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 coincidences or 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.

15

Bea & Ben “Hate” Each Other

Anyone But You (2023)

As a loose modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Anyone but You falls 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 Ben spend 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.

14

Briony Accuses Robbie Of A Serious Crime

Atonement (2007)

The tragedy of Atonement is 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 explains after 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.

13

Ariel 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 most frustrating Disney movie plot holes is the fact that Ariel 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.

12

Batman & Superman Fight Each Other Instead Of Talking

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

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” scene gets 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.

11

Elsa 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.

10

Lara 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.

9

Peter 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 other Spider-Man movies 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.

8

Edward Believes Bella Is Dead

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

New Moon is heavily inspired by Romeo 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 if Bella and Alice had called him (although the book mentions that he abandons his phone).

7

Penelope 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 curse and that while he was momentarily taken aback by the nose, he thinks she is a wonderful person.

6

Lilo Believes Stitch Is Being Bad On Purpose

Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch (2005)

The Lilo & Stitch sequel 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 this while they try 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.

5

Poe Leads A Mutinity Against Admiral Holdo

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi makes a valid point about reckless fighters like Poe having some problems respecting authority figures they are not familiar with. Holdo is Leia’s trusted friend, but Poe ignores her orders and proceeds with his own plan. However, Holdo could have just told Poe that she had a plan to evacuate the Resistance so he wouldn’t have been so certain that she was dooming them all. Likewise, Poe might have mentioned at some point that he had sent Finn and Rose off on their mission before it came back to haunt them all.

4

Ballister Decides That Nimona Is A Monster

Nimona (2023)

Nimona actually shows Nimona and Ballister coming to have a kind of dynamic where he is very accepting of her strange powers and should be willing to listen to her. When he discreetly meets with Ambrosius, Ambrosius shows Ballister the scroll that “proves” Nimona is the terrifying monster of their kingdom’s origin myth, and Ballister lashes out at her. Given that Ballister had even defends Nimona to Ambrosius, it would have made more sense for him to calmly say that he trusts her, he just wants to know the truth, therefore preventing the movie’s final act.

3

Shrek Believes Fiona Thinks Of Him As A Monster

Shrek (2001)

Shrek features another (in)convenient overheard conversation. Shrek is beginning to realize that he and Fiona have feelings for each other when Donkey discovers that Fiona becomes an ogre by night. There isn’t really a plausible explanation for Fiona being embarrassed by this as Shrek is an ogre, although the fact that she feels this way is insulting to him in a different way. Shrek then overhears her calling herself a “hideous creature,” thinks she is talking about him, and later spits it back at her, which she takes as him affirming her fears that he couldn’t love her.

2

The Narrator Doesn’t Realize That Tyler Isn’t Real

Fight Club (1999)

Fight Club’s plot twist of one of the main characters not being real hinges on the unlikely event that none of the other characters ever say anything to clue the protagonist in on this. Namely, the Narrator does not realize that Marla is not sleeping with Tyler but him. Somehow, he and Marla never have a conversation about their relationship. She is angry with him in certain scenes where he is “blowing her off,” as he conveniently does not realize that they have just spent the night together. Likewise, none of the other recruits say anything revealing.

1

Romeo Believes That Juliet Is Dead

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

The most famous miscommunication with disastrous consequences is, of course, the one in Romeo and Juliet. In all versions, Friar Lawrence and Juliet should have confirmed that Romeo knew the plan before carrying it out or shared it with Romeo’s friends to prevent the very thing that happens. In the modern version from Baz Luhrmann, the friar apparently doesn’t make a phone call or send an email to Romeo either. Therefore, Romeo believes exactly what he hears and takes his own life, showcasing the terrible tendency of many fictional people to jump to conclusions for the sake of drama.