Top 20 Funniest Movie Mistakes

Even the greatest of actors slip up… literally, in this case. Donald Glover as astrodynamicist Rich Purnell gets a eureka moment when he figures out an alternate plan to get astronaut Mark Watney back from Mars. True to his adorkable characterization, Rich slips and falls just before he gets to his morning cup of joe. It turns out Glover’s fall was completely accidental. Glover assumed his mistake would be edited out in post-production, but director Ridley Scott actually liked it a lot. The final cut makes for a funny and charming character detail, and all from Glover being nervous during his first take.

This charming mishap in this seminal Marilyn Monroe movie musical is one for the books. During her “Ain’t There Anyone Here For Love” number, Jane Russell’s Dorothy Shaw was supposed to duck all the handsome diving swimmers in the big ending. However, as you’ll remember from the famous finale, one of them catches her and she falls in the pool along with them. While the scene was re-shot, the mishap was eventually kept. Miraculously enough, it even looks kind of intentional, like a kind of cheeky send up to Dorothy’s swooning lust. Gentlemen may prefer blondes, but we prefer falling brunettes.

In this scene, Princess Buttercup and Wesley have been caught by the odious Prince Humperdinck. Buttercup agrees to return with Humperdinck in exchange for her Wesley’s safety. As soon as Wesley is captured, however, the six-fingered Count Rugen goes back on the promise and knocks him out with his sword hilt. The actors were struggling to get satisfactory footage, so Cary Elwes encouraged Christopher Guest not to hold back. That thunk ended up landing poor Elwes in the hospital for stitches. Well, if he paid so dearly for a good shot, we’re glad it didn’t go to waste in the end.

Is this the real life, or is it just a hilarious goof? Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne suffers from amnesia and struggles to remember who he is. Nothing exemplifies the themes of identity and loss than this beautiful shot of Bourne disappearing at the wharf when a truck passes him. Or, it would have been beautiful if Matt Damon’s jogging legs weren’t clearly visible from under the moving truck. One may argue that as Bourne is a secret agent and not a ghost, his being visible was intentional. Whatever it is, it is charming and funny.

Okay, we know this film is infamous for its countless historical inaccuracies of all kinds, from the historical figures to the fashion. But this goof takes historical anachronism to a whole new level. During a rock-throwing contest between William Wallace and Hamish, one of the 13th-century Scottish onlookers is briefly shown wearing a baseball cap. Talk about being ahead of your time – and not just in fashion, but in “Braveheart” merchandise. It’s a hysterical oversight that nevertheless cements “Braveheart” as an adventure film first and a historically accurate rendition second. But hey, at least it wasn’t a Starbucks cup.

This is a movie that has aged beautifully with its impressively realistic practical effects and CGI used sparingly. Still, mistakes do happen. In this famous, harrowing scene, Tim and Lex Murphy are hiding from the raptors in the kitchen. Just when the door flies open and the dinosaur is looking around, you can see a human hand holding the tail of the animatronic raptor. Fortunately, it doesn’t mar the scene or the terrifyingly convincing dinosaurs. These dinosaurs were made with metal skeletons powered by electric motors, often requiring many puppeteers to help out, so there was bound to be a slip-up somewhere.

This self-aware slasher film is a scream, all right. But, at least one of this film’s funniest bits turned out to be a complete accident. In the climax, it’s revealed that Billy Loomis is Ghostface, with Stu as his accomplice. In this scene, the phone goes back and forth between Billy and Stu, with Sidney on the other line warning she’s called the police. At one point, Billy snatches up the phone and throws it at Stu in a rage. This little fury-fueled action turned out to be a complete accident, as the phone slipped off-course from Skeet Ulrich’s blood-soaked hand. Big props to Matthew Lillard for the smooth (and hysterical) recovery there. Some films achieve greatness, but others have greatness thrown upon them.

At the end of the first “Pirates of the Caribbean”, Captain Jack Sparrow escapes by falling into the sea, only to be rescued by the “Black Pearl” ship. Sparrow then takes command of the ship and the new crew, including this cowboy, seemingly far from home. Sparrow will at least appreciate his rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ skills out at sea. No doubt this was a random crew member at the wrong place, at the wrong time. In a film franchise filled with vanishing rum, jars of dirt, and Barbossa officiating weddings, this may be the most suspicious moment yet.

This Alfred Hitchcock film already has one iconic scene under its belt. But it also features one of the most iconic bloopers in film history. In this scene, Eve Kendall shoots Cary Grant’s character with blanks at the Mount Rushmore visitor center to help maintain her cover. It’s a surprise to the people dining all around them, to be sure, so this kid in the background must have had pretty good foresight to cover his ears before the blast. It’s a very cute mistake and we can’t say we blame him for wanting to protect his hearing.

You would think a 21st century film would go the extra mile to have its props be at least somewhat believable. This war drama follows cowboy Chris Kyle as he rises from Texan ranch hand to U.S. Navy sniper. The film’s war scenes have been praised for their realism, so it’s a little strange—if undoubtedly amusing—that one of its props should ruin that suspension of disbelief so majorly. In one domestic scene, Kyle holds an obviously fake baby. According to a screenwriter, the first two real babies they tried to cast didn’t work out, so a plastic doll was the final resort. If nothing else, it’s a testament to Bradley Cooper’s phenomenal acting chops; he made that baby come alive.

Printers are the bane of every office’s existence. But the performance of the printer in this seminal comedy was a gift from the comedy gods. As Michael Bolton talks with his co-workers Peter and Samir, the printer gives him yet another error message. Michael takes a frustrated whack at it, knocking off its feeder in the process. This reaction, it turns out, was totally unscripted, but boy, was it satisfying to see. Even more satisfying is when the guys finally take the underperforming printer and put it out of its misery in this justly famous scene. Rest in pieces, printer. You will not be missed.

Some unscripted reactions are the best of all. In this ending scene at the family cookout, Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce makes a joke at Luke Hobbs’s expense, prompting the latter to deliver this quick comeback. The ad libbed reactions from both Ludacris and Gibson are just perfection – with Ludacris’s spit-take in particular definitely being one for the books. The resulting scene was deemed so funny that the filmmakers decided to keep it in. We definitely approve. If there’s anything certain about this franchise, it’s that the Rock can cook.

Freud would have had a field day with this one. Unfortunately for him, this line was in fact a flubbed one. “Titanic’s” famous painting scene began with a flustered Jack telling an undressed Rose to lie on the bed before quickly correcting himself. This was in fact a mistake by DiCaprio; the original line of dialogue said the location correctly the first time. It’s delivered so naturally, though, and adds just the right note of humor to the scene that it was kept in the final cut. Art imitates life imitates art, we guess.

Sir Ian McKellen is a Shakespearean-trained actor, and nothing shows this better than when he played a powerful wizard hitting his head on Bilbo Baggins’ ceiling. This humorous moment had been improvised by McKellen, according to director Peter Jackson, but it was retained nevertheless for its authenticity and charm. However, in another interview, McKellen revealed he had actually planned the head bump moment; he just never let Jackson know of it, making the latter believe it was unplanned. Either way, it’s a great detail that showcases the best of improv comedy.

These unscripted falls don’t stop coming, and they won’t stop coming. Anne Hathaway showed off her acting skills early on as ordinary-turned-extraordinary teenager Mia, who finds out she’s actually the princess of a place called Genovia. Before that, Mia is awkward and clumsy, as proven in this small throwaway moment when she accidentally falls on the bleachers. Hathaway must have really embodied her character because it turns out, this was all her. Apparently, it had rained the day before and the steps were still wet. Hathaway recovered smoothly and, honestly, the slip works in the scene’s favor, adding some levity and serving as a reminder to the audience that Mia really hasn’t changed all that much.

In this seminal comedy, Williams played harried drag club owner Armand as he prepares to receive his son Val’s future in-laws. The problem is, Val’s fiancée’s parents are ultra conservatives. Cue comedy gold as Armand tries, in his panic, to straighten his household – with extra emphasis on the ‘straight’. In this famous kitchen scene, Armand takes a small tumble mid-sentence. It turns out that Williams really did slip and, if you look carefully, you can tell he and his co-stars almost break. Like the pro he is, however, Williams rolled with the punches, or rather the floor, and earned some extra laughs from viewers.

Line up the usual suspects! Five suspected criminals are made to come forward and recite a line. After suspect number two’s performance, we were already gone but so was Benicio del Toro as Fred Fenster, apparently. The moment he stepped forward to deliver the line, he burst into irrepressible giggles, and so did the other suspects. It turns out that del Toro couldn’t stop farting, causing everyone to lose it and ruining “12 takes in a row,” according to writer Christopher McQuarrie. The final product is purportedly a number of takes stitched together after the crew gave up on getting one where no one was laughing.

This film’s crimes against good filmmaking are many, to be sure. But there is one goof that apparently evaded every pair of eyes analyzing the product before it went out. Unfortunately, it’s a blatant one. The ending of “Cats” sees the devious Macavity defeated, with Judi Dench’s Old Deuteronomy leading the final number, “The Ad-Dressing of Cats.” Before she does, however, the camera zooms in on Dench’s very human hand on her otherwise CGI body. Perhaps we were lucky to have been spared even more uncanny-valley CGI, but this detail does make for the cherry on top of an already disastrous cake.

One of the most beloved bloopers that were left in is yet another head bump. As Luke, Hans, and Chewbacca disguise themselves as stormtroopers to rescue Princess Leia, actual stormtroopers are on the move to stop them. Or, at least three of them are, as one of them bumps his head against the ceiling. This was an accident on the actor’s part, although which actor it was has still not been definitively confirmed. Either way, Luke must have been right about not being able to see in those helmets.

Disclaimer: there’s some differing accounts about what actually went down here but the quote is just too legendary to exclude from our list. From Dustin Hoffman himself, the story goes that when filming this scene, the set was left open and a real taxicab almost hit the actors, prompting Hoffman to shout his famous line. Director Jerome Hellman, on the other hand, has claimed that the whole thing was in the script. Either way, the scene came out impeccably, a comically realistic moment that exemplifies the film’s themes of dignity and demanding respect.