10 Things That Happen In Movies That Piss You Off

9. Drinking From Blatantly Empty Cups

Amelie 2001
UGC-Fox Distribution

This one will drive you mad once you know about it, and you'll be unable to not notice it in movies and TV shows for the rest of your life.

Whenever a character is drinking from a mug or cup, typically while consuming coffee, tea, or water, the actor usually won't actually have any liquid in the vessel, and to anyone who basically appreciates the weight of a liquid-filled cup, it looks immediately "off."

Add on top of this the hollow sound when the container is placed on a table, and actors' oft-painful attempts to pretend they're swallowing down non-existent liquid, and it becomes an infuriating comedy-of-errors.

While actors understandably may not want to drink cups and cups of liquid while shooting a scene, could a crew member really not place a weighted object of some kind in the mug?

The phenomenon is widespread enough and has annoyed so many people that there's even a subreddit, /r/ThatCupIsEmpty, devoted to chronicling it.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.