Eagle-Eyed Viewers Share The Movies And Shows That Didn't Do Their Research

Ashley Hunte
A person looking through binoculars while directly facing the camera.
Unsplash | mostafa meraji

I wish I could say that the key to making a good show or movie is to do a good amount of research. I wish I could say that, but there are a lot of popular shows and movies that kind of don't make sense when you really pay attention.

But even if that's the case, these movies and shows can still get popular. After all, accuracy isn't the most important part of telling a good story. Which means there were a lot of good examples for Redditors to chose from when asked, "What movie/tv show clearly didn’t research the subject it tackled?"

"Honestly lots of movies and TV shows that talk about or a centered around Type 1 diabetes. They tend to switch up insulin and sugar."

Insulin pens for diabetes.
Unsplash | Towfiqu barbhuiya

"Take Con Air for example. The character talks about how he needs his insulin in 2 hours or he’s going to die (which isn’t true, especially if he hasn’t eaten)."

"Mazes and Monsters."

A shot of a dragon and warrior from a tabletop RPG.
Unsplash | Clint Bustrillos

"This Tom Hanks vehicle rode the Satanic Panic of the 80s to scapegoat a strawman of D&D to take blame for bad parenting and stoke religious fundamentalism. Nothing in the movie is even remotely similar to the actual game or why it was popular with kids."

"No movie or TV show ever gets grave digging right."

Two people digging a grave in the forest at night.
Giphy | SwampMotel

"It would take you well passed sun up on your own. And they're digging graves in a forest but never hit a big rock or a tree branch?"

And seriously, you put a gun to my head and tell me to dig my own grave, I'm not doing it."

Groundskeeper Willy telling Homer to dig a grave.
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"I'm either swinging the shovel at you then lazily covering your body in leaves, or I'm getting shot and YOU can dig my damn grave. Win/win."

I mean, they have a point.

"Most movies that feature hackers, especially Hackers."

Two pairs of hands typing on a computer as multiple windows pop up on the screen.
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"My favorite example of this is Independence Day: Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith just docked in the alien mothership, and it takes like 5 seconds of Goldblum smashing away at his keyboard to exclaim, 'I'm in!'"

"The Princess Switch on Netflix."

Vanessa Hudgens and Vanessa Hudgens in Netflix's The Princess Switch.
Giphy | Nickelodeon LATAM

"There's a plot point where Vanessa Hudgens' enemy tries to sabotage her in a baking competition by cutting the wire to her stand mixer. Then Vanessa's character isn't able to make a fruit puree for her cake like she planned, and the competition judges point out that her puree could have been smoother."

"Who... would use a stand mixer to make a puree???"

A hand on top of a blender lid as the appliance is turned on.
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"That is not what that is for. Use a blender or a food processor. Who wrote this."

But it's about baking, so clearly they have to show baking things! I guess.

"The Fast and the Furious movies could've brushed up on some basic physics lessons."

A car driving seamlessly underneath the back trailer of a truck.
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One commenter said, "I mean the franchise is basically one long D&D session with cars that Vin Diesel came up with. Viewed through that lens they just make for fun watches."

"The Pompeii episode of Doctor Who made it out that the entire population died, when in reality most of them evacuated."

Dr. Who saying that he's landed in Pompeii during the volcanic eruption.
Giphy | Doctor Who

"Ya almost every movie gets it wrong, there were earthquakes for weeks ahead of time and most people saw the signs and evacuated," said another commenter.

"Die Hard, Alien / Aliens, Escape From Alcatraz."

Bruce Willis with a lighter in a vent.
Giphy | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

"Ventilation systems are built to carry air and they can fit between walls and floors / ceilings because air molecules aren't that big or hard to move. You certainly don't need to make them big enough and reinforced enough to carry an NYC cop in LA... etc.."

"The portrayal of Bipolar Disorder."

A man looking down and screaming.
Giphy | NETFLIX

"I'm bipolar and thanks to Ozark people have formed newly negative and unrealistic opinions of who I am as a person. We aren't all violent psychopaths who can't be stable for more than a week."

"That movie Lucy, about how much you use your brain."

Scarlett Johansson waving her hands in front of her face while standing in the middle of a city.
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One very passionate Redditor replied with, "Yes!!! THAT ISNT WHAT WAS MEANT WHEN THEY SAID TEN PERCENT OF YOUR BRAIN!!!! UGH...take five seconds to check your stance!"

In fact, that idea is actually not true, apparently.

"He then has an apparent hypoglycemic episode (low blood sugar) and they use insulin to 'revive' him."

Nic Cage shaking his head slightly.
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"In reality this would do the opposite of what is intended and would lower his blood sugar even more, possibly putting the character into a diabetic coma. The character needs some sugar like juice or a banana or something with carbs to bring his sugar levels up."

"Big Bang Theory and gaming."

Penny from Big Bang Theory saying, "Sorry! I was waiting for the Bazinga."
Giphy | The Big Bang Theory

"The one that was the most annoying for me was the one were they play Card games, and the game consist in them putting cards in the table and saying the name of them. Not even the most BASIC game mechanic like, I don't know, inflicting damage, or card effects or anything."

"Clash of the Titans, the newer one with genies for some... reason."

A man in shiny armour saying, "Release the Kraken."
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"Hades really isn't a bad guy. Even the whole Persephone thing was reflective of the day and age that he was around. For all intents and purposes, Hades was a chill dude, a devoted husband and owned a sizable amount of dominion."

"Outer Banks."

A van driving into the Outer Banks.
Giphy | NETFLIX

"The writers clearly do not know a single thing about North Carolina. 'I’m going to take the ferry into chapel hill from the outer banks.' Um no sir you are not chapel hill is a land locked town in central North Carolina, and about 4 hours of driving from the coast."

"Braveheart."

Mel Gibson in Braveheart screaming, holding a shield, with blue painted face
Facebook | Braveheart

Ugh. One of the most egregiously inaccurate movies of all time," another commenter added. "They could have fixed 90% of the inaccuracies and still told an epic story, maybe even a better one."

Historical accuracy? I've never heard of that!

"CSI. In real life it's just a couple dudes with punisher tattoos showing up to a crime scene and shrugging."

David Caruso putting on sunglasses in CSI: Miami
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Another user added, "It always annoyed me how the stars of the show were in the room when the detectives interviewed suspects. Like when does that ever happen, CSI is never involved with that."

"Grey's Anatomy."

Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo embrace in Grey's Anatomy
Facebook | Grey's Anatomy

"Their writers clearly never took the time to research medical code of conducts. In every single state in the U.S. those doctors would've all lost their licenses."

Another commenter added, "That hospital would have been bankrupted by sexual harassment lawsuits years before it had a chance to be bankrupted by wrongful death lawsuits."

"The poker scenes in Casino Royale are hilariously bad. Bond is portrayed as being a very good player but not one of the hands show any skill whatsoever."

James Bond saying, "That last hand, it nearly killed me."
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"Every hand they show is just a cooler (all the players involved have such good hands you realistically should almost never fold). The final hand was especially bad, I believe it was something like flush vs full house vs bigger full house vs Bond with a straight flush."