If you have your favorite Movie of all time, nobody can ever convince you it’s crap. Because film preferences are totally subjective, they vary from one person to another, and if you and your crush can’t find common ground about it, it raises a red flag.

All seriousness aside, some movies are genuinely nothing more than a piece of crap and it doesn't take another person to prove that to you. So when someone posted the question “What 100% ruins a movie for you every time?” the comments started to pour in on r/AskReddit and reached 20.8k in total.

The inquiry has surely resonated with 32.6k people who pressed upvote, and many felt relief that finally, we just laid it all out on the table. From flawed characters to self-explanatory dialogues that make viewers feel like they're first graders, these things will spoil any top-notch movie. Film directors, take notes.

#1

When one character who's an expert in some field stops to explain the most basic concepts to another character who's also an expert on the same subject.

Image credits: sad_jeb

#2

Fake snow and low temperatures that never matter. Like in Game of Thrones where nobody wore a goddamn hat on the wall. I was watching “his dark materials” the other day and I almost started to applaud when heroes actually got dressed for the cold weather.

Also, Russia in snow. We have summer too.

Image credits: rawberryfields

#3

When the trailers reveal most of the plot.

Image credits: tallandlanky

In a world where every single opinion counts, getting your voice out about a movie you just watched may be quite hard. Luckily, we live in the world of reviews, and if it’s not you who writes one, then there will be film critics who do this job for us. Or you may simply go to Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation website, that will tell you the truth about what it is that you'd like to watch.

According to Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, the award for the worst movie of all time goes to Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002). Critics’ synopsis describes it as “A startlingly inept film, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever offers overblown, wall-to-wall action without a hint of wit, coherence, style, or originality.”

The second worst entry is One Missed Call (2008), as it’s thought to be “one of the weakest entries in the J-horror remake sweepstakes,” completely undone by bland performances. The third worst is the 2012 movie A Thousand Words, which is described by critics as a “painful mess” with “bland jokes.” So yeah, not all movies are born to be perfect, but some of them are hardly watchable.

#4

Insane plot armor. It’s okay for a main character to die.

Image credits: The_Tell_Tale_Heart

#5

When it's very obvious when someone isn't actually having a conversation on the phone. They just say their lines without giving enough pause for the other person to respond. I also hate when you're supposed to be looking at security footage but it's clearly just a previous shot that's had a filter put over it.

Image credits: coldfury18

#6

When the movie calls for an ugly guy, they get an ugly guy.

When the movie calls for an ugly girl, they get a sexy girl and dress her in dumpy clothes.

Image credits: MeGrendel

#7

When there is a timer and it takes longer to count down than the time that was called/shown. It drives me crazy.

Generic example, 50 seconds until a bomb explodes. Dialogue for 30 seconds. Timer is showing 30 seconds left. More dialogue for 40 seconds. Timer is at 5 seconds. Quick one-liner, bomb defused with one second to go.

Image credits: FreshRigi

#8

The very strong/smart main villain turning weak/dumb in the end fight so the heroes can win.

Image credits: nothing_in_my_mind

#9

"there's no time... save yourself!" when there's clearly ample amount of time for both characters to get to safety. made even worse by the fact that they usually waste a minute or more arguing about it, saying teary-eyed goodbyes, and making out before character 1 finally gets up and leaves

Image credits: SinkTube

#10

Having to constantly have my remote in hand to turn down the absurdly loud action scene, to then have to crank the volume for the next dialogue that is far too low.

I'm freaking sick of it.

Image credits: aidanpryde98

#11

Unnecessary sex scenes.

#12

Overused female tropes. The angry black woman, plus sized women always being loud and clumsy, and of course, the manic pixie dream girl. This isn't some feminist soapbox, it's just lazy and uninspired writing.

Image credits: naugahydeandlace

#13

When all you have to do is beat the boss and the entire army just collapses. Pretty much every alien and robot-using invasion has this hive concept.

Image credits: phoenix14830

#14

Maybe not 100%, but close to it. Fight scenes where someone make a big blow(usually the villain), but instead of finishing the deal by smashing the brains out they start talking, bragging or some other cocky sh*t. And woops, the fight is back on like nothing happened..

Image credits: OldDonD

#15

Action scenes with lots and lots of cuts, that make it obvious (or appear like) the actors can't do the fight choreography.

Image credits: VarangianDreams

#16

It was a dream.

Image credits: Jackasaur

#17

Badly implemented product placement. Product placement itself doesn't bother me. If there's a character driving a Toyota, or eating a Pizza Hut pizza, I don't care. If there's a pointless shot in the movie that shows the f**king Bud Light logo for 10 seconds, I mind

Image credits: JaiTheGuy69

#18

When the villain is always a few steps ahead of the hero for no reason. Somehow, the villain has managed to predict every move the hero and is going to make.

Image credits: silkblackrose

#19

Forced moral messages, like really forced, the kind of messages that feel so unnatural that nothing can justify

Image credits: silverbird2005

#20

The bit where hackers take 20 seconds of furious typing to disable a countries infrastructure

Image credits: KairiZero

#21

When the premise for a major conflict in the movie is something that any sane person would have just said "oh no there's a misunderstanding" and they all have a laugh and go on with their days... But instead it turns into some convoluted drama.

Image credits: xx2983xx

#22

When things explode for no reason. “Vehicle had minor collision or simply rolls over and spontaneously explodes”

Image credits: Cornishkilla

#23

Unnecessary love scenes where the main character and a side character fall in love just cause, despite having known each other for like five minutes.

Image credits: Sanitee

#24

Forced romance subplots in a non-romance based movie. A BaBY A hero I'm supposed to root for because???? They're the protagonist??? The villain doesn't have a reason, they're just Random and CRaZy

Image credits: oneofyrfencegrls

#25

Bad exposition dialogue

"As the son of [GOODPERSON] you shouldn't do drugs here.."
"Kleetus, you're my [SIBLING]. I've taken care of you since [PARENT] died and [OTHERPARENT] left us. Remember how we would play at [HOMEPLACE] but you had to move away because [JOB]?"
"Well, well, well, Micky, the [MOSTWANTEDCRIMINAL], at my doorstep. What's the matter, didn't your [PARENT] cut you any more slack, so you've traveled here from [PLACE] to see your [SIBLING], my [SPOUSE]?"

Image credits: frerky5

#26

When there’s a 20+ year age gap between the leading actor and actress and it’s not addressed in the movie, especially when the movie pretends like they’re around the same age.

“We’re both experienced, leading scientists in our fields, even though I look like a grizzled war veteran and you’re fresh off the set of High School Musical.”

Image credits: warriorgramma

#27

"video games" in movies that are set after 1988 yet they all sound like pacman or space invaders.

Image credits: TDalrius

#28

When bad guys have no redeemable qualities. It’s too convenient and unrealistic.

Image credits: MrBowlfish

#29

When they explain the plans like...to an 8 year old.

I like movies where things just happen.

Image credits: Maxiklon23

#30

Teenagers who sound like screenwriters trying to sound cool.

Never in the history of humanity have two 15 year olds randomly recited 18th century poetry to each other on the day they met, and all those snarky remarks makes the kids sound insufferable and annoying a lot more than clever.

Also notice that somehow every clever 15 y.o. always listens to music that was huge when the screenwriter was growing up, never something that is... you know... listened to by 15 year olds... as if there was no good music around presently.

PS. Also the whole sarcastic genius with no social clues...yes we get it Dr. House was a hit 20 years ago, now can we get Cumberbatch to play any other freaking role?

Image credits: RepresentativeAd7785

#31

Twist villains where the bad guy is revealed in the last 10 minutes of the movie.

Image credits: R_Jay101

#32

Romantic subplot with main characters. I don’t mind romantic subplots with side characters because they don’t detract from the story, they’re often there for laughs. Modern movies have been getting better about this but there’s still lots of offenders.

Image credits: PM-ME-BAKED-GOODS

#33

Its becoming more and more annoying to me to see schools and teachers acting like they never took educational psychology to figure out why a kid has suddenly started being late, distant, and depressed. They just shove the kid into detention.

"Your child has become more and more distant in class, not participating, and not doing homework over the past week. We put them into detention... deal with it at home or we'll call the cops."

Seriously? you don't ask about the sudden change? send them to a counselor? call the parents/caregivers? I know some teachers would be pricks, but that frequent representation pisses me off.

Image credits: JacobasNile

#34

Slow-mo action scenes.

Image credits: LucyVialli

#35

When your watching a movie, and no matter what the plot/storyline is, when your taken out of the movie mentality world and think “yeah no way that could happen.”

Image credits: jthomp000

#36

"We only use 10% of our brain"

Image credits: CBing13

#37

The whole "america good, russia/middle east/any other f**king (insert noun here) bad" trope. It's such a tired and obnoxious ego stroke. Case in point... Independence Day. People are shooting at the aliens with all sorts of guns and they don't even flinch... Willy punches one wearing a full space suit and somehow knocks it out cold?! Then says "welcome to erf!" Ugh... cringed so hard it hurt.

#38

Forced diversity

#39

Sex scenes. They're always really cringey to me and I prefer the implication rather than the blatant butt shots. Idk, sex scenes to me always seem kind if unnecessary.

#40

Someone who thinks they aren’t spoiling stuff by constantly going, “watch what’s about to happen!”

#41

When the jokes are so forced. They're just trying hard to be funny but they isn't. Or when they're offensive or just downright stupid. Totally ruins it. Unfortunately a lot of comedy movies have tons of this so I tend to steer clear of comedies.

Image credits: -keewee_

#42

Any movie with children where the bad guy would be defeated in the first act if any nearby responsible adults would just verify what the children are saying. A Series of Unfortunate Events made me want to tear my hair out.

#43

Unnecessary camera angles and movements. Grounded camera work is the basis for almost any good scene. Makes you feel like your witnessing whats happening. Instead of being on a stationary rollercoaster with props and actors whizzing by.

Image credits: Theresneverenoughpud

#44

If I watch a horror movie and theres a group of college kids, I already know its going to be party, sex, and someone dies in that order.

#45

I know it sounds cliche, but movie clichés.

Like in hallmark films. Busy business woman doesn't have time for love. Goes home for Christmas because something is wrong and could be her parents last Christmas. She meets a guy. Too busy to enjoy life. A parent dies. She realizes she needs to enjoy life more. Gets together with guy.

You can just tell the way shit is going to go because the movie is already cliché.

Or in action films. Oh let me guess, X is behind that door isn't he? Or he was. Look at that

#46

That person that always talks through it

#47

Breaking its own rules.

Like Star Wars how stormtroopers are supposedly elite yet none can shoot for s**t while some random pilot can solo entire destroyers and outgun dozens of troopers with a pistol

Also “I can’t kill” theme shoved down over and over to try to make them look like a good guy. If someone is trying to kill you, you’re just being stupid if your only play is to talk them down

#48

SFX volume: 11

Dialog volume: 3

#49

Sounds bad but an actor’s voice can really ruin a movie for me, so bad voice acting

Image credits: Windows10_update

#50

Just 10 seconds left before the bomb explodes. The hero is taking all the time in the world to kiss and hug his girlfriend a last goodbye before returning to deactivate the bomb..

Image credits: Justmerightnowtoday

#51

Added love story to an adaptation of a book with no love story.

Image credits: hafilax

#52

Phones that ring and ring and ring, and the character just won't answer it. The sound drives me up the wall, esp. with old corded phones, and in a lot of films the character just stares. I get that filmmakers use this to ramp up suspense, but imo it's the sort of anxiety that takes me OUT of the movie, not into it.

Image credits: s0mnambulance

#53

Demonic Possession/ Ghost movies that use upside down crosses as satanic imagery.

#54

A bad ending. If a movie was great but has a bad ending, then the whole experience is ruined.

#55

I can often tell when actors carry fake (well, empty) suitcases, and even when they carry empty to-go cups. There's just something different in the way their bodies/muscles work then.

Jesus Christ, it's a 50 million dollar movie, how hard would it be to fill the cup and toss a couple of bricks in the suitcase?

#56

When I hear the Wilhelm scream. I remember watching Lord of the Rings when the epic war in the third part is happening, and one the guys falls off the Oliphant and the scream happens. It took me out of the movie for a moment.

#57

Unnecessary/bad CGI. Watched The Greatest Showman last night, during the final score suddenly there are clunky elephants and lions appearing and then disappearing one camera angle later. Completely breaks my immersion in the movie and it's just lazy filmmaking.

#58

They hang up the phone without any warning. Like "Bob, we discovered a nuke on it's way to Washington". Click.

Or someone answering the door within a couple seconds of knocking.

These thing completely break me out of the movie and are hard to recover from.

#59

If the dog dies

#60

Unbelievably lame names for technology/resources/concepts in science fiction.

I'm looking at you Avatar. "Unobtainium." Give me a break. It was already an engineering joke. Why did you try to make it a real thing?

#61

Character A: (Perfectly understandable explanation for something technical or scientific, that anyone who managed to dress themselves this morning could comprehend.)

Character B: "In English, please!"

Character A: (Extremely dumbed down version because screenwriter assumes audience are idiots)

#62

Sci fi that just throws "QUANTUM" in to explain whatever they cant explain with good writing and storytelling.

In endgame Tony just starts randomly saying maths-physics words and acting like hes solved the whole thing. When hes discussing the "quantum realm" he just starts saying shit like "so we take the eigenvalue of a mobius strip". Its absolute nonsense.

If you're going to have science fiction, make it fiction dont use actual science terminology wrongly. He also uses the Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky theorem entirely wrong, its disrespectful at best and lazy at worst. Don't do it, instead create something new.

#63

when the "hero always wins" cliche come in. I like finding movies where the heros aren't actually invincible and still get their asses handed to them, like in infinity war. It makes up for your movie to a get a part 2 about revenge and increase your overall income from one story.

#64

Pointlessly high stakes to make up for s*it writing. Suicide squad being a prime example. Ohh the world's at stake, okay and what exactly can these dipshits do that that better superheros can't do? Oh right, plot bullshit. You didn't need the world to be at stake to create tension. Whiplash being a prime example of the opposite. Nothing major at stake, just a guy wanting to be a good jazz drummer and a teacher obsessed with creating a great. Nothing that couldn't happen in the real world but creates such tension I didn't realize I was holding my breath at the the end.

#65

Fast-talking techno-jargon to show how intelligent the smart character is supposed to be compared to the others. Or, randomly mashing a keyboard = hacking the mainframe.

Character running, trips.

I'm out of bullets, I need to throw away the gun because it's not possible for me to find ammo later.

Main character jumps through multiple hoops to defeat the demon, monsters, etc. Surprise! None of it worked in the end. Rendering the entire story pointless just for a cheap "jumpscare" that every horror movie has done.

Major character is always bored or sarcastic/snarky towards everything. Either for "humor" or because the writers thought they would look badass or super cool compared to everyone else. They're actually flat and boring to watch.

"So bad it's good" movies gain some attention, so they make multiple sequels that get worse and worse and lose the original charm of the first.

#66

Killing or hurting dogs.

Sometimes it’s just to show just how “bad” this character is.

#67

using kids as the comic relief. they're always written way too quippy and articulate than an actual kid would be. drives me crazy because it pulls me out of the immersion, and so many people fall for the schtick where the kid is their favorite part of the movie

#68

A random assortment of music. I didn't realise how jarring it was until I saw suicide squad - going from rap to metal, to slow to fast paced... Made me feel like 10 people couldn't agree on one song, so they took 30 seconds each for the song they liked. It annoyed me

Also sudden character turns - your bad, but now good because you feel like it...oh okay cool, let's not build upto it or anything just yep good now.

#69

There has been a tendency in comedy movies over the last 20-25 years where some 2/3rds into the movie they shoehorn some drama in for some reason... The only times this works is when they do it subtly enough not to clash with the plot, but most of the time it just feels extremely forced.

#70

Women wearing heels through out an action movie where they are running constantly and never once take them off.

#71

Shaky Cam. I get that they're trying to show the scene from a running character's POV, but it makes it so I can't even tell what's happening.

Also, when water splashes on the camera or the camera tips over in an obvious way that breaks the 4th wall.

#72

"ᴬᶜᵗᵒʳ ᵈᶦᵃˡᵒᵍᵘᵉ" ACTION SFX/MUSIC!!!

#73

Fake food props. Like ice cubes that fall to the bottom of the glass or those weird eggs Clark Kent was cooking for Lois.

#74

In horror movies: too many jumpscares.

Image credits: ihateyoumrfluffs

#75

Mentioning other movies, especially when an inferior movie brings up a superior movie it was clearly inspired by (except this works in comedies... sometimes)

#76

When they have the chance to easily finish the bad guy off (no not like that) but they run away.

The only film I remember that didnt was a British film called Severance. A character literally runs back with a shotgun and blows his head off as he’s stuck.

#77

Bad acting

#78

The preview.

The movies I've enjoyed the most have almost always been the ones I know nothing about ahead of time.

#79

when dead people dont stay dead

#80

When the annoying brats survive - Jurassic Park series I'm looking at you!

#81

Whenever the bad guy is only "truly bad and hateable" after he hurts a dog, after hurting other humans.

#82

The girl getting giddy at the random guy she just met, and a smooch by the climax that only happens for the picture

#83

Action movies that don’t actually have action until the end (cough cough power rangers cough)

#84

A woman and man who have good chemistry end up falling in love with each other. Not every movie needs to be a fcking love story. Also, platonic relationships are cute

#85

When it is acceptable if a traditionally white character has been recast as a black character while the whole world loses its ass when it is the other way around.

#86

A comedy of errors... im sorry, no one is that inept.

#87

Second-hand embarassment. I hate comedies because of this.

#88

When they have sex with full clothes on

#89

when the voices are way to quiet and you can't understand anything the actors are saying because any other sound overpowers them

#90

Unneeded sequels.

#91

Random sex scenes or kissing scenes.

#92

Old war movies have silly-sounding gunfire sound effects that I can barely stand. Ruins a lot of classic movies for me.