MovieChat Forums > The Last Boy Scout (1991) Discussion > Who is in the closet? flaw.

Who is in the closet? flaw.

posted 12 years ago by Jova_
25 replies | jump to latest

Joe suspects that there is a man In the closet by deducing there is steam from the shower, wife's hair is dry and the toilet seat is up. Joe wants to know who it is. He finds out it's Mike, his colleague, who is hiding in the closet.

Few mins later, joe and Mike goes outside and talk about the job. Then Mike returns to his car. There is the flaw.

Surely, on arrival, Joe would have noticed Mike's car outside his house and think something is not right?

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[–] omega_pinion 12 years ago

It is not like Mike had a really rare or unique vehicle that would have raised any red flags. If Joe knew Mike was driving a Ferrari or Lamborghini than surely Joe would have noticed that.

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[–] Jova_ 12 years ago

What I meant was if Joe knew Mike well enough, he would recognise Mike's car anywhere, especially outside his house.

Have you ever arrived at your house, recognising a car, thinking 'hey, my friend/uncle/aunt has dropped by'? So from that, Joe would figured out from the car who's in the house. It's a trivial thing. :)

It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage

[–] SeasonalAffective 12 years ago

Jova, that's actually a really good point. I've seen this movie countless times and you surprised me. I don't know how I never thought of this; he's perceptive enough to notice all those things slyly, but didn't think twice about Mike's car being parked across the street?

Well done.

[–] balls-67 12 years ago

It's not necessary a flaw. Joe might have seen Mike's car, but he probably didn't think so much over it since whoever could have parked a similar one and/or that he might/could have overlooked too. After all, Joe drove fast before parking his own and could have been more busy by rushing directly to the house.

[–] user-7089 12 years ago

He might have also know it was Mikes car and went in and was messing with his wife and mike, saying that he just knew by the shower and the toilet seat being up..etc

I have only seen the film once though

[–] Ballserguy 12 years ago

That is a good theory. However in the movie Joe Hallenbeck seems to be a bit suprised when watching the toilet, the hair of his ex-wife and the condition of the situation... so wich one to believe?!

[–] MadDog-ThrashTillDeath 12 years ago

He clearly mentions that he already suspected his wife was cheating on him ... he could have seen the car and that made him more curious about the toilet and stuff

[–] Lothar_Quint 10 years ago

Sounds about right.

[–] SpaceMountainMike 9 years ago

Detective McKaskey (Clarence Felder) told the other detective, "witnesses reported seeing Mike's car across the street the night before", to which the other detective replied, "why did he (Joe Hallenbeck) lie?". So if neighbors who aren't even detectives noticed the car, why didn't Joe? And how would they know what kind of car Mike drove or who he was? If it had been in the driveway and the neighbors were nosy enough (it was the suburbs, so they probably were) then they'd know that it was neither Joe's nor his wife's car. But, it was parked on the street.

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[–] iffy619 12 years ago

Yeah, good point.

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[–] fiatlux-1 12 years ago

All good theories, everyone. I'd not thought of Joe noticing Mike's car.

Another possibility is that Joe was just so hungover and physically exhausted that it escaped his attentions.

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[–] bearuk 12 years ago

I must admit my mind went somewhere else when I read 'who's in the closet?'

[–] gwnightscream 12 years ago

I think Joe was too hungover to pay attention.

[–] manofsteel4455 11 years ago

Maybe Joe didn't notice the car.I mean it was parked across the street.

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[–] sonofagun 11 years ago

Maybe it was a rental?

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bearuk 11 years ago

I was more concerned with the fact that Joe had been talking with Mike on the phone. Mike knew he was back from Vegas, yet he obviously took his time to shower and maybe give Joe's wife one for luck before heading over to his office to meet Joe. It was like he wanted to get cuaght.

[–] eeobugga 11 years ago

Actually, I'm not sure how many white 1990 or '91 (got to be 90-93 because of the wheels) white Mustang GT convertibles were registered in SoCal at that time...seems Joe should have noticed unless all his neighbors/friends drove that vehicle!

[–] ghostradioinfo 10 years ago

It's a nineties action movie. In the world of nineties action movies, a lot of people drive Mustang convertibles.

[–] Anorensic 9 years ago

A neighbor recognized Mike's car was parked all night outside Joe's house and reported it to the police during their investigation of the car bomb....so a neighbor can recognize Mike's car well enough but not his best friend Joe!!!...highly unlikely. An explanation could be that he just simply did not notice the car parked although wasn't it parked right across from where Joe parked his!

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[–] DarthLex77 9 years ago

I have to say these kind of 'plot holes' amuse me as it's making the assumption that life doesn't exist outside the storyline of the film. What I'm saying is, Joe has been away. What's to say Mike hasn't pranged his motor a day or two earlier and is driving a hire car or even bought a new car while Joe was away. I remember seeing a post years ago where someone was saying if Clarence Boddicker had his glasses smashed up when RoboCop was throwing him through windows, how comes he had a pair on when he visits Dick Jones afterwards, almost as if Paul Verhoven should have made a scene of Clarence walking into his local opticians to show him buying a new pair of glasses.

[–] Anorensic 9 years ago

If he was driving a hired car then the neighbor would never have know whose car it was parked there all night either and not mentioned it to the cops later on (which tipped them to the fact that Mike was sleeping with Joe's wife), a fact Joe did not mention in his police statement on the car bomb and also what made him their prime suspect.

Not to mention, after the car bomb explosion, his wife asks him if he knew (about the car bomb) and he replies, "I suspected"....of course it could just be an empty boast but still..

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[–] DarthLex77 9 years ago

Why the assumption that the neighbour knew it was Matthews' car though?
The detective says the neighbour said Matthews' car was parked there all night. That doesn't necessarily mean that the neighbour knew whose car it actually was at the time.

As for the "I suspected" part, you have got your wires crossed. When Sarah asks Joe if he knew, she was asking him if he knew she was cheating on him, not if the car was rigged up with a bomb.

[–] walkerus 9 years ago

Any supposedly 'ex Secret Service' private detective would have known his friends car and reg. number....... it was just a plot flaw, probably having him killed in a car bomb was a later idea. I've known a couple of wife chasers in my time and they would have parked around the next street.

[–] SpaceMountainMike 9 years ago

This is actually under goofs under "plot holes"

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