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What instantly ruins a movie? The list may be longer than you think.
A Reddit thread posted today explored the innumerable ways a movie can go off the rails. More than 28,000 users have chimed in with a wide array of opinions.
Among the most disliked aspects of the film industry has little to do with the plot of a film itself, but rather how it is marketed. An industry trend over the past decade or so has involved long, drawn-out movie trailers that often give away major plots, jokes or bombastic action sequences.
Movie trailers are over 100 years old. They started in 1913 when footage from different films was spliced together to market multiple films during one sitting at the theater.
As film executive David Singh noted, industry focus groups tend to show that more people do want big moments in trailers that excite and convince them to see the entire film—even if the film itself may be spoiled in the process.
He worked on The Martian and released it one year after Matt Damon had already played an astronaut in the film Interstellar.
"It's such a competitive world out there," Singh said in 2019. "You're competing for people's time with, you know, every platform imaginable. You've got to tell them enough to get them excited about it."
One Redditor said film executives just want people to watch trailers and buy tickets to see how films are resolved.
"I still don't understand the logic behind 2+ minute trailers," the user said. "Are you enticing audience or averting them from watching your movie?"
Forced romances are also high on the list of what turns people off from a film. Not every leading man and woman need to be intimate beyond friendship, users argued, going as far as to say that such fake romantic connections only increase the odds of them not finishing the film.
"I do love it when films subvert expectations and the two lead characters don't end up together, or just stay really good friends or something," one user said. "The romances are almost always so shallow. Born out of shared trauma more than actual compatibility. Nothing suggesting an actual healthy relationship."
Movie superheroes have been the rage for years, dominating the industry at the box office and across households worldwide. But superheroes who possess special powers or skills and never seem to use them to their advantage only to advance a plot is viewed as lazy—notably in fight scenes.
"When a character could end the fight in 2 seconds but that doesn't allow for an epic battle scene so instead that character just randomly decided to avoid using their most valuable abilities," one person said. "This completely takes me out of the moment."
Also, plotlines that can be empathized by the audience—such as dating or dealing with a situation—can get chaotic and unpleasant due to characters choosing not to converse.
As one user pointed out, most romance-based movies could end peacefully if the characters just talked out their issues and moved on with their lives. The movie would only last 10 minutes, however.
And then there's a general criticism: Treating the audience like idiots. That can include flashbacks with vivid imagery that audience members are intended to remember, or when certain camera angles are employed to hint that a certain object or what not is important to the general storyline.
It has even affected some people's perspectives regarding film series classics like Star Wars.
"The biggest difference between the original Star Wars trilogy, and then the prequels and sequels—the original treated the audience like intelligent people and didn't explain away everything," one user said.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more