Few things are more annoying in a movie than clunky dialogue, especially if I know what the next line is going to be. That's just bad writing (and bad filmmaking by extension).
When I come across this, it instantly ruins the immersion.
How can you truly enjoy a movie when all it does is remind you that you've seen it before?
There are many other things that can take you out of a movie, though, such as clunky exposition or characters with no common sense. We heard people's thoughts after Redditor Fishboi694 asked the online community,
"What instantly takes you out of a movie?"
"When they murder..."
"When they murder 1000 henchmen without showing a sign of remorse but then don't kill the person who caused all the problems because suddenly morals."
LiterallyHitler
And every one of the henchmen instantly die from a single sword slice, bullet, or arrow, while the main characters can be riddled with mortal wounds and still fight like nothing even happened to them!
"When a character..."
"When a character jumps to conclusions after overhearing something without full context as a heavy plot device to push the story forward."
Tonythunder
It's lazy, uninspired, and I can't take a movie seriously after that, sorry to say.
"It drives me nuts..."
"Lazy exposition. Lifetime/Hallmark movies are especially guilty of this. It drives me nuts when a movie slams the entire exposition of a story into a 5 second dialogue directly after opening credits."
[deleted]
Yes, it's so bad! Having an info dump at the beginning of the movie is so unnatural.
"Anything that treats..."
"Anything that treats the audience like morons, making me embarrassed to watch."
mzalbar
Yes! It's like the characters say everything they are going to do out loud like we can't tell what's going on.
"A love story..."
"A love story where I never see the two of them in a conversation."
Clapperoth
But they sometimes stood next to each other! What else do you need to convince the audience they have chemistry?!
"Any scene where a clueless victim tells the villain that he's on to his plot and is going to the authorities only to get killed right then and there by the bad guy because he hadn't said anything to anyone else so nobody else knows."
TonyDP1128
Yes, it's terrible! If they had any sense, they'd wait for the police to arrive before confronting the villains in the first place!
"Shoehorning..."
"Shoehorning a love story into the plot for no discernable reason."
katastrophyx
Or the rare opposite situation: Shoehorning a real and tragic historical event into a generic love story like Pearl Harbor and Titanic.
"Trailers..."
"Trailers that give away the best parts."
sternje
Aaaaand this is why I stopped watching trailers. It's not worth it.
"If a movie..."
"Bad sound. If a movie has bad camera work it’s either considered stylistic or it’s overlooked. If a movie has bad sounds, there’s no recovery."
KidneyFailure99
If your average audience member even notices the sound that means it was bad. Sound engineers agree.
"Sure..."
"Extreme predictability. Sure, not every movie is going to be super surprising, but if you’re just following the same formula I’ve seen in 100 other movies, I’m going to enjoy your movie less than one that explores some interesting ground or takes some twists and turns."
PosterNutbag
And another thing that I think falls under this umbrella is extremely predictable dialogue. When you know what the characters are going to say and exactly how they're going to say it. Just lazy writing.
I know what you're doing... you're thinking of every movie you've ever watched that commits these egregious sins. Sorry to do that to you but sadly, there are so many terrible movies out there.
Have some observations of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
@trew_808/TikTok
@madisonleanne8/TikTok
@nanaonakawa/TikTok
@llamalexa/TikTok
@hisgirlfriday5/TikTok
@jblair1118/TikTok
@jaylauscher/X
@ChrisPorter22/X