Summary
There are an unfortunate number of movies where the conflict could have been resolved in minutes if the main characters had simply communicated better.Movies that rely too much on coincidencesor contrivances often utilize miscommunications to drive the plot. Humans are flawed and characters should also be susceptible to misunderstandings, especially when they are in stressful circumstances and are not sure who they can trust. However,certain cases apply to characters who should know that they can trust each other,or should at least try to talk before resorting to violence and chaos.
There are a lot of classic, all-too-familiar examples: the protagonist sees their love interest with someone else and becomes jealous, a fight is driven by completely superficial reasons, or the characters are just unjustifiably defensive. On the other hand,miscommunication plays a role in some examples of classic literature,illustrating the fatal flaws of the character which give rise to tragedy or comedy. This usually does not stop a modern audience from pointing out how unnecessary the problem is.
10 Great Movies With Unnecessary Plot Twists
A plot twist can turn a good movie into a great one, but there are also times where the twist is completely unnecessary, taking away from the story.
15Bea & Ben “Hate” Each Other
Anyone But You (2023)
As a loose modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’sMuch Ado About Nothing,Anyone but Youfalls into the time-honored tradition of the Bard’s comedies of overhearing the wrong thing at the wrong time as an inciting incident.Bea and Benspend the night together, and she leaves in the morning, but regrets it and comes back, and overhears him insulting her to a friend. When they meet again at a wedding months later,Bea doesn’t tell Ben she came back, and he doesn’t tell her he was genuinely hurt.Therefore, a whole movie of shenanigans awaits them before they finally reconcile.
Anyone But You
Anyone But You is a romantic comedy by director Will Gluck starring Sydney Sweeny and Glen Powell. Sweeny and Powell star as Bea and Ben, two strangers with an incredible first date that goes sour following one incident at the tail end. Thinking the worst is behind them, the two are roped into a destination wedding in Sydney, Australia, where they’ll have to pretend to be a couple despite absolutely hating each other.
14Briony Accuses Robbie Of A Serious Crime
Atonement (2007)
The tragedy ofAtonementis set in motion when 13-year-old Briony accuses her sister Cecilia’s sweetheart Robbie of raping their cousin. Briony also witnesses some incidents which she interprets as Robbie harassing Cecilia.Briony never asks her sister about what she saw and Cecilia never explainsafter Briony walks in on her and Robbie having sex. There are some serviceable explanations here: Briony is very young and might have been too scared to ask, while Cecilia may have planned on talking to her at some point. However, they apparently never clear this up during the years Robbie is in prison.
Atonement
Atonement is a romance and war drama released in 2007 by director Joe Wright. The film stars Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, and Romola Garai. The film takes place in 1930s England, spanning multiple years afterward as a man is wrongfully incarcerated and then must face a war, all while wanting to get back to the girl he loves.
13Ariel Can’t Sing For Eric
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Eric falls in love with Ariel’s singing voice, which poses a problem when Ursula silences her in exchange for the chance to meet Eric again. Eric recognizes Ariel but concludes that she cannot be the same woman because she does not have the voice he remembers. However, still standing as one of the mostfrustrating Disney movie plot holesis the fact thatAriel could have written something down to communicate that she had lost her voice.Ariel is seen signing Ursula’s contract, so it is proven that she can write, and the movie is driven by unnecessary tension.
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid is an animated fantasy film that follows the tale of Ariel, a mermaid princess who dreams of life on land. She falls in love with Prince Eric and makes a daring pact with the sea witch Ursula to become human, risking everything for love.
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)
Rather than telling Batman that Lex Luthor has kidnapped his mother and is blackmailing him, Superman fights him for some time.
The entire fight between Batman and Superman in the movie named for this conflict ends with communication that should have happened much earlier. Rather than telling Batman that Lex Luthor has kidnapped his mother and is blackmailing him, Superman fights him for some time. The unintentionally hilarious"Martha"scenegets its name from Superman telling Batman that Martha is in danger and Batman finding a connection with his"enemy"based on their mothers' shared name, and then helping rescue Martha Kent —raising the question of why Superman didn’t just say this was what was going on from the outset.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice features the iconic clash between Gotham’s Dark Knight, played by Ben Affleck, and Metropolis’s Man of Steel, portrayed by Henry Cavill. As these two heroes confront each other, a looming threat endangers humanity, setting the stage for larger challenges ahead in the DC Extended Universe.
11Elsa Doesn’t Tell Anna About Her Powers
Frozen (2013)
Elsa’s parents tell her for years that Anna not knowing about Elsa’s powers is for the best. However, after their parents die, telling Anna would have been the sensible thing to do. Anna is now a young adult and should really be kept in the loop about these circumstances that affect her safety, the state of her kingdom, and her sister’s emotional well-being.Elsa then puts off telling Anna for another three years,until it is too late. She may consider finally revealing the truth when she asks for a word after Anna announces her engagement, which Anna rejects.
Frozen
Frozen, released in 2013, follows young princess Anna of Arendelle on a perilous quest to halt an eternal winter cast by her sister, Elsa. Joined by Kristoff, his reindeer Sven, and snowman Olaf, Anna navigates themes of friendship, courage, family, and love in her journey.
10Lara Jean Breaks Up With Peter
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
A classic contrived miscommunication is that over someone’s remaining feelings for an ex. After pretending to date for several months, Lara Jean and Peter talk about their real feelings and end up kissing in a hot tub. After that,Peter’s ex-girlfriend Gen taunts Lara Jean with the claim that she and Peter spent the night together afterward.Lara Jean then breaks up with Peter, who tries to explain that nothing happened with Gen. Given the complicated circumstances of them dating only to annoy Gen, a simple conversation about who Peter really wanted to be with was in order.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Based on the novel by Jenny Han, To All the Boys I Loved Before sees high-school student Lara Jean Covey caught in a terrifyingly awkward situation when her deepest secrets leak out. Lara, who has many passionate crushes, has written confession letters to all of them – with no intention of ever sending them. However, when all five letters somehow reach her five loves, Lara’s high school life becomes an exercise in crisis management as she desperately attempts to gain control of it all.
9Peter Asks Doctor Strange To Erase Everyone’s Memory
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Peter goes to Stephen Strange to ask him to erase everyone’s memory of him being Spider-Man,so he, MJ, and Ned will be accepted to colleges free of controversy, before considering any other avenues. Therefore, the villains of the otherSpider-Manmovies are summoned to their universe. Stephen then angrily asks why Peter didn’t appeal to admissions first (not having realized Peter hadn’t done this yet). This opens up a whole list of things Peter could have done first to avoid the death and destruction of this movie — such as having one or several of the Avengers vouch for him.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the trials and tribulations of being a superhero. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asks for help from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) when his identity becomes a problem for the ones he loves. Unfortunately, when the spell goes wrong, Spider-Man will now have to face off with villains such as Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) as Peter finally comes to terms that he can’t run from being Spider-Man. Supported by his close friends and help from an unexpected place (or multiverse), Spider-Man will go toe-to-toe with some of the most legendary foes in his storied history.
10 Worst Scenes In The MCU’s Best Movies
Though the Marvel Cinematic Universe features many excellent movies, even some of its best titles still contain some pretty poor scenes.
8Edward Believes Bella Is Dead
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
New Moonis heavily inspired byRomeo and Juliet, and not in a good way. After hearing that Alice had a vision of Bella"dying,“Edward calls her house to ask for Charlie and gets Jacob, who simply says that"he’s at the funeral”(a family friend had died). Edward takes this as confirmation that Bella is dead and goes to Italy to provoke the Volturi into killing him. The whole incident could have been avoided if Edward had bothered to ask one more question, or ifBella and Alicehad called him (although the book mentions that he abandons his phone).
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The second film in the Twilight film series, New Moon follows Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), who is thrown into a deep depression when he vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) breaks up with Bella and moves away after an incident convinces him that he and his family and dangerous to her. As she struggles to cope with her depression and begins forming a closer bond with her werewolf best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella begins to be pulled deeper into the world of the supernatural despite both Jacob’s and Edward’s attempts to keep her safe.
7Penelope Thinks “Max” Doesn’t Want To Marry Her
Penelope (2006)
Penelope’s aristocratic family believes she needs to marry a rich man to break the curse of having a pig’s nose. A poor musician is mistaken for another"blue blood"and accepts the opportunity to meet her, but rejects her when he realizes the curse is real, believing he cannot give her what she wants. This is all in service of Penelope eventually breaking the curse on her own.It still would have done her good for Max/Johnny to communicate that he couldn’t break the curseand that while he was momentarily taken aback by the nose, he thinks she is a wonderful person.
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch (2005)
TheLilo & Stitchsequel revolves around Stitch’s“glitch,”where he occasionally spasms uncontrollably and destroys things around him, due to a problem when Jumba genetically engineered him. Naturally,Jumba and Pleakley tell no one in the family about thiswhile they attempt to find a way to fix Stitch. Meanwhile, it takes Stitch the whole movie to communicate that something is happening he cannot control and Lilo the same time to realize it — and the fact that she is capable of figuring it out just proves that someone should have noticed sooner. The family then saves Stitch’s life at the last possible minute.
