Sometimes a movie character will make a decision so frustrating that you want to climb through the screen and slap some sense into them. While these decisions often breed conflict and storytelling pretty much can’t exist without conflict, it can still be alarming to watch characters walk right into problems that could have been avoided.
Let’s exercise our ire by finally placing some much-needed blame on 10 characters whose decisions have had audiences hollering and covering their eyes over the last 50 years.
10. Naim in Leviticus (2026)
‘Leviticus’ (2026)Credit: Neon
Leviticus’ main character, Naim (Joe Bird), is rated the lowest both in an attempt to avoid recency bias and because his decisions are understandable for a closeted, hormone-addled teenager who grew up the way that he did. I don’t think anybody would want to be judged for the worst decisions that they made when they were 17. Regardless, there is no defending his jealousy-driven decision to out his crush, Ryan (Stacy Clausen), and the pastor’s son, Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), because he’s upset when he sees the two of them kissing.
Sure, it was a very effective way to get them to break up, but even someone who has absolutely no understanding of how awful it is to out another queer person should know that outing the son of a religious leader in a fundamentalist community isn’t going to lead to good things. Naim’s closetedness would have made it hard for him to sit down and have a straightforward conversation with Ryan, but dude. If you had just sat and sulked in your room for a few days, you could have avoided the killer conversion demon that gets sicced on the three of you.
9. Ellison in Sinister (2012)
‘Sinister’ (2012)Credit: Summit Entertainment
In Sinister, true crime author Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) tries to revive his career by moving his family to a home where a series of brutal murders happened, without telling his wife or kids about the house’s history. That’s bad enough, but it becomes crystal clear that these murders happened because of an evil presence that is becoming increasingly aware of Ellison’s investigations. His decision to keep pushing forward instead of stopping what he’s doing and getting the hell out of there ultimately dooms them.
8. Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978)
‘Halloween’ (1978)Credit: Compass International Pictures
Despite being an iconic final girl, Halloween’s intrepid babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) seems to believe that weapons are single-use items. The second she scores a hit on masked murderer Michael Myers (Nick Castle), she drops that weapon on the floor and goes on with her life. She’s truly lucky she ever lived to see a sequel.
7. Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame (2019)
‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Yeah, yeah, we all know why Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) made the decision to do what he did in Avengers: Endgame when he got the Infinity Gauntlet. Five years had passed since Thanos (Josh Brolin) eliminated half of the universe. Iron Man could have just reversed time, but he didn’t want to make it so that his daughter had never been born. That’s sweet. However, as the next few phases of the MCU have proven, the decision to just bring all those people back to life half a decade later, but not having aged a day, wreaked all kinds of havoc across the universe. This was definitely a situation where that little chestnut we call “the greater good” might have been worth focusing on.
6. Star-Lord in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (201Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Of course, Iron Man would never have had to make his bad decision if Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) hadn’t made an even worse one five years earlier, during the finale of Avengers: Infinity War. The Avengers had almost subdued Thanos when Star-Lord learned that the mad titan had killed his own daughter, Star-Lord’s love interest Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). Star-Lord furiously punched Thanos, thus waking him up and allowing him to break free of his bonds and destroy half the universe. All because of a personal vendetta. One thing that we’re learning here is that so many movie characters would be better off if they took up journaling.
5. Kate in Kate & Leopold (2001)
‘Kate & Leopold’ (2001)Credit: Miramax Films
No, I’m not talking about that haircut. I’m talking about the fact that, in this high-concept time travel rom-com, Kate (Meg Ryan) chooses to follow His Grace Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Thomas Gareth Mountbatten, 3rd Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman) back in time in order to continue their relationship. Leaving her family and friends behind forever. So she can spend the rest of her life in the late 1800s. A famously great time to be a woman.
4. Mike in The Blair Witch Project (1999)
‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999)Credit: Artisan Entertainment
Let’s be honest. There was probably no surviving the events of the found footage phenomenon The Blair Witch Project. The witch was exerting her influence over the three stranded film students basically the second they set foot in her neck of the woods. However, that doesn’t mean that Mike (Michael C. Williams) should have kicked their map into the river. I get that you’re frustrated, buddy. But maybe do some breathing exercises and avoid destroying the one thing that could have potentially gotten you to safety.
3. Don in 28 Weeks Later (2007)
‘28 Weeks Later’ (2007)Credit: Fox Atomic
Don (Robert Carlyle) is uninfected for about 25 minutes of the 28 Days Later sequel 28 Weeks Later, and he somehow uses that brief time to make more heinous decisions than most movie characters do in entire franchises. In the prologue, he abandons his wife, leaving her to be besieged by the Infected as he runs to safety. Then, when she is brought back to the repatriation compound, clearly infected but asymptomatic, his guilt leads him to kiss her… which, of course, instantly turns him into an Infected. His non-stop bad decisions lead to England being toppled by the Rage virus for the second time and nearly lead to him devouring his own children. He couldn’t have been more destructive if he tried.
2. Sebastian in La La Land (2016)
‘La La Land’ (2016)Credit: Lionsgate
I’m not one of those people who thinks that Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) needed to end up together at the end of La La Land. I think that movie has a perfect ending. However, he didn’t have to nuke their relationship from orbit by agreeing to do a photo shoot for his band instead of going to the only performance of Mia’s one-woman show. Sure, he’d be in the doghouse with his bandmates, but Photoshop exists! It wasn’t vital for him to be in that room, especially when there was an under-attended room across town he much more desperately needed to be in.
1. Beaver in Dreamcatcher (2003)
‘Dreamcatcher’ (2003)Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
In the Stephen King movie Dreamcatcher, Beaver (Jason Lee) is tasked with sitting on a toilet lid until his friend gets back, so the alien monster that’s trapped inside can’t escape. The problem? He’s dropped his toothpicks on a bloody, filthy bathroom floor. He really needs a toothpick, and there’s only one that’s on a non-bloody tile. It’s just far enough that he can’t reach it, and the deadly alien escapes because he briefly lifts his weight off the lid to grab that toothpick. A lot of death could have been avoided (including his own) if he just didn’t reach for that toothpick in the middle of a survival situation.
Did he need a toothpick that badly? There might be more backstory in the book, but the movie hasn’t presented any evidence that he uses toothpicks for anything but aesthetics. Plus, even if the tile wasn’t bloody, it was still on a bathroom floor. If the alien hadn’t killed him first, whatever disease he was about to give himself would’ve done it eventually.
So, I’m sure that when you first read the headline of this article, a specific character popped into your head. Did that character end up on the list? If not, please take to the comments below and share who you’d love to add!
