Sex scenes and never finishing a meal: The 12 things TV shows and movies always get wrong.

It’s fair to say we’ve watched a lot of TV shows and movies over the past year thanks to lockdown. And in between binge-watching the latest Netflix series and re-watching our favourite movies one too many times, we’ve come to notice some… mistakes.

From ridiculous sex scenes to people not saying "goodbye" during phone calls, movies and TV shows are full of unrealistic scenarios that never play out in real life. 

And it seems to bother a lot of people.

So much so, that one Twitter user by the name of ‘Dr Daddy Trejo’ asked her followers to share the smallest things in movies that annoyed them the most.

“For me it’s the women NEVER getting up to pee after sex and women in fight/action scenes not putting their hair up,” she wrote.

what are the most mundane things films/tv regularly get wrong & it pisses you off? for me it’s the women NEVER getting up to pee after sex, and women in fight/action scenes not putting their hair up

— dr daddy trejo (@derridalicious) May 24, 2020

And of course, the people of Twitter delivered.

1. Couples have a massive long kiss first thing in the morning after waking up after a big night
2. No one ever seems to use a toilet

— hamishwyatt (@hamishwyatt) May 24, 2020

Babies never get called by their name it’s always ‘the baby’. No one does that in real life!

— Kate (@katelkeith) May 24, 2020

No one ever has a text history; even with their partners/parents/siblings.

— titfan (@titfan) May 24, 2020

Here are 12 other things TV shows and movies always get wrong.

1. People never finish their meals.

Have you ever noticed that people in TV shows and movies never finish their meals?

Often characters will sit down to a big breakfast spread of meals complete with coffee, pancakes, eggs, fruit and toast. But then only have one bite before running out the door.

One of the worst offenders of this is Parent Trap, where 11-year-old Annie who is playing Hallie in the scene (it’s a little confusing we know) wakes up to a big stack of chocolate chip pancakes, french toast, bacon and a tall glass of orange juicy lovingly prepared for her by housekeeper Chessy. But she doesn’t eat it.

Instead, she takes a single bite of toast and completely ignores the delicious feast in front of her.

It’s one of the many things that keeps us up at night.

2. Pretending to drink fake "liquid" out of coffee cups.

Speaking of eating and drinking, characters in TV shows and movies always pretend to drink tea or coffee out of mugs even though we can all clearly see there's nothing... there.

Sometimes the actors don't even commit to (fake) drinking the (pretend) liquid and they began talking immediately after they move the cup away from their mouths.

via GIPHY

And it seems to annoy a lot of people.

People drinking from clearly empty cups. Would it kill the props dept to put a bit of water in there for verisimilitude?

— Erica ???? (@Brackers_) May 24, 2020

Yes!!! And when they use a spoon to ‘mix’ thr “drink”... son... we SEE it’s empty

— dr daddy trejo (@derridalicious) May 24, 2020

Listen to The Spill, Mamamia’s daily entertainment podcast. Post continues below. 

3. Sex scenes are always ridiculous.

This is the case for almost all movies and TV shows, expect maybe Normal People. (PSA: If you haven't watched it yet you need to do so. Immediately.)

From beautiful glistening bodies to simultaneous orgasms, and the ability to gracefully change positions, sex scenes are never how they play out in real life.

Most movies and TV shows don't even give the characters time to take off their shoes and socks or put on other... protective items.

via GIPHY

4. Women wearing bras ALL the time.

Speaking of sex scenes, women are regularly shown wearing bras either during sex or when we first wake up in the morning. But as all women know, this is not a thing we actually... do.

Sure, we may have accidentally fallen asleep with our bra on one time but after having the worst night sleep of our lives we vow never to do it again.

5. Childbirth.

Childbirth is a uniquely beautiful (albeit painful) experience. And it doesn't always get portrayed well on screen.

In many movies and TV shows, childbirth is often glossed over or romanticised as women are shown lovingly embracing their newborn (aka a small six-week-old) after two minutes of suspenseful screaming.

In reality, there's a lot more that happens to the woman and baby that we aren't shown.

One particular culprit of this is the hit TV sitcom Friends. And while the show will always be a cult classic, there's a few times the show hasn't done the best job at depicting birth scenes.

In one episode, Phoebe gives birth to triplets by pushing the babies out. While this isn't impossible, there's a good chance she would have had a c-section in real life given the risk involved.

In another episode, Rachel is dramatically told last minute that her baby is breech after she begins pushing. But in reality, most doctors would have realised this earlier on and possibly recommended a c-section.

6. An unrealistic work-life balance.

It seems everyone in TV shows and movies has a ridiculous amount of free time when they're not at work (which is almost never).

From How I Met Your Mother to Friends or The Big Bang Theory, cast members are always seen hanging out outside the office and spending an exorbitant amount of time together at a bar or cafe. And while that's usually when the characters reveal something major to the plot of the episode, it's far from realistic.

7. Not looking at the road while driving.

via GIPHY

Thanks to cheesy soap operas and predictable action movies, we always know something bad is about to go down when characters take their eyes off the road. It doesn't matter what TV show or movie we are watching, as soon as the driver looks at the passenger for a little... too long, we start getting that sinking feeling they're going to crash.

Two seconds later something like this usually happens...

via GIPHY

or this...

via GIPHY

Or even this...

via GIPHY

8. Characters never saying "hi" or "bye" when they answer the phone.

via GIPHY

It's one of life's greatest mysteries. Why do people in TV shows and movies never say "hello" or "goodbye" on the phone?

As soon as the character answers the phone and hears the all-important plot-altering information, they just hang up. Without a "hey, how are you going?" or "talk to you later".

We guess when you're making a movie there's a lot of things you need to cut out and basic phone etiquette is one of them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9. Having unrealistically perfect hair that never falls out of place.

via GIPHY

Anyone with long hair will tell you the struggle of trying to keep our hair in place. In real life, we often resort to hair ties, bobby pins and a whole lot of dry shampoo to try and keep our hair looking semi-decent during the day. But when it comes to movies and TV shows, women (and some men) always have ridiculously perfect hair that never seems to fall out of place.

It doesn't matter if they just woke up in the morning, emerged from the ocean or just finished saving the world, characters always have picture-perfect hair.

The same applies to makeup as well.

That’s why I loved this moment in Birds of Prey SO MUCH pic.twitter.com/SLU3DP6a4F

— Erin Bingham (@ierinbingham) May 24, 2020

10. Hiding on a roof somehow makes you invisible.

If you've watched any action movie ever, there's a good chance you've seen the age-old trick where characters hide on the roof to avoid getting caught. 

But in reality, a person 'hiding' on your roof is something you would probably definitely notice. 

"It drives me nuts every time a movie has a scene where a person is hiding on the ceiling a few feet above someone else and is never seen. Just because the camera is angled so the person in the movie can’t see them, doesn’t mean a real person wouldn’t notice Tom Cruise hanging from their ceiling fan," one person commented on a Reddit thread about movie logic.

11. When people tell their co-workers to 'cover them' at work so they can go off on an adventure. 

via GIPHY

Ahh if only this worked in real-life. 

"People who work in retail or as a waiter/waitress just saying 'cover me' to their co-worker and leaving in the middle of a shift to go take care of a personal matter, catch a murderer, etc. You can't just tell a waitress to cover twice as many tables like that. It won't work. And you won't work either, 'cause you'll get fired," one person commented on Reddit. 

12. Jumping through windows without getting a single scratch. 

via GIPHY

I'm no expert, but jumping through a glass window has got to leave you with a few marks at least. 

"People jumping through windows, breaking them, and landing on the shards but not getting a scratch," one person commented on Reddit. 

It just doesn't seem... possible.

What other things do movies and TV shows get wrong? Let us know in the comments below. 

This article was originally published on May 26, 2020, and was updated on June 5, 2021.

Feature Image: Paramount Pictures /NBC.