MovieChat Forums > There's Something About Mary (1998) Discussion > anyone catch this plot hole?

anyone catch this plot hole?

posted 17 years ago by zephman
43 replies | jump to latest

norm explains to healy that he went to mary for medical treatment (broken back) which he attributed to "a friend, baseball bat".

however, when healy sees norm transform from his tucker persona by ditching the suit, glasses and crutches his back is totally healed and he's able to walk with no problem.

if mary's a princeton educated orthopedic surgeon wouldn't she be aware of the healing time/process of a broken back? also, if she's under his care wouldn't he receive regular checkups to ensure that his back had healed? i mean, you can't really fake these things like a british accent.

maybe i'm complicating things too much, and i know that parts of the movie are completely unrealistic, but that little detail was always something that bothered me.

did anyone else notice this/agree that it's somewhat of a plot hole?

[–] sc22781 17 years ago

I do agree with you that you would think Mary would be able to tell (as educated as she was) that Norm was faking. Or, maybe Mary knew and being as kind as she was, took him on as a patient because of how needy he was or because they became friends.

[–] starcat_love 17 years ago

Everytime i watch this movie, i always think about that.

[–] zephman 17 years ago

me too! i thought i was alone.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] VhaugnndeixU 17 years ago

It was an enormous plot hole. He had to lie to the other doctors about his job, nationality and background. And wouldn't she see him around town as the pizza boy???

~~JS~~Lap Up All Of My Sugary Badness.

[–] Valentino55 17 years ago

I always assumed that he wasn't faking the injury. I thought his friend really DID injure him with the baseball bat, and while he was under Mary's care he used his Tucker persona, and that's how they got to know one another and how he entered her life.

[–] zephman 17 years ago

yeah but then how was he magically cured with her knowing it?

[–] robswife 17 years ago

they never say exactly how long they've been friends. so maybe they've just known each other for a LOOOONG time. and you can recover from a broken back. i think he just played it up after he was healed b/c once she did the surgery no amount of x-rays or scans can tell the whole story. pain can be faked.

[–] mezich 17 years ago

I think it's just a plot hole, because she doesn't seem like the kind of person that likes being lied to, hence why she gets mad at Ted for hiring Pat.
And she should have been able to tell that Tucker was a fake.

It's just one of those things we'll never know the answer to.

[–] Filmmaker284 17 years ago

who cares though? Why are you thinking about the logic in a movie that has a chick use cum as gel?

[–] Thirty_3 17 years ago

Who cares? It's a comedy.

[–] bethybo2 17 years ago

Yeah exactly - comedies that are this riduculous are not supposed to always make exactly perfect sense. If you spend your time thinking about the "plot holes" in a movie like this then you are missing the point. Just relax and have fun watching it. This movie is hilarious because it is so silly and far-fetched. That's the point.

[–] littlekaren 17 years ago

I agree...thought the friend really did injure him.

[–] MyDarkStar 17 years ago

it's not a plot hole. Norm's back is completely healed & he's faking it with his crutches. All he has to say to Mary is that although he is supposedly fully healed he still has enduring pain which requires crutches. What would Mary be able to say about that - "No - you don't really have pain" ?

[–] mail-924 17 years ago

Also, hasn't Mary ever been inside his office? Does he rent a fake architect's office on a pizza delivery boy's salary?

[–] Krustallos 14 years ago

Correct, Dark Star. Back pain is notoriously easy to fake; one of the reasons people use it so much as an excuse to claim disability benefits (see also whiplash after car accidents). Norm did have his friend whack him with a baseball bat, Mary cured him but he pretended to still be incapacitated so he could go on seeing her. It's not difficult to figure out.

I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Beetle1 17 years ago

Yeah, I've actually thought about this too.
However, if you notice when "Norm" is trying to pick up the keys while on his crutches, Mary is sorta rolling her eyes in the background as if to say; "I can't believe he is progressing so slowly!"
The truth is, people recover at different rates.
Star athletes often return from serious injury months ahead of schedule.

[–] GreyHunter 17 years ago

It's not a plot hole. She only did her undergrad at Princeton. She did medical at Kewasawkee Medical Correspondence Course. So she wasn't as highly-trained as she might have been.

[–] adriebaby82 16 years ago

"i mean, you can't really fake these things like a british accent."

His American accent was the fake one. Lee Evans IS British.

[–] kyleb18940 16 years ago

Eh, most likely he had a friend break his back for real, and did see her for check ups, but than probably stopped over time and just stayed her friend.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

That's exactly it. He did have his friend break his back so he could go see Mary. He continued faking the injury so that he could keep getting treatment.

[–] Cine-Cheetah 16 years ago

That doesn't bother me - it's just a throwaway line. What DOES bug me is when tucker is telling Mary about healy's rap sheet. While Healy is listening in he acts like he's proud of his crimes but later he confronts tucker/norm for making it all up to turn Mary off healy.

[–] NoodleLizard 13 years ago

No, no, no. You're supposed to think that, but really he's just sneering because he has figured out that Tucker's lying about him in an attempt to sabotage his relationship with Mary - hence following him once he leaves.

These bastards!

[–] DarkTheater 16 years ago

A little insight. It's possible his friend DID break his back with the bat, fracturing a vertabrae and requiring treatment, but he could have recovered very quickly and then faked still needing the braces.

I broke my back as a kid. I was knocked down at school, fracturing my sacrum which caused momentary paralysis in my legs. Then it shifted back into place and I was fine. I never even knew I had broken my back until I was an adult.