Character mistake: "Romantic" gestures which would actually get you arrested for stalking. Tracking down where someone lives and trying to sneak into their back yard with a bunch of flowers would get the cops called on you, not invited in for coffee.
Common movie and TV mistakes - page 4
This is a list of mistakes, things done wrong, etc. that happen so frequently onscreen we barely notice any more. 'Movie logic', stupid behaviours, and everything related.
Factual error: Characters, typically the hero, can crash through windows without so much as getting a cut on them.
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Suggested correction: Depending on the age of the window, that's the whole point. Safety glass is designed to break in a way to stop people getting hurt.
Not every window is made from safety glass. When was the last time you saw a movie where a main character crashed through a store window, office building window, house window, plate glass window, etc. and ended up getting shredded to ribbons?
You don't often see blood but items of clothing do get ripped. One example I can think of off the top of my head is The Last Stand where Arnie gets chucked through a glass door. His jacket gets rips on it.
For whatever it's worth, the one time in my life I had to break through a window in an emergency situation, it was definitely not safety glass and I got some fairly deep cuts even though I thought I'd cleared away the pieces. Also in spite of everything I made sure to smash it with an object because I knew there was no way I was just going to be able to leap through a solid pane of glass, and I suspect even if I did I'd just end up impaling myself on a huge shard.
Factual error: Stun guns and Tasers do not knock people unconscious. They are designed to incapacitate by either interrupting motor control or causing pain. Movies and TV shows often show someone is zapped with a stun gun and falling unconscious almost instantly. Electroshock weapons simply cannot be used this way, nor are they designed with this in mind. It is absurd for a spy to use a stun gun as a stealth weapon, the first thing the target would likely do is yell from the pain.
Deliberate mistake: Whenever someone needs to dump out someone's garbage because they're looking for something, it's always dry and clean, never disgusting.
Factual error: Protagonists who have been able to clear their name after being framed, but only in the process of committing several other crimes, for which they receive no punishments. The law is still the law and crimes are all separate from each other committed in that time period.
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Suggested correction: This can be true or not. Prosecutors have a lot of discretion whether to prosecute a crime of not. If you help the police solve a crime that you were originally a suspect by committing another crime, as long as that crime is not murder (it can be self-defense) the prosecutor has discretion whether to prosecute.
Plus, in the case of common mistakes, they are not working with the police to clear their name. And just because they're not murdering people doesn't mean they're not assaulting people (outside the realm of self-defense). Plus, this common mistake is especially true for police officers kicked off the case and then break all sorts of police procedures with no consequences.
The only point I am making is that prosecutors do have discretion whether to prosecute crimes. If the crime is minor AND you helped the prosecutor with other more serious crimes, they can choose to not prosecute you for the minor crimes. The OP was vague as to what kind of additional crimes they committed. If murder, then I don't see how they get away with that just because they helped solve other crimes. It would depend on what kind of other crimes the protagonist committed.
Character mistake: Police officers or people with similar training never securing weapons that are on the floor or lying motionless, especially lying next to a fatally wounded character.
Factual error: Padlocks being shot off or unlocked by gunfire.
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It takes more than an experienced shooter to shoot open a padlock with a gun. You need to use the right gun, and the right bullet.
An experienced shooter will never take the risk of a ricochet or shrapnel from doing such a thing.
Factual error: Movies where a truck or train is uncontrolled and the brake lines have been cut. The whole point of those brake lines is that they keep the brakes from closing - cut them and the brakes apply automatically, for safety reasons - that's the whole point.
Factual error: It's common in movies and shows, and even games sometimes, to see characters effortlessly lifting manhole covers. Usually when climbing out from them or even just walking up and lifting them with bare hands. In the case of the TMNT, where they have enhanced strength, it's a little more believable. However, in real life these lids are super heavy and usually require a crane or other heavy equipment to lift.
Factual error: In many TV shows and movies that show two parties speaking to each other on either a landline phone or pay phone, as soon as one party hangs up the phone, the other party hears an instant dial tone. Phones did not have a dial tones after calls were disconnected in reality, but rather silence followed by loud annoying buzz sounds.
Factual error: Lawyers making a scene in the courtroom, such as raising their voice or being forceful/threatening with a witness. This sort of behavior is never allowed. Even when the attorney has permission to treat a witness as "hostile", it doesn't mean they can scream and yell. Courtroom trials are in general very quiet affairs. Any emotional outbursts by an attorney could lead to a mistrial, as this sort of behavior can influence a jury. An attorney would never be given enough leeway to badger a witness until they break down and confess to a crime on the stand, no matter what evidence they present during questioning.
Other mistake: People are often seen knocking on someone's door only for it to be answered with 2 or 3 seconds regardless of the size of the house. The house could be the size of a mansion or a little 1 bed flat and response times are always around the same. 2 - 3 seconds.
Factual error: In movies, TV shows, cartoons, and videogames people are often depicted as standing right next to molten lava or magma. Frequently walking or fighting next to it, getting inches away or only a few feet above it. In reality the heat coming off it alone would cause people's clothes and skin to catch fire and burn their lungs just from being within like 20 feet of lava.
Character mistake: Characters will often tell other characters information they already know or overload them with far more information than they need or would even be natural to say or come up in conversation simply for the sake of exposition for the audience.
Revealing mistake: Actors supposedly playing instruments in a scene but their hand movements don't match the music.
Other mistake: Helicopters appearing from out of nowhere and surprising characters. Helicopters are loud enough to be heard from a considerable distance and will also vibrate the ground/buildings/homes if they are flying low enough. The only feasible way a person can be surprised by the sudden appearance of a helicopter would be if they are deaf.
Revealing mistake: Multiple examples in movies and TV shows where actors are pretending that boxes, coffee cups, and luggage are full, but the ease of movement indicates they are empty.
Factual error: Characters treat fleeing to a country with no extradition treaty with their home country as a sort of immunity to prosecution. In real life, extradition treaties mean there are formal legal processes agreed between the nations. No extradition treaty just means the two countries have to negotiate the terms of handing over the suspect, if they agree to do so. Also, the laws of the new country may let them investigate and prosecute the characters for certain crimes.
Factual error: In many films, American criminals evade justice by crossing the border into Mexico, considering themselves untouchable by US authorities once they have arrived on Mexican soil. They could not be more wrong. Mexico and the US have a vigorously enforced extradition treaty, and American criminals are routinely arrested by Mexican police and returned to the US to face justice.
Factual error: Often in movies, you'll see someone light a premium cigar by quickly puffing on it once or twice with a match, and that's it. However, this is basically never going to properly light the cigar, and it'll go out near instantly. You often need to "toast" the cigar (carefully singe the tip with a flame) before lighting, and even if you don't, you're going to need to puff on it at least 5-6 times while rotating it over a flame to evenly light it and keep it lit. (Likely done to keep scenes moving.)