MovieChat Forums > Little Miss Sunshine (2006) Discussion > When the cop pulls them over

When the cop pulls them over

posted 8 years ago by thomasam32
2 replies | jump to latest

I've seen the movie a bunch of times and a lot of the stuff that's convoluted to tell the story works.

The traffic stop makes no sense though. Why did he pull him over in the first place? Yeah he found the porn and missed the body but then just let them go. They didn't get pulled over because he thought something was in the trunk, or at least it doesn't seem they were. So what was the reason they were pulled over to start with and why was the cop fine with letting them go?

[–] PaulsLaugh 8 years ago

The broken car horn keeps blowing and the officer pulls them over to see why? The cop may think Richard is being an aggressive driver or maybe they need help. When Richard asks him to not open the truck, he cop thinks he's hiding something like drugs. But when he sees the porn magazines (since he's a big fan) that distracts him from the covered up lump and the cop guesses Richard is only hiding "his porn stash" from his family. The last magazine is gay porn and this discombobulated the cop. Richard even winks at him. Since the cop does not go both ways, he then is very self-conscious and wants to leave the situation as soon as possible. Therefore, he sends them on their way.

[–] thomasam32 8 years ago

Yeah, I know how it all works out with the porn and the distraction from the body. That's the humor of the scene. However the horn JUST started malfunctioning and he wasn't being particularly aggressive.

If he pulled them over for the horn though his first question would be "what's wrong with the horn" and he'd look to figure that out. If it was aggressive driving he'd say "you know, you're being pretty aggressive there" or something along those lines. I've been pulled over enough for different reasons to know the approach.

Instead he heads toward the back of the van and the whole scene with the porn happens. Then he lets them go without talking about the horn, aggressive driving or anything else.

It all doesn't make sense. Yes, it's a funny scene and the humor works but the reasoning behind what happened isn't there.