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In order to enjoy a film, you need two things. A big bag of popcorn (with salt or caramel, your choice) and willingly suspending your disbelief for a couple of hours. That way, you can kick back, relax, and enjoy the show without illogical things making you irritated every few minutes.

However, quite a lot of movies and TV shows could end before the end of the first act if some of the characters were a bit smarter or relied on common sense. That’s what redditor RedstonekPL showed us with their viral thread where they asked people to share what movies could be resolved in 10 minutes if the main characters weren’t such fools.

Scroll down for Bored Panda’s insightful interview with the author of the thread about why filmmakers make some characters very foolish, upvote your fave pics, and let us know in the comments if you know of any other films that would end quickly if the characters were a tad more rational. Oh, and a small note of warning: you might not be able to enjoy some of these movies on repeat viewings afterward.

#1

“Don’t swim to the drop-off, nemo”

“ok dad”

CREDITS

Image credits: drewhead118

#2

Literally not picking Anakin to be Padme bodyguard when the sexual tension between them is thicker than Jabba.

Image credits: bivukaz

#3

Sleeping Beauty

“Honey, we should invite Maleficent to our daughter’s christening. I know she’s the Mistress of All Evil, but it’d probably end up worse for us if we don’t invite her.”

Image credits: MustLoveDisneyMovies

Redditor RedstonekPL, whose real name is Timothy, told us all about what inspired them to create the thread and why some characters act really dumb.

“Pretty often in movies, the main character (or main characters) does something dumb. When that happens, I think to myself, ‘Man, if only they were a little bit smarter this would be a lot shorter.’ I wanted to spark some discussion about it on the internet, see other people’s opinions and examples, and r/AskReddit is the best place for questions like that.”

According to Timothy, asking a question on the sub is like a lottery: you never know when your thread might go viral. “You can get nothing, get a lot, and anything in between. Although questions like this usually are more popular in the community, people there like to discuss stuff,” he said, adding that the awards he got were a total surprise to him.

#4

Well, if Voldemort had conjured a shotgun to kill Harry Potter, not even a mother’s love would have saved him from that. But noooo, he had to be all melodramatic and Avada Kedavra the little Chosen One…

Image credits: Raetekusu

#5

The ring

Girl 1: “Hey do you wanna watch the tape that kills you in 7 days”

Girl 2: “No thanks”

Image credits: not_your_fbi_agent_

#6

Lion King- “don’t listen to Scar, Simba. He wants to be king through any means necessary. And nobody goes to that gorge to practice their roars.”

Image credits: AntiSentience

Timothy pondered that filmmakers make some characters intentionally foolish for a variety of reasons. “In my opinion, there are 3 types of foolish characters. Some characters are foolish because without them the movie wouldn’t exist. Some characters’ foolishness is a part of their personality. And some characters sometimes do stupid things once or twice to make the viewer laugh.”

He continued: “There are some movies where not being dumb wouldn’t be boring, but there are some films, where one or two foolish actions are required to even start it. A good example for the former is a stereotypical horror film where some characters enter some kind of an abandoned house and then read out loud some kind of ancient curse or whatever from a book with a note saying, “Do not open,” and then get attacked.”

#7

Elrond should have just stabbed Isildur the instant he said, “no”

Image credits: Rudeirishit

#8

The Matrix. If Neo had just taken the blue pill and lived out his miserable days like the rest of us

Image credits: LookAtMeImAName

#9

The Visit:

Kids: “We’re going to visit our grandparents.”

Mom: “I don’t want you to go, but if you feel like you really want to go, I’ll drive you to their house.”

Mom: “Hey, y’all ain’t my parents. I’m calling the police.”

The end.

Image credits: earhere

The redditor said that another stereotypical example of this would be a horror movie where the characters get warned by the locals not to enter an abandoned, haunted house, but they do it anyway. If the characters didn’t do this, there would be no need for the movie in the first place.

Bored Panda also wanted to learn more about Timothy’s viewing preferences. “To be honest, I’m a person who would rather watch a TV series rather than a movie. When I do watch one, it’s a comedy, so being stupid is basically required.”

They added: “I just want to tell everyone, that y’all should watch anything you want, don’t let anyone insult you for what you watch.”

#10

Robert: Ned come with me to king’s landing

Ned: No.

Image credits: Feuillo

#11

Jurassic Park if Hammond actually spared no expense.

Image credits: wolfmann

#12

Home alone – yeah sick just forget about one of your kids.

Home alone 2 – congratulations on learning from your mistakes and managing to get your kid to the airport this time…and he’s gone.

Image credits: Allgoodnamesinuse

RedstonekPL’s thread got over 73.5k upvotes, more than 23k comments, and got 112 awards (which had us thinking whether Christmas has come early since everyone’s in such a giving mood).

If everyone were perfect and behaved rationally, movies would end very quickly because problems would get solved or avoided almost immediately. However, this would make for incredibly boring movies.

In fact, you could argue that the essence of any film (or any story, to be honest) is that there are challenges and issues to overcome and that things don’t go according to plan.

#13

No Country For Old Men

Never go back to the scene of the crime.

Image credits: Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

#14

Emperor’s New Groove

Yzma originally says that she could just turn him into a flea, put that flea in a box, put that box into another box, and eventually send it to herself so she could smash it with a hammer.

Then she says to save on postage, she’ll just use poison which ends up not being poison. Even if she went with the original plan he’d be a flea, and, for all intents and purposes, out of the picture pretty instantly. Yzma screwed herself trying to save like a quarter.

Image credits: CinnaSol

#15

School of rock – Mrs Mullins: Can I see your ID mr Sheebly? Dewey: Uh sorry I don’t have it Mrs Mullins: Sorry you won’t be able to teach the kids unless you have proof you’re a teacher/who you are! CREDITS

Image credits: mewchitects

Science fiction author James Blish coined and film critic Roger Ebert popularized the term ‘idiot plot’ where everything could be resolved in the blink of an eye if the characters weren’t, well, ‘idiots.’

Idiot plots don’t allow thinking, asking the right questions, or behaving like a normal human being, otherwise, the plot would fall apart. No plot. No movie. No big blockbuster and millions of dollars in revenue.

However, keep in mind that far from everyone behaves rationally all the time in real life: we don’t magically solve all of our problems even though we could. If we suddenly found out that we’re the protagonists in our own movies, is there something that we’d do differently? Would our movies end in 10 minutes or 10 hours?

#16

Batman Begins

The Waynes shouldn’t have left through the side exit of the theater. Just call Alfred and wait out front.

Image credits: Undecided_User_Name

#17

John Wick.

If Theon would have just killed John (considering they screwed hun up pretty bad), not only would we not have gotten three movies, but Theon would be known as the person who killed Baba Yaga.

Being the son of a crime lord AND world wide recognition for killing the most famous assassin on the planet would make the Tarasov family untouchable.

Image credits: OkayestHistorian

#18

28 days later.

How about we don’t let the diseased rage monkey out of the cage?

Image credits: ReallyHadToFixThat

#19

Not a movie, but breaking bad would have worked out much better for Walt if he had just swallowed his pride and allowed his old friend to pay for his cancer treatment.

Image credits: rinkydinkis

#20

Forget movies, How I Met Your Mother took 9 years, a 5 min story….

Image credits: TheHasanZ

#21

Reservoir Dogs:

“I dunno, Joe. This heist seems kinda risky and dangerous.”

“Yeah, I’m not actually sure everyone in this crew is on the up and up. IT’S OFF!”

Image credits: Neo_Basil

#22

Harry Potter, if Voldemort had just yeeted baby Harry against a wall

Image credits: Muirlimgan

#23

Twilight. “Stop staring at me you vitamin D deficient creep” DONE

Image credits: Natresse

#24

Gremlins, if the idiot had only followed the rules!

Image credits: Dizzeem

#25

Willy Wonka & the chocolate factory: The kid finds the golden ticket and sells it to another rich, spoiled kid. Easy millions, they are not poor anymore and he wouldn’t have a trauma because of the dying kids in the factory

Image credits: weberrich

#26

The Blair Witch Project, just walk downstream

Image credits: williams1753

#27

Evil Dead films.

“Whoa, creepy book, should we read from it?”

“Nah.”

Image credits: fetszilla

#28

“they float, Georgie, and when you’re down here with me, you’ll float, too!”

Nah! float yourself. Bye

Credits

Image credits: Anonmyous_entity69

#29

Back to the Future. The man stored plutonium in his garage. Anyone willing to do that should be throwing off red flags like candy at a parade.

Marty: “I’m sorry Crazy Old Man with tons of potentially dangerous and toxic crap in your garage, you want me to do what? At 1am? On a school night? Yeah, no can do, got a test tomorrow.”

Headline the next morning: “Local Crazy Person Gunned Down By Terrorists at Hill Valley Mall. Police Reportedly Not Surprised As He Was Really Crazy and Into Weird Stuff.”

Marty: “Well huh, glad I didn’t go to the mall.”

The end.

Image credits: level 1 mnemonikos82

#30

All the crew had to do was listen to Ripley and not break quarantine

Image credits: doctor4th

#31

Jack should have just let Rose jump off.

Image credits: level 1 Alpha_Balboa

#32

Alice in Wonderland = if she had just stopped following the goddamn rabbit

Image credits: Reversevagina

#33

If Mr. and Mrs. Bueller were anything like my parents, the movie would have been called “Ferris Bueller’s Day at School”

Image credits: Corporate-Asset-6375

#34

Cars.

If Lighting McQueen listened to his crew and changed his tires as ordered, he could have won the race.

Image credits: IamZerBase

#35

Aladdin. If Jafar would have just paid Aladdin what he promised him instead of betraying him at the cave, he would have had the lamp and become king be mighty powerful. Aladdin just wanted his money in return for the lamp.

Image credits: kiwiwatermelonnn

#36

Not the main character, but Star Wars.

The Empire grabs Leia’s ship and the droids escape in a capsule.

“There’s no life forms. Hold your fire. No, wait. Droids exist in this universe and could be carrying those plans Vader wants. Let’s pull that ship in or dispatch some TIE Fighters to intercept it or something.

A short time later

“Sir, we pulled apart those droids. The golden one was useless, but the astromech had the plans.”

Vader: “Excellent. You will be rewarded for this.”

Image credits: TechyDad

#37

The main antagonist in Suicide Squad is a member of the team, Enchantress, who turned out to be evil and gains power thanks to some magic MacGuffin that the lady running the team uses to control her. Literally the entire plot of Suicide Squad wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t bother assembling the suicide squad.

Image credits: CanyonSlim

#38

Not the main character but : Dont reopen the beach for the holiday weekend in Jaws

Image credits: ImInArea52

#39

Over the Hedge. RJ decided to be a dum-dum and steal all of the bear’s food. Like what did he think would happen even if he didn’t accidentally wake him up the bear would still have woken up a week later and probably would’ve known it was RJ

Image credits: CJ33333

#40

Frozen

Anna: Why do you shut me out?

Elsa: Enough, Anna.

Anna: Okay we are gonna discuss it later in private.

Image credits: Non-native-English

#41

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Just portkey Harry to the graveyard right off the bat, you fool.

Image credits: jimtrickington

#42

Star Wars Episode 1. Not exactly 10 minutes, but, Padme could have bought Anakin’s mom and he would have probably never turned to the Dark Side.

Republic credits may not be worth much on Tatooine, but im sure one of her jewel encrusted headdresses is.

Image credits: Sigmar_Heldenhammer

#43

Star Wars – After discovering that Anakin could be very powerful with the force, but had a lot of fear and attachment issues over his mother. The council sends Obi-Wan back to Tatooine to buy his mother out of slavery and relocate her to Corrsscant in a safe neighbor hood.
Anakin now knows that even without him in the picture his mother will live a safe and happy life and can detach from her much more easily than leaving her alone on a savage world, and even if he isn’t able to fully detach from her he never has the impetus to slaughter the sand people and kick start his descent to the darkside.
It’s not a sure plan, but certainly one that would produce a version of Anakin who ends up resenting the jedi just a little less. Maybe even enough to no slaughter younglings in the future.

Image credits: shroom2021

#44

Avengers infinity war. As soon as Maw and Cull landed in new York Dr Strange could have used the time stone repeatedly to his advantage.

Image credits: chrisl182

#45

“50 Shades of Gray.”

Ana – “You’re an abusive stalker with serious emotional trauma. Seek help.”

Image credits: CobiWann

#46

Jumanji next level. Bro Spencer you idiot.

Image credits: Boban_the_dude

#47

Rent

“Hey, mom, Mark here. I’m sorry, it didn’t work out, I’m being evicted, can I go home again?”

Credits

Image credits: OmenBard

#48

Frozen.

The parents completely isolated Elsa from the world, leaving her with insecurity and anxiety. They also seemingly neglected Anna as her behavior was never in check, which is why she continuously butted her way into Elsa’s space when she CLEARLY needed some time alone to clear her head. Maybe if they two actually talked instead of Anna’s near assault on Elsa, something could’ve been worked out that didn’t include running away and getting hypothermia in a semi-frozen river.

Image credits: invadar789

#49

Thor 1. Thor, don’t go fight the ice people. You also made Loki into a bad guy.

Image credits: EtherBoo

#50

Inside out. In the scene where Sadness and Joy meet the two workers in the long term, they send the gum commercial memory through the wall (the little flap that opens if you push a memory through it)and up to headquarters. Idk why they didn’t think of sending the core memories through that instead.

Image credits: magic_fetus04

#51

Remember when Starlord got mad and started smacking Thanos in the face? We could’ve skipped Endgame tbh

Image credits: klovamolus

#52

The Martian

All six astronauts are fools, as are all the planners at NASA. If it were even remotely possible that the Lander could be toppled in a Martian windstorm, the first order of business upon landing would have been to tie it down, secure against such a threat.

Image credits: daggour

#53

“Huh. I can’t see the indominus rex. Let me just take a look at the GPS tracking device. Oh. It’s in the cage but invisible. Better not open any doors or go inside.”

Image credits: RahvinDragand

#54

Meet the Parents

Ben Stiller be like, “Could everyone settle down and give me a chance to explain?”

Image credits: whoreoleo

#55

Star Wars The Last Jedi, if Hux had just ordered the dreadnaught to fire on any Capital ships in range the whole movie would have been over bad guys won.

Image credits: Madn112

#56

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. If they had just paid attention in class all year and written their damn essay, we wouldn’t have had one of the greatest movies of all time.

Image credits: anusblaster69

#57

Brandt: “Here’s your rug back, Lebowski.” Lebowski: “I’m The Dude, man.” Bowling, weed, Bob Dylan, roll credits.

Image credits: MattHatter999

#58

Batman: the dark knight.

if the bank manager with the shotgun had some training and been a better shot, he could have iced the joker and boom, roll credits.

Image credits: SystemicAdmin

#59

Get Out. His friend Rod tells him never to go to a white girls parents house. Warns him multiple times while he’s there to leave.

Image credits: MissMonster

#60

Avatar the Last Airbender movie. It could have been 0 mins long if M. Night Shyamalan had been smart.

Image credits: Raban7

#61

The Hangover movies.. don’t roofie your friends.

Image credits: nancy10499

#62

Toy Story. Don’t be such a prick Woody

Image credits: Taffdaduh

#63

UP! The dude should have sold! The property was worth a whole bunch and it would have been worthwhile to even just pick up and move the house if he was so attached to it, which as evidenced by the movie was a solution he would have been perfectly ok with.

Image credits: WreckweeM

#64

Uncut Gems. Auction the damn opal, pay off your debt, divorce your wife after passover, DONE

Image credits: lilycamilly

#65

The Purge.

Just stay in the secure, fortified house.

Image credits: level 1 MasonInk

#66

The Little Mermaid.

Ariel: Daddy I love him!

King Triton: You don’t even know him!

Ariel: Good point.

Image credits: gookershano

#67

Dude where’s my car. Just actually attempt to look for the car. You’re a stoner, you know you lose stuff

Image credits: reddituser98571

#68

Taken, but not the main character. Don’t let your teenage daughters go to a foreign city by themselves. Movie, over.

Image credits: Sc1F1Sup3rM0m

#69

The Hunger Games. Could have avoided a whole series of the older sister would have let the younger one go. She dies anyway.

Image credits: chevyguyjoe

#70

Fatal Attraction. If he hadn’t slept with her, the movie would have ended after the office meeting.

Image credits: AtomHeartMother84

#71

Gone with the Wind.

If Ashley had just told Scarlett in plain English that he loved Melanie then Scarlett would have given up chasing him. Instead he would say things like, she’s like me, we’re blood (they were cousins), we understand each other, etc. Scarlett misinterpreted that to mean he didn’t ‘love’ her, but was marrying her for other reasons.

It wasn’t until the end that after Melanie died that Scarlett realized Ashley loved Melly and not her. She wasted years of her life on something that could have been cleared up with a simple phrase.

Image credits: ablueeyedkindofwhite

#72

The Incredibles, had Mr. Incredible just rolled with incrediboy for a little bit

Image credits: rl231661

#73

She’s the man. Sorry, you’re very clearly a girl dressed as a boy. Do you even go here? CREDITS

Image credits: Handro_The_Great

#74

Labyrinth.

At the start our protagonist meets a bug and ask where to go, not where to get to the castle. The bug said to the right, and when she left the bug said, if you go to the left you will end up in the troll castle.

#75

Not a movie, but ’13 reasons why’. The kid just COULDN’T listen to the damn tapes. It’s literally the first thing she tells him, it’s what everyone repeats to him a million times.. He runs around, asking ppl sh*t instead of listening to the tapes.

Image credits: SwimmaLBC

#76

I mean, Dorothy should have asked a few more questions about the ruby slippers.

Image credits: JamesRenner

#77

Moana the god damn ocean could’ve defeated the thing and restored the heart

Image credits: ipsychowolf02

#78

The Lorax. Brother could’ve lived in blissful ignorance, but sometimes a kid’s gotta listen to his d*ck over his brain.

Image credits: jackin-on-the-porch

#79

Avengers Endgame. If that rat touched the buttons in a different order then Scott wouldn’t have come back.

Image credits: epicnonja

#80

[Darth Sidous looks into Space, Bathroom Mirror (it’s very spooky)] Darth Sidous: Alright Palp, it’s go time. Just call Rey on the Space Phone and tell her where you are. Don’t send assassins, that might not get her to come here. Don’t send Darth whats his face to kill her, that might end terribly. When she gets here, just tell her you killed her parents. Don’t say you want to possess her. Don’t say you want her to kill you. You got this, just tell here where you are, and let her kill you. She already wants to do that. You got this, don’t f*ck it up.

#81

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn.

“They’re not responding to our hails.”

“Ok, raise shields.”

Enterprise easily wins battle

Image credits: Hilomh

#82

Short Circuit.

You build 11 million dollar robots armed with a deadly laser but you don’t prepare for the possibility that they might be captured and reprogrammed by the enemy or possibly your own competition?