Picking Nits
Easily discovered identity; oblivious parents; unmasked phone voice; weak pirate signal; car broadcast; elaborate disguise; no siblings; no drinking or drugs
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:36Read transcript
- The FCC should have found him within minutes, and his parents should have noticed him smoking and monologuing in the basement.
- The PA system prank scene is called unrealistic, and it was also on a nitpick list.
- Clues like moving from back east, the dad-bought radio kit and eating in the stairwell meant no Sherlock Holmes was needed.
- The dad never connects the radio equipment he bought to the pirate DJ, even after the parents say they could hear Mark talking.
- He uses his real voice on phone calls, so the prank girls could identify him from one answer in English class.
- Pirate signals are weak and patchy, and broadcasting from a moving car off a car battery is absurd.
- Wanting a tiny audience clashes with the elaborate lengths he goes to disguise himself, and his soldering hobby should have tipped off his parents.
- The film seems to consist entirely of only children, with no siblings questioning anyone.
- The teenagers only drink Diet Pepsi and smoke, with no weed or alcohol, attributed to 1990 fear culture.