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30 Concepts That Work Just Fine In Movies But Fail To Work In Real Life, As Pointed Out By Folks Online
A lot of us love to watch movies and TV shows as it helps to escape reality for a little while. But what if the things that are portrayed in the movies are so far from reality that it even makes it annoying to watch the rest of the movie? Someone online was curious to know these annoying little things that look so good on the screen but are actually nearly impossible to do or just don’t work that way in real life, so they asked Reddit users to share their remarks. The question “What looks fun in movies, but in real life is miserable?” received 6.5k answers that included things such as laying in tall grass, having to perform CPR on someone, or portraying difficult professions as an easy and cool job. Which one of these things mentioned do you find true? Or maybe there is something that is missing from this list? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
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High school
Why isn't this no. 1? I had to drop ut of 2 high schools due to mental health issues, and high school was one of the biggest reasons.
CPR. on TV it's just a fun cutesy little water coughing thing that you recover from immediately and in real life it involves breaking ribs and maybe dying anyway
Getting knocked out with a blow to the head.
Movies: like waking up from a nap.
Real life: pain, headache, problems for months if not years.
How about in the movies and TV when they get amnesia from a blow to head? Then they get another blow to the head and their memories come back
Sleeping in the tall grass. I'm sure you've seen the memes but in reality, those fields would be infested with bugs and they'd more than likely bite you
And lay eggs inside of you, and then the eggs hatch, and then you are eaten from the inside by larvae.
Or finding a barn and sleeping on a bed of straw. Tried that and it's like sleeping on a bed of mini nails. It's more comfortable just sleeping on the dirt. (Best to avoid the manure though,)
Definitely. And if you use your backpack as a pillow, at least make sure your head is on the soft part where your clothes are.
Load More Replies...True! I once tried it, but it was a pain... Nothing romantic with sand everywhere! 😁
Load More Replies...Unless you choose an anthill for a cushion the bugs mostly (minus ticks and mosquitos) ignore you, as they did 40 years ago when they were ten times as many of them around. "Infested" is not the right word for butterflies, spiders and grasshoppers living in a flowering biotope.
But chiggers and ticks... At least in Virginia, where I live. I love to look at a beautiful, overgrown field, but I have no desire to spend an evening pulling ticks out of crevices, and I have no idea how to stop the insane itch from chiggers, other than to scrub raw in the shower, which is only partially helpful. I used to keep lye soup in the house when the kids were growing up, specifically for use after chigger and poison ivy exposure. Playing in fields made for lovely days and itchy nights.
Load More Replies...Anyone who's actually had to walk through tall grass knows this one is BS.
"Rolling in the hay" sounds romantic and is seen in countless movies. Ignoring the fact that hay is not soft, is full of stiff, sharp shafts, and is likely also bug-infested.
On my first ever long hike in the mountains as a kid we came to a beautiful high meadow and I ran out to the middle and laid down in the grass. Got back up in about 3 seconds with bugs crawling all over me.
As someone from Colorado I learned this quick. We have ticks on top of, stink bugs, mosquitoes, chiggers, biting ants, biting flies, spiders, and etc. It looks pretty but from a trail you can SEE the insects. It is like a reef to them. Leave it alone, for your sake and theirs.
When my ex and I were courting, we'd ride out along country roads and one day we thought it would be fun to boink in a field of wheat. Nope. Rashes for weeks.
OMG, this brings back memories. When I was a child, I loved to nap in the tall grass in the field by our house. It was so quiet and peaceful.
I don't know, maybe I just grew up a hillbilly in the mountains of Idaho but I've napped in the grass before without many problems. Most bugs have better things to do. It's all about location though I suppose.
Anyone that's ever had to dig and pick around in high grass knows for 100% this is bull.
Did this with meditation once for 20 minutes and I can tell you, the bugs WILL bite you miltiple times, all over the place.
Fireflies. If you have a "water" feature nearby and tall grass and NO ONE spraying insecticides, you have fireflies. I stopped my husband from mowing the plot of land behind the fence on our property, there is a creek running through it and I NEVER spray or use insecticides and I have fireflies every summer.
Yes but don't lay down in the field. I love fireflies, also call them Lightening bugs in central Ohio. USA
Load More Replies...Not to mention the dew on the grass if you were to sleep in it all night
"Would be" and "more than likely". Love the research and the sources here. What a crock! You can sleep in it perfectly fine and the only bugs that will actually bother you are ants or mosquitos. So just cover yourself and don't lay near an anthill and you're fine. I've done it and it's fine..
Same thing about playing in the ocean. If more people knew just how disgusting ocean water really is, even without pollution.....
sleeping under the stars....on damp ground, with bugs in your ears, and skunks, and mice
Not to mention that grass is pokey and can actually give you 'paper cuts' if you pull on it.
Not everywhere. I grew up next to a flowing field like this, and it was totally safe to lay there for hours.
Because of my allergies, a field of grass just looks like hay fever to me anyway!
“Nightclubs.”
“What?!”
“Nightclubs, in the movies. It looks cool. You meet friends there, instead of grumpy strangers, and you have fun group interactions.”
“What?!”
A feature-length romantic drama filled with conflict and angst that, in real life, could've been resolved with 5 minutes of discussion and a phone call.
Oh yeah! Paired with these movie scenes where someone tries to announce the most important news which would resolve the whole situation and doesn't get to it.
Digging a hole. Cartoons make it look so easy and quick. In reality hours of back-breaking work will get you six inches down.
Here in Colorado the soil is so hard that even a gas powered post hole digger gives up after about 10 inches. (Insert joke about girlfriend named post hole digger here)
Hanging off a cliff with one hand, attempting to pull yourself up.....while someone else is hanging on you also
Shooting a gun indoors with no ear protection
I was watching Terminator 2 with my dad and he got annoyed how both a shotgun and pistol were being fired in a tiny elevator, and they were all fine when in reality they would be basically deaf at that point
Carrying and drinking hard liquor out of a flask. In movies, it looks kind of normal but in real life, you just look like an alcoholic.
It's why if I carry my own alcoholic beverages I typically carry them in a normal thermos. Some of those flasks look cool, and as much as I want to carry them I'd rather people not think I'm addicted to alcohol when I'm just trying to enjoy life.
Stalking women.
I mean, surprise elaborate romantic gestures from a complete stranger.
(She just calls it "stalking" because she doesn't know me and can't see how romantic and handsome and awesome I am in my head.)
Like Joe in You.... that was one creepy serie but quite well played.
Elaborate pranks. Great for comedies…and also great way to f**k up relationships.
Reminds of April Fool's Day (1st Apr everyone pranks each other and justifies it by saying 'April Fool's! in the UK) one year. There was this lovely guy who would do anything for anybody in our football team and he got 'fooled' big-style. One of the other lads rang him up and told him he'd run out of petrol about 30 miles from home and could he come and help. Of course, he went and nobody was there. Poor sod. He was jolly cross.
Kissing while treading water. Good luck not kicking each other, knocking heads, or getting a mouthful of snot.
When superheroes moving at a very very high rate of speed rescue people just in time when in reality if they did that they would probably break the persons back and neck and various other bones and give them brain damage or a concussion from they brain hitting the inside of their skull or just flat out kill them from moving them so quickly from a dead stop.
Sounds like Sheldon judging Superman for making a lumpy jigsaw puzzle of Lois Lane if the movies were realistic
Military movies where there is always action happening. Really? Really Hollywood? Are you sure people don't sit around 95% of the time doing nothing?
Montages where they’re working hard, especially if it’s a “glow-up” thing full of exercise and dieting and self-improvement. In reality it kinda sucks. There’s no fast-forward, no silly music.
I mean, with some earbuds and a pocket-sized device you can get the silly music. Not too sure about the time travel, though
Theme parks!! They don't show that you have to wait over an hour+ for the best ride(s) and how expensive the food cost in there.
My dad was a police officer (with a damn straight moral compass, I *know* what you’re thinking.) and he said that it was pretty much 80% paperwork.
The movie Hot Fuzz was considered noteworthy because they listened to a cop saying how it's mostly paperwork and you never see that in the movies *so they actually put that in*.
Fighting. Srsly, don’t do it. I have six felony charges and can not do anything that I wanted to do in younger years. No one likes an aggressive person. You’re not gonna get any babes, or whatever.
Fighting on top of a moving train. Always make me think of the Archer episode where he was so excited to fight a guy but soon found out the reality of it really sucks!!
Hanging up on people. In movies, it makes you look badass and mysterious. In real life, it makes you look like an inconsiderate a*****e and will prompt a "wtf happenned" callback.
Nobody ever says "goodbye" on the phone in films & TV. It's weird. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/10/why-do-characters-never-say-bye-on-the-phone
Moving, painting and fixing up houses/apartments
I'm a weirdo but I love moving! I love to pack everything down and to unpack it all at the new home and putting it in the new spot. 😁 the only thing I hate about moving is getting everything moved from one place to new. I guess you could say that I love moving except the actual move of things. Lol.
Conversations. Always have the perfect thing to say and everything flows. A lot of convos in movies would be considered very abnormal in real life if you really picture it.
Hacking and software development in general. God I wish it was actually as badass as people make it out to be.
Hacking is always shown to be this big exciting screen of code with a ‘I’m in’ uttered twenty seconds later. In reality it’s a long time trying one attack after another, or trying to lure someone into giving you their password (which is easier than conventional hacking) and why we pay professional companies to test our security.
A vacation with little kids.
Done that with 3 kids. The two oldest spent a week being EXTREMELY excited about not being at home. The youngest spent the first evening vomiting all our ALL her clothes and my bf's. He had to wear my pants for a day until his own were washed and dried. Lol. But our conclusion to that week: never ever travel again just us 5. Lol
Smashing a window with your fist
I got into a little kick watching police body cam videos on YouTube and even with a baton they had to hit it several times before it broke.
Spontaneously breaking into song in the middle of public.
I'm oblivious to my surroundings.... when there is a nice song playing in the supermarket, I'll sing and dance, but I do however learned to control the volume and space around me XD
A few people have said fighting, but I feel like it should be specified that *winning* a fight is not a fun experience irl. Most people in actual serious fights aren't gonna have some kind of plot-relevant, narratively satisfying thing on their mind that makes the inevitable bruises/fractures feel like they were worth it for the sake of justice or something, and not just more avoidable suffering that you wish you could've stayed home for instead.
If you win, you'll be happy you're alive, of course, but I have a sneaking suspicion you'll be minorly traumatized at what you had to do to the other person to win. Also, it's gonna hurt. It's gonna REALLY hurt.
Note: this post originally had 48 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Also known as "Fiction isn't the same as reality and that's somehow disappointing". I mean, really?! Would any of you seriously watch a realistic military movie where it's 95% non-action? Or a non-montage travelling sequence where it *really takes* 8 hours to get somewhere, much of it staring out of the same window? Or the tedious paperwork involved in much of police detective procedures? The whole point of movies and fiction is that it *isn't* like real life.
It's batman, but he looks mangled from all the fighting and he walks to danger for an hour each episode because the city is too crowded with cars and the bat signal only works if it's cloudy so he only comes out of the bat cave a few times a year. We get to watch drink his morning coffee for an hour straight at the beginning of every episode....
Load More Replies...Shopping in a supermarket and grabbing whatever looks good without checking the price.
They always come home with one single non-descript paper bag with lettuce, carrots, apples and if its a crime show then lots of alcohol
Load More Replies...Suffocating is also one. It takes much longer to kill someone by strangling them than what they show on tv.
I mean... in certain countries like South Korea that's normal. They even go for regular hangovers.
Load More Replies...No mention of the convenient open parking space in front of a building in NYC?
Back in the '70's, Mannix, Cannon and Rockford Files cracked me and my brother up! Those guys ALWAYS got a parking spot in front of the building! 😂
Load More Replies...I could add lots more: Making love in the sand. When people win in the roulette, taking all the chips from the table, and not waiting for the croupier to pay to you. When the ventilator machine in ICU starts to alarm, soon after the patient codes...that does not happen. P.S. I am a former croupier and current nurse.
1;30 a.m. here so I am sleepy, but what is a "croupier "?
Load More Replies...I wouldn't want to watch movies without many of these unrealistic elements. They would be incredibly boring. Also sword fighting. Everyone is just dancing around each other, nobody uses any possibility to attack and they aim for each others swords and not their bodies.
My brother went to kick the bathroom door in (medical emergency) and thought it would open like the movies. Didn't open. Made a hole in the door.
In a city: always finding a parking spot in front of the building they're going into.
Movie: Not running away but deciding "I've had enough!" and facing off and defeating a psychotic killer. Real life: Running away and either escaping or being caught and killed by the killer.
How about whenever you need a parking spot... BAM! first place you look! There aren't many movies where people spend a lot of time driving around looking for parking
I'd add "Taking awesome pictures in the rain or at the beach" If you have a great phone or pricey camera rig, the absolute LAST thing you want to do is screw it all up with water or sand. Hard pass for me!
Epilepsy - My most common type of seizure is begin stiff and staring blankly. It's called a "Focal onset impaired awareness seizure". I sometimes have the convulsions, which I call a TV or Movie Seizure. I also have a seizure syndrome called Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures which do not involve the brain in anyway. Also that flashing lights trigger seizures. Not all people are triggered by lights. I unfortunately am. Police and Fire Rescue lights in the dark can trigger seizures in me. Also fast moving pictures for example the intro to "The Big Bang Theory". I cannot watch it.
PARKING is a fantasy in every movie in a BIG city. A convenient parking space just "happens" to be available right where someone needs to be, not 2 - 5 blocks away . . . no paying, no meter, rarely see anyone lock a door. In reality any large city now has parking problems. Nothing is convenient! You will be walking. And nobody . . . NOBODY ever whips out their wallet to pay for things!
Running in movies annoys me, they seem to be able to sprint for miles and be experts at parkour. In reality they would probably manage about 10 seconds and then would feel like their lungs were about to explode and collapse wheezing and panting.
That's why, just watch anime, you know it almost always complete bull****.
Smoking cigars. You have to keep puffing to keep it lit and the heat from the smoke makes you want to spit
Also known as "Fiction isn't the same as reality and that's somehow disappointing". I mean, really?! Would any of you seriously watch a realistic military movie where it's 95% non-action? Or a non-montage travelling sequence where it *really takes* 8 hours to get somewhere, much of it staring out of the same window? Or the tedious paperwork involved in much of police detective procedures? The whole point of movies and fiction is that it *isn't* like real life.
It's batman, but he looks mangled from all the fighting and he walks to danger for an hour each episode because the city is too crowded with cars and the bat signal only works if it's cloudy so he only comes out of the bat cave a few times a year. We get to watch drink his morning coffee for an hour straight at the beginning of every episode....
Load More Replies...Shopping in a supermarket and grabbing whatever looks good without checking the price.
They always come home with one single non-descript paper bag with lettuce, carrots, apples and if its a crime show then lots of alcohol
Load More Replies...Suffocating is also one. It takes much longer to kill someone by strangling them than what they show on tv.
I mean... in certain countries like South Korea that's normal. They even go for regular hangovers.
Load More Replies...No mention of the convenient open parking space in front of a building in NYC?
Back in the '70's, Mannix, Cannon and Rockford Files cracked me and my brother up! Those guys ALWAYS got a parking spot in front of the building! 😂
Load More Replies...I could add lots more: Making love in the sand. When people win in the roulette, taking all the chips from the table, and not waiting for the croupier to pay to you. When the ventilator machine in ICU starts to alarm, soon after the patient codes...that does not happen. P.S. I am a former croupier and current nurse.
1;30 a.m. here so I am sleepy, but what is a "croupier "?
Load More Replies...I wouldn't want to watch movies without many of these unrealistic elements. They would be incredibly boring. Also sword fighting. Everyone is just dancing around each other, nobody uses any possibility to attack and they aim for each others swords and not their bodies.
My brother went to kick the bathroom door in (medical emergency) and thought it would open like the movies. Didn't open. Made a hole in the door.
In a city: always finding a parking spot in front of the building they're going into.
Movie: Not running away but deciding "I've had enough!" and facing off and defeating a psychotic killer. Real life: Running away and either escaping or being caught and killed by the killer.
How about whenever you need a parking spot... BAM! first place you look! There aren't many movies where people spend a lot of time driving around looking for parking
I'd add "Taking awesome pictures in the rain or at the beach" If you have a great phone or pricey camera rig, the absolute LAST thing you want to do is screw it all up with water or sand. Hard pass for me!
Epilepsy - My most common type of seizure is begin stiff and staring blankly. It's called a "Focal onset impaired awareness seizure". I sometimes have the convulsions, which I call a TV or Movie Seizure. I also have a seizure syndrome called Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures which do not involve the brain in anyway. Also that flashing lights trigger seizures. Not all people are triggered by lights. I unfortunately am. Police and Fire Rescue lights in the dark can trigger seizures in me. Also fast moving pictures for example the intro to "The Big Bang Theory". I cannot watch it.
PARKING is a fantasy in every movie in a BIG city. A convenient parking space just "happens" to be available right where someone needs to be, not 2 - 5 blocks away . . . no paying, no meter, rarely see anyone lock a door. In reality any large city now has parking problems. Nothing is convenient! You will be walking. And nobody . . . NOBODY ever whips out their wallet to pay for things!
Running in movies annoys me, they seem to be able to sprint for miles and be experts at parkour. In reality they would probably manage about 10 seconds and then would feel like their lungs were about to explode and collapse wheezing and panting.
That's why, just watch anime, you know it almost always complete bull****.
Smoking cigars. You have to keep puffing to keep it lit and the heat from the smoke makes you want to spit