Movies train us to accept a lot without thinking twice. When you stop and examine the details, though, some are surprisingly strange. A filmmaker may have slipped something into the background, quietly ignored a practical problem, or created a fictional rule that doesn’t really hold up when you think about it closely. None of these things necessarily hurt the movie, which is probably why we rarely question them while watching. But once someone points them out, it becomes difficult not to notice them.
IMDbHome Alone (1990)
Kevin somehow manages to have a huge house almost entirely to himself while his parents are traveling, even though the family only realizes he is missing after the plane has already taken off.
IMDbBack to the Future (1985)
Marty arrives in 1955 wearing modern clothes, carrying a video camera, and talking about things that make little sense to people around him, yet nobody seriously investigates where this strange teenager came from.
IMDbJurassic Park (1993)
The park has electric fences powerful enough to contain dinosaurs, but the children are apparently allowed to get remarkably close to them without any serious supervision.
IMDbThe Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Miranda Priestly can apparently summon her employees and assistants at almost any hour, yet somehow an entire fashion empire continues functioning around her increasingly impossible demands.
IMDbMean Girls (2004)
Cady spends months attending an American high school after growing up in Africa, yet she seems to adapt to teenage social rules almost immediately despite having no previous experience with that environment.
IMDbThe Truman Show (1998)
Truman lives his entire life inside an enormous television set, yet apparently never notices that thousands of people around him are following carefully choreographed routines every single day.
IMDbTwilight (2008)
Edward Cullen is supposedly a teenager who has attended high school repeatedly for decades, meaning he has somehow managed to keep enrolling without anyone questioning why he never seems to graduate.
IMDbClueless (1995)
Cher can barely understand basic geography, yet somehow manages to drive an expensive car around Beverly Hills without causing much trouble on the road.
IMDbThe Hunger Games (2012)
The Capitol’s citizens spend enormous amounts of time and money creating extravagant costumes and elaborate television productions for a deadly competition involving teenagers.
IMDbTitanic (1997)
Jack spends much of the movie wearing essentially the same limited collection of clothes despite being aboard a ship where wealthy passengers are surrounded by luggage, wardrobes, and formal clothing.
IMDbLegally Blonde (2001)
Elle Woods gets into Harvard Law School with a 179 LSAT score and impressive academic credentials, yet the movie rarely explores how dramatically different her preparation was from the other students.
IMDbThe Fast and the Furious (2001)
The characters routinely perform illegal street races and spectacular car stunts in Los Angeles while somehow avoiding the kind of police response that would end most of their nights almost immediately.
IMDbPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Jack Sparrow repeatedly survives situations that should leave him seriously injured, yet the movie treats his ability to escape impossible situations as part of his normal behavior.
IMDbFerris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Ferris spends an entire school day wandering around Chicago while impersonating someone else, yet the biggest obstacle he faces is avoiding his principal rather than dealing with the practical consequences of being absent.
