed the mysterious key that the four neo-Nazi prison escapees were at the lake house to retrieve. Becky didn't know what the key was for, so did not have a vested interest in it. By first denying that she knew where the key was and later refusing to give it to Dominick, her father was killed. Had Becky simply handed over the key when Dominick asked for it, it is possible no-one would have been hurt/ killed. Becky keeping the key with no importance to her served to further the plot.

KeyZOid

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The Double picture

Stupidity: There is a scene about a null hypothesis proving Cassius is the killer. Nearly everything is wrong in this scene. Statistically, you never prove a null hypothesis true. (01:23:11 - 01:24:22)

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Den of Thieves picture

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.

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London Has Fallen picture

Stupidity: Why does a safe house have a skylight? It is a secure building with hardened doors but a window in the roof?

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The Shawshank Redemption picture

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.

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Diabolik picture

Stupidity: To quietly kill the hotel valet he is replacing, Diabolik throws a knife at him from distance, hits him in the back, and then drags his body in the middle of the street to the nearest manhole, leaving a long streak of blood he does not conceal. If this sounds pretty risky and unsafe especially for a meticulously planned murder, you have also to consider that in the comic book from 1963 this movie otherwise faithfully adapts, Diabolik did nothing this foolish; he quietly killed the guy strangling him next to the spot he'd dump his body into.

Sammo

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Suggested correction: We're talking about Amanda Waller who had no issues murdering innocent government employees that were accidentally exposed to her top-secret Suicide Squad program they weren't cleared for (versus making them sign an NDA not to talk about it as in a real-life accidental exposure to uncleared employees). Waller just took the easier option which was to threaten to kill Enchantress if she didn't obey versus spending countless dollars (and exposing more people to Waller's program) trying to cure her.

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