Tell Us Now: 15 Ways to Ruin A Movie Instantly

What will make you turn a movie off?
Tell Us Now: 15 Ways to Ruin A Movie Instantly

We are sick of only creating critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies, so we asked Cracked readers on Facebook, “What’s one thing that can ruin a movie instantly?” The top-rated complaints literally made the movie hard to watch and hear: sound mixing and visual issues. Our favorite was a shoe-horned relationship introduction. Who genuinely refers to their sibling by their relationship? We’ve never once said out loud, “Sister, call me back!” And, look, we can empathize with lazy writing (even though we would never) but we can’t condone it in a multi-million-dollar movie. 

A repeated response we ignored was “political messaging” because every movie includes political messages…it’s just a matter of whether you agree with them. From buying a screenplay to sound engineer hires, every decision is political. 

Do the following fifteen examples make you so angry you’ll turn a movie off? If not, what else would you include on this list? 

Using Unnecessary Explanation or Clunky Dialogue

... TELL US NOW. UNNECESSARY EXPLANATION Rhiannon S. hates when movies use unnecessary full names or shoe-horned relationships, such as Oh, sister, thank you so much for making me breakfast. What would a brother, like me, do without you, my sister? CRACKED.COM

Forcing Romantic Subplots

... TELL US NOW. FORCED ROMANTIC SUBPLOTS Amanda M. hates howalmost every movie wants to throw in a romantic subplot for no reason. Now a lot of time and energy of the movie has to be focused on the romantic subplot. A lot of time it adds nothing to the movie and is very boring/cliché. CRACKED.COM

Using Unbelievable Props

... TELL US NOW. UNBELIEVABLE PROPS Mario C. doesn't understand Spending millions of dollars in special effects and famous actors, but not being able to spend 50 cents for having coffee in the mug. Every time an actor pretends that he's drinking a delicious coffee from an empty cup, it destroys all illusion. CRACKED.COM

Falling Back on Remakes and Sequels

... TELL US NOW. REMAKES AND SEQUELS Julie L. is frustrated when movies don't use original ideas, There are thousands of great books that would make amazing movies. But lazy sequels and all the Marvel movies are the only thing they have. Getting old. CRACKED.COM

Creating Hard-To-See Scenes

... TELL US NOW. LOW CONTRAST Elizabeth H. complains about movies that are too dark, saying I get that it's supposed to be night but I can't see anything. CRACKED.COM

Including Blatant Product Placements

... TELL US NOW. PRODUCT PLACEMENT BP. 415 S Richard В. thinks nothing ruins a movie faster than blatant product placement. CRACKED.COM

Using Shaky Cam Footage

... TELL US NOW. SHAKY САМ FOOTAGE Heather P. says, I had to close my eyes during the chase scene of the second Bourne movie because I couldn't process what was going on at all. It was just visual noise. I didn't see the third one in theaters for that reason. CRACKED.COM

"Lampshade Hanging"

... TELL US NOW. LAMPSHADE HANGING Gareth K. doesn't like it when movies use papering over ridiculousness by having the characters acknowledge how ridiculous it is. Formerly a lazy shortcut, now the core of many big franchise modern movies' comedy. CRACKED.COM

Overusing Jump Cuts

... TELL US NOW. OVERUSE OF JUMP CUTS Scott C. says, Jump cutting an action sequence all to hell... Marvel movies are notorious for this, butchering a fight scene to make it seem more 'dynamic', but it ends up looking like lazy editing. And once you notice it in one movie, you see it in every movie! CRACKED.COM

Dramatically Revealing an Injury

... TELL US NOW. THE INJURY REVEAL Corey F. doesn't like when movies include the obligatory 'hide that I got shot in the side until someone notices I'm bleeding and then suddenly being affected by it'. CRACKED.COM

Killing the Dog

... TELL US NOW. DEAD DOG A.J.P. hates when movies use cheap emotional manipulation through killing off a main character or an animal. CRACKED.COM

Unnecessary Deaths

... TELL US NOW. UNNECESSARY DEATHS Andrew О. says a movie is ruined from the unceremonious or off-screen killing of major and beloved characters from previous movies. The deaths of Hicks and Newt (literally in the first five minutes!!!) were the unforgivable sin of Alien 3. CRACKED.COM

Inconsistent Sound Mixing

... TELL US NOW. BAD SOUND MIXING Ed А. says a movie is ruined when there are huge sudden switches between quiet, whispered dialog and then deafening explosions or background music. Every movie today does it, and it might work okay in a theater with Dolby quantum thingamajig surround sound, but on a TV at home, it makes the movie hard to follow if you don't have the remote in your hand constantly changing the volume. CRACKED.COM

Excessive Action Sequences

... TELL US NOW. EXCESSIVE ACTION SEQUENCES Robert C. says, An extended action sequence that's basically 45 minutes of nonstop explosions and screaming with no emotional beats to give it structure and purpose (see: Man of Steel, most of the Transformers movies). CRACKED.COM

Inaccurate Accents

... TELL US NOW. INACCURATE ACCENTS Jesse А. can't stand when actors try to do Boston accents, and Danny M. says, Whoever the voice coach is that Hollywood uses has never heard an Irish person speak and should not be allowed to coach accents. CRACKED.COM
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