After seeing a good amount of movies, you start to see the patterns in the story lines, in the way certain characters are portrayed and even can quite easily guess the events that were supposed to be unexpected plot twists. The predictability might be one of the factors why a movie could be considered to be bad or at least boring.

But Reddit users have many more reasons that completely ruin a movie that initially seemed promising. User lawyeratyourservice asked “What ruins a movie instantly?” and people provided their opinions on what movie directors’ decisions distract them from enjoying the movie or make it annoying altogether.

More info: Reddit

#1

Whispered dialogue, ear shattering action sequences

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You most probably had or have to write essays or stories during some of your lessons at school. And even if writing is one of your strengths, you know that the process can be tiresome and you are not always satisfied with the result. What may be even more frustrating is that you might not know how to fix it.

For most people, creative writing or pros and cons essays end when they finish school, but those who feel that their writing skills are better than average might choose it as their career path. They get to know how a good story is written and what it needs to be captivating and interesting, even though there will be people, like those on Reddit, who will find some of their ideas annoying.

#2

When they give out the whole plot in a trailer

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#3

Forced romance. Sometimes movies don't need it and that's ok.

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Bored Panda reached out to a screenwriter to find out more about the process of writing a script. We got in touch with Juliet Giglio, a screenwriter who attended NYU Grad Film school and now is a screenwriting professor at SUNY Oswego.

She also works as a screenwriter with her husband Keith Giglio and worked on such films like Disney’s Tarzan, Pizza My Heart, Return to Halloweentown, Joshua, and A Cinderella Story. They also are publishing their first novel this year called The Summer Of Christmas.

#4

When it’s so dark you actually can’t see what is happening. Also characters that’s mumble their lines. Drives me nuts

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#5

That all the major issues could be solved by a simple conversation but instead "No, I dont have time to explain", leading to force conflict from misunderstanding.

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#6

When people figure out someone’s password in literally no time.

Image credits: KungFu-omega-warrior

We asked her what the screenwriting process looks like and what it all starts with. Juliet Giglio explained, “The process of screenwriting begins when you come up with the idea (the logline) and then begin fleshing out the story. This is typically done with index cards or using a program like trello.com that helps to organize the story. From there you create an outline (Google Docs works well). After you have a very fleshed-out outline and you know what will happen in all of the scenes, you can begin writing the script, using a screenplay software. Screenwriting is ALL about structure. It's 3 acts (with act 2 broken in half) and 8 sequences.”

#7

Characters that are brought back alive just to keep the show moving

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#8

running through wilderness in heels for the majority of a movie. IRKSOME.

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Very often, when you watch movies, some unexplainable things that happen in the beginning of the movie are implicitly explained later on and you may wonder if that was planned from the start or if the screenwriter came up with it as they went along. Juliet Giglio told us that “You definitely need to know the ending of the script before you begin writing so that you know what you're going toward.”

#9

Successful_Morning95 said:
Characters acting out of character just to make the plot work. Immediately makes me see them as puppets for storytelling rather than people and I stop caring about them.

Bot8556 replied:
The last 2 seasons of Game of thrones

Image credits: Successful_Morning95

#10

The "exotic foreign country" yellow filter.

Image credits: kicked-in-the-gonads

#11

I watch movies with subtitles. When they speak a different language and it just says "speaks foreign language." Especially when it's not just a few lines, but actual dialog.

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The most challenging part of screenwriting, according to Giglio, is “Breaking the story and figuring out who the characters are is the most challenging and can take at least a month if done properly. Once the story is fully fleshed out, the actual writing of the script isn't as hard.”

You may think that maybe screenwriters shouldn’t take so much time developing a character because the actor will do that for them, but it is one of the biggest misconceptions about screenwriting and our expert says clearly that actors don’t make up their own dialogue. “Sure, there can be some improvisation on set, but typically actors stick to the lines because they know they work for their character.”

#12

When there's a scene that's just advertising a brand.

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#13

Showing and then telling anyway/ treating the audience like idiots.

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#14

Sex. No seriously. When I see a movie labelled "Action/Thriller", I want action or thriller. I do not want the undercover spy to start diving deep inside some random girl who may or may not be involved in the plot.

Image credits: RedditLawEnforcer

To conclude, we asked how Giglio herself would answer the question the redditor gave as we were quite interested to know what a professional thinks. She told us that for her, a movie is ruined “When the inciting incident is rushed. Before we can throw a problem at our hero, we need to get to know them first. See what their life is like if the movie never happens. If we don't fully grasp who the hero is, then we won't be as invested in the movie.”

Let us know what you think about the screenwriter’s insights and if anything surprised you. Also, did anyone mention the thing that makes you not want to rewatch a movie? Upvote the ones that you agree with and if nobody shares the same opinion as you, share it in the comments!

#15

treedemolisher said:
Heavy makeup and perfect hair. How am I supposed to enjoy a post-apocalyptic movie when the lead actress looks like a beauty pageant contestant? Drives me insane.

fly-not-fox replied:
God this is season 2 of Witcher! Was watching it last night with my partner and we kept commenting on the pink lipstick someone was wearing. It kept pulling us out of the moment, which was driving me mad.

Image credits: treedemolisher

#16

ImReellySmart said:
In superhero movies when the balance of someone's abilities constantly changes.

Especially in fight scenes when a character could end the fight in 2 seconds but that doesnt allow for an epic battle scene so instead that character just randomly decided to avoid using their most valuable abilities.

This completely takes me out of the moment.

Rubels replied:
The Flash series lost me because of this issue.. literally every fight with a non speedster would be over in 0.2 seconds

Image credits: ImReellySmart

#17

MLD802 said:
Breaking the rules they set

BadDudes4Life2018 replied:
The Walking Dead did this so blatantly, that I couldn’t watch it anymore. First season: Walkers can smell us so we have to cover ourselves in rotting meat to escape. Second season: Oh that hoard of Walkers can’t smell us with this car in between us and them.

Image credits: MLD802

#18

Firing more ammo than the gun actually holds without reloading. Car keys in sun visors. Hacking a protected computer system in seconds.

Image credits: listenup78

#19

Slightlyunlucky said:
People driving in films and talking and NEVER looking at the road. That ruins it and makes it not believable

TheBravan replied:
Olivia Wilde 'driving' in Tron....

Image credits: Slightlyunlucky

#20

liashor56 said:
A bad accent

stevenmeyerjr replied:
House of Gucci why didn’t we just get some actual Italians to act for the main parts?

Image credits: liashor56

#21

When the two main characters fall in love quickly, especially if they start out hating each other. Most recently: Jungle Cruise. It would have been a good movie without them falling in love. They could have just been friends.

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#22

S***ty fight scenes where I can barely tell what I’m looking at

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#23

When the villain is just bad for no reason whatsoever.

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#24

Time period movies where every car looks like it just drove off the lot. What cars never get dirty in movies?!?

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#25

Dregoralive said:
Background actors in fight/war scenes waiting for their turn to attack the main character

xasdfx666 said:
Throne room sceen in star wars 8. The red guards just keep spinning for no reason or obviously miss their hits on purpose. Its so dumb.

Image credits: Dregoralive

#26

When the story includes, "the magic was inside you all along" cliché

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#27

When it starts following a familiar formula. Basically when s**t gets predictable.

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#28

knowing the story from a book and the adaption is just not meeting expectations

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#29

When they repeat the same sentence 2-3-10 times in the story for no reason, just to have a kind of motto.

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#30

when you indentify the protagonist love interest 5 minutes in

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#31

Trying to explain unexplainable things with quantum mechanics, nanotechnology, worm holes, etc

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#32

Warkitz said:
When you know an actor was chosen for the role for their fame and not for the casting.

AllPowerfulSaucier replied:
It’s getting more and more commonplace too. Especially with movies put out by streaming services like Netflix just jamming celebrities in to get more viewers. I just watched Don’t Look Up yesterday and Ariana Grande felt force fed to the movie audience any time she was on screen (Kid Cudi was a bit too but he’s not as recognizable as Ariana).

Image credits: Warkitz

#33

When they use CGI to make an almost 80-year-old man look like a 40-year-old but he still moves like an 80-year-old when trying to kick a poor shopkeepers a**.

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#34

Probably cringy pop culture references that will be soon outdated.

Image credits: EternalLatias

#35

xluqx said:
Overanimated, overacted friend of the main character.

[deleted] said:
Akwafina in Shang-Chi. She’s good but she was over the top in this one.

Image credits: xluqx

#36

The spoiler heavy banners at the local cinema

Image credits: McBoody_TheMemr

#37

I will say when they have a whole well designed space suit or futuristic outfit or something that has a helmet to it or face cover that would normally always stay on or be on 80% of the time, BUT they just decide to never wear it or are constantly taking it off to remind us of the "famous actor" who is playing that person.

I've also seen a few movies where a character will have a whole really cool looking space suit or battle attire, only to ditch the whole thing at the beginning and go the rest of the movie looking like the most generic person ever.

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#38

Cringey and inappropriate use of gen z slang

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#39

Characters not showing emotion when someone passes away. Often they look a bit sad for one shot, and then the movie continues like nothing happened. Totally takes me out of the movie.

Image credits: AsianMoocowFromSpace

#40

justmoochin said:
Cringey dialogue, takes me right out the scene, in fact I want to leave the scene

Potatobender44 replied:
The entirety of Free Guy. Like every single line. Especially f**king Antwan

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