MovieChat Forums > Emelie (2016) Discussion > Logic flaws (SPOILERS ABOUND)

Logic flaws (SPOILERS ABOUND)

posted 9 years ago by refeahcs
34 replies | jump to latest

So I liked EMELIE (am a lie) enough. Sarah Bolger's performance was solid and the movie really twisted overall, but logic problems abound.

#1) Do kids not know how to dial 9-1-1?

I kept thinking the family didn't have a landline, or why else wouldn't an 11-year-old use the phone to call the cops or his mom's cell phone when he's upstairs all by himself and he thinks the babysitter is nuts?

#2) Did Anna/Emilie have keys to the house? When she went outside to kill the girl who showed up at the front door, why wouldn't the kids just slam the front door shut and lock her out of the house? And then I refer you to issue #1?

#3) When the girl turned out not to be dead but only wounded, why would she not try to a) call 9-1-1 or b) go to a neighbor's house?

On a side note, I've babysat friends' kids on their anniversary before, and I can tell you that I've seen kids flip out a whole lot more over a whole lot less than a pet hamster being eaten by a snake. That girl shoulda been screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs.

[–] mahou_fancy_lala 9 years ago

One could argue that the kids were just too scared and they complied out of fear. On the other hand... that hamster scene should've stirred a bigger reaction in the kids for sure.

[–] refeahcs 9 years ago

Yeah, but the oldest kid knew enough to contact his friend on the walkie-talkie and to try to talk to that kid's mother, too.

Also, if the intention of Emelie/Anna was to kidnap the youngest child, why play all of those weird games and show the porno? I thought this was going to be some kind of revenge story, like the father had had an affair with her mother or something ala SCREAM. Why wouldn't she just drug the kids, take the youngest kid and leave 5 minutes after the parents left???

[–] tbone382001 9 years ago

The whole thing made no damn sense. Like you said why did she take more than 5-10 minutes to leave? Why would she have to tell the guy she needed more time? Why would the guy in the car crash his car and kill himself? Why wouldn't he put his seat belt on and brace himself if he was going to crash in to them? Then the cops would have been all over that neighborhood. They knew she was just there. They could have followed her blood trail probably. Strange movie.

[–] joshua-289 9 years ago

The point was she was testing the kids for the right "cubby". If you noticed, she texted her boyfriend or whatever that she found them far into the movie, I had some suspicion the other kid was a possible target, but in the end, she just wanted to kill the kid.

Yeah, it's a flaky movie, but I think the clincher for her was the young one not minding watching the snake eat the hampster.

[–] GataGris 9 years ago

Of all the (accurately detected) flaws detailed in this thread, the one that didn't make sense at all to me was the video situation. It was clear that the father was on tape and that he was with another woman, I don't know why I assumed that the mother wasn't there. Therefore I think that Emelie brought the video to the house, maybe for blackmailing purposes. But there was no further explanation, so I guess the writers just forgot to tie some knots. 🙀

[–] brumms78 9 years ago

she found the tape in the closet 20 minutes into the movie

[–] VivienCastro 9 years ago

I assumed it was their parents porno video which she found while going through their private things.

[–] Neuronhead 9 years ago

She found the VHS. Who would assume they would have a VHS machine and bring a blackmail movie on a VHS cassette? The reason there was no further explanation was that it was a tape the mum and dad made. Showing it to the kids was twisted. That was the whole story around that.

I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe

[–] brumms78 9 years ago

She took her time to figure out if the child was vulnerable enough to be her baby.

The guy that crashed the car was not her boyfriend. You can see when he is laying there. They arranged something.

[–] matthall619 9 years ago

Still makes no sense, so someone agrees to be paid to crash a car so dangerously that they die? Whilst taking no safety precaucions like, I dunno, wearing a damn seatbelt?

Boyfriend or not, why would you kill yourself just so this woman could potentially kidnap a child?

[–] therefdotcom 9 years ago

"Also, if the intention of Emelie/Anna was to kidnap the youngest child, why play all of those weird games and show the porno? ... Why wouldn't she just drug the kids, take the youngest kid and leave 5 minutes after the parents left???"

she wanted to be sure that she had found "her cabbie" and the whole evening was an experiment to find out if one of the three would be the one. doesn't make much sense, i know, but that's the explanation according to the film.

"I thought this was going to be some kind of revenge story, like the father had had an affair with her mother or something ala SCREAM."

it wasn't. the father did not have an affair. the tape was made before their marriage. i think the fact that it was a videotape makes that pretty clear.

anyway, yeah, she should have just grabbed the child and run, which would have opened up for better opportunities to continue the story. personally i would have wished for a completely turn after the first half altogether.

[–] KrissyAnnL 9 years ago

I thought she did something with the phones. She specifically asks if the kids have their own cell phones (which they didn't), and then during hide and seek, she was seen disconnecting things. One was the internet router, but I assumed she disconnected the landline, assuming they even had one. If they did, I missed it. I kind of zoned out during parts of the film.

And, technically, the little one was the one that fed the snake the hamster. Both of the boys seemed to think it was cool. The little girl was the only one freaked out by it, but she was in the minority at that point.

But I agree with your questions. I just posted a bunch of my own. Overall, the movie just didn't make a lot of sense.

[–] dcTalker 9 years ago

Yep I agree with all the logic flaws. So many things made no sense at all.

And I'm glad someone brought up her cohort who just crashes into the parents and kills himself. THAT'S his only solution to buy her an extra few minutes?? Really??

[–] Coco-Nuttie1982 9 years ago

Hi, I agree with all the above. Nothing made sense at all and I am quite disappointed with this movie; I also did not understand why she tried to smother cubbie with the pillow?? I thought she wanted to kidnap him? But when she heard the door getting slammed(brother running into the yard) she stopped.

And was this movie supposed to take place in the '90?
The phone that looked like it was made in 1975 - the VCR - flip phones...

[–] springerman 9 years ago

She didn't try to smother 'Cubbie' she was trying to smother Jacob and realised he was not in the bed.

** I've got a dog called Curiosity **

[–] TheManInOil 8 years ago

That's a perfect example of how badly this movie was made. Yes, she disconnects things, but NOT the phone. It rings when the mother calls.

Why didn't they have her disconnect that too? It would have made sense when disconnecting everything else.

And since she left it connected, why didn't the kids use it?

Stupid movie.

[–] stefan899 9 years ago

#4) How did dumb Emelie not MOVE out of the way when the 11 year old kid reversed out of the garage??? She just looks at the car and does not move while it runs her over, backing out at 5 miles per hour.

#5) Also, following on from that, how did she survive being run over??

[–] owlfy 9 years ago

#5) Also, following on from that, how did she survive being run over??

Many people survive being ran over. My fiance's head got ran over by a smaller truck last year and she survived. It only squeezed her left eye slightly out of the socket. Besides, we didn't see what part of the body Emelie got ran over or the injuries she actually sustained from it.

[–] brumms78 9 years ago

You should pay more attention to details in movies or just stick to disney crap.

She dissconnected the phones and assured that the kids had no cell phones.

Of course the parents gave her the keys to the house. Right at the beginning. They would be stupid not to in case of an emergency.

As kids we had a snake and watched it feed daily, and never freaked out. Sounds like you were coddled as a kid

[–] rmbednarski 9 years ago

...also..even though the oldest kid did get a little freaked out by the end of the hamster scene...the littlest one still thought it was great and even laughed at it..little monster!

...then...the porno tape..while the sister and older brother freaked out...the lil bro did not....

THE TAPE...VHS started to phase out around 2000-'04(on a mass scale,but is still around for blank tapes and stuff like that)...so...it was the dad on the tape, but prob(like posted on here) an old girlfriend...or maybe even a neighbor(this would be better stakes for the movie,seeing it's the parent's anniversary).

...overall...I loved the movie..Sarah Bogler is F'n crazy! Talk about apex predator.

[–] matthall619 9 years ago

Not sure why people have the idea that the tape is the Dad with another woman? Was there any evidence to suggest that? I figured it was just a private tape the mom and dad had made that babysitter found whilst trifling though the house.
I mean are you really gonna keep a tape of yourself with some other woman where a complete stranger can find it that easily? Of course not.

[–] DaliParton 9 years ago

Exactly. A lot of the complaints about problems with this movie are really just the complainers assuming the dumbest possible interpretation of events on screen.

[–] VivienCastro 9 years ago

Why is the theory here that it wasn't just a mom and dad sex tape?

[–] Neuronhead 9 years ago

It was just the mum and dad sex tape. Simplest explanation is usually the right one.

I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe

[–] SCTwins 9 years ago

"You should pay more attention to details in movies or just stick to disney crap.

She dissconnected the phones and assured that the kids had no cell phones."

Before you make smart-ass, condescending comments to other posters, make sure you have your facts straight.

YOU need to pay more attention to the details. If she disconnected the phones, as you claim, why did it RING when the mother called from the restaurant? The movie only shows her disconnecting the computer modem. You made the phone thing up in your head.

Please tell me at what point the landline phone was disconnected.

Go ahead.. I'll wait.

[–] sheehanpinnsec 9 years ago

You should pay more attention to details in movies or just stick to disney crap.

She dissconnected the phones and assured that the kids had no cell phones.

Of course the parents gave her the keys to the house. Right at the beginning. They would be stupid not to in case of an emergency.

As kids we had a snake and watched it feed daily, and never freaked out. Sounds like you were coddled as a kid

Ugh. I actually had to create an account and then verify myself just to tell you how fking stupid you are.

When the hell did she disconnect the phones? Cause little fking Jake was sitting next to a phone when it rang, and listened in on the conversation with crazy bitch and his mom. That conversation ended, and this dumbass 11 year old doesn't pick up the phone immediately to dial 911. He's almost as autistic as you.

This isn't even some subtle detail you could have missed, but you're telling people they need to pay attention to detail when you can't even grasp something so blatantly in your face?

And how you think a babysitter telling kids to feed the snake their pet hamster as opposed to the dead mice they were used to is somehow not terrifying... well, we've already established your intelligence is lower than *beep* so I won't even try and get into it.

[–] angiedaylewis 8 years ago

Brumms78 - But did you feed it your other pets??

[–] mel2000 (259) 5 years ago

Of course the parents gave her the keys to the house. Right at the beginning.

I just rewatched the scenes from when Emelie got into the dad's minivan, to when both parents walked out the door. There was no key exchange.

[–] snakeye808 9 years ago

why else wouldn't an 11-year-old use the phone to call the cops or his mom's cell phone when he's upstairs all by himself and he thinks the babysitter is nuts?

I think a 911 operator would get a chuckle out of a kid calling to report that he thinks his babysitter is nuts haha.

[–] TheManInOil 8 years ago

Uh, yeah. If a kid calls and says the babysitter has a gun and is trying to take his brother, the operator would certainly just laugh and ignore him...

Or, in real life, not.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] KawaiiKiwi 9 years ago

Another thing I found weird was his friend Howie, was he just there in the backyard house for like 1 or 2 hours? doing what? just looking inside his bag?? for two hours? and from the call on the walkie talkie, his mom knew he was out, yet she just left him there? she didn't go get him?? and why didn't the older kid just run to a neighbor's house instead of going to the tree house??

[–] XenatrixElixir 9 years ago

Yeah, I agree with people on this board. A few holes that the writers put in there that they didn't need.

Emelie's boyfriend dude crashing the car. Stupid. He had the baby seat in the car so he could go pick Emelie and her "cubby" up, but he decided to stay and watch the parents that whole time? He either didn't need to watch them all night, they were going for dinner, that's at least a few hours. Or if he did, why not leave just before they do, swing by the house, get Emelie and the kid and take off while the other kids are drugged?

And why crash his car into them when he was Emelie's getaway. If it was to slow the couple down, why did he crash and kill himself? Why not safety? You think they'd have that planned too if they went to all the trouble of getting fake ID's and kidnapping a teen girl in broad effing daylight near a park.

And yeah, the kids friend in the play house... he was in there for HOURS. And his mom wasn't freaking out or looking for him or calling the house looking for him? It was a stupid plot device that wasn't needed.

And lastly. Emelie standing behind the reversing car. She's not dumb enough to have done that. The writers just wanted this forced "happy" ending of the kids getting justice on their tormenter.

It started out so well and could have ended just as good if the writers let the bad ending just happen naturally insted of forcing a "good" ending and making these giant plot holes.

[–] TheManInOil 8 years ago

Every single thing that happens in this movie compounds the stupidity.

I mean, every detail is just an exploration of dumb.

Right now I'm watching the sitter bandaging her arm, with duct tape. Of all the things not well-suited to use as a bandage, duct tape has to be up there with sandpaper. WTF? Just wrap it in cloth!

Literally every moment is poorly thought out.

The kid at the end has time to rig a fireworks trap, but not to knock on a neighbour's door?

This movie has earned my 64th 1/10 rating, out of almost 4000 movies rated.