History Main / ComplexityAddiction

* ''Film/KaamelottPremierVolet'': At Guenièvre's tower, the pretty stupid knight Kolaig has the bright idea to escalate the tower via the vine on the wall instead of using the stairs to liberate and marry her, despite Myth/KingArthur already ridding them of the guards and destroying the door to Guenièvre's room (and using the stairs). He's slow, afraid of heights, and predictably falls to the ground, rendering his whole quest an EpicFail.

* Tom Sawyer's plan for freeing Jim in ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''. They could have simply swiped the keys to his shackles and sneaked off in the middle of the night, but Tom insists on sawing the leg off Jim's bed that the shackle is attached to and making a rope ladder just to leave behind as a clue and all manner of other silly things, [[WrongGenreSavvy just because that's how prisoners in the books he's read escape]]. He insists doing it the easy way "just ain't proper." {{Justified}} because [[spoiler:Tom knows full well that Jim was already legally freed in the Widow Douglas' will. [[InnocentBigot He just wants to]] [[RuleOfFun play a fun game]]]].

* While the Goa'uld of ''Series/StargateSG1'' attempted to be this, they came off as just a bunch of {{Large Ham}}s what were TooDumbToLive. Ba'al, on the other hand, actually ''had'' this. In the DVD movie ''Film/StargateContinuum'', he had the means to crush the Earth to dust a hundred times over, but he wanted to conquer the Earth by inviting the US President to tea. When the other Go'auld simply wanted to bomb the planet, he mocked their lack of style, saying "You're all so stuck in your ways." You could seriously sometimes forget that you're '''[[DracoInLeatherPants not]]''' [[DracoInLeatherPants supposed to root for him]]. {{Justified}} twofold: one, Ba'al retains memories of [[spoiler:the original timeline where Earth is ''way'' more trouble than it's worth to the Goa'uld]], and two, [[spoiler:in the original timeline he spent about a year living as a human and [[HumanityIsInfectious sort of got to like it]]]].

* In the Creator/TimConway/Creator/DonKnotts movie ''Film/ThePrivateEyes'', a witness to the Morley murder calls the title characters to Morley Manor, then arranges for every single person in the Manor other than the killer to appear to be murdered, in order to trick the murderer into confessing in front of two police officers. Why he couldn't just go to the police and ''tell'' them who the murderer was never brought up. [[spoiler: Then again, Lord Morley never could get ''anything'' right.]]

** The episode "Till Death Do Us Part" has a couple plot the murder of the woman's father and framing her stepmother for it, with an ImagineSpot of how it's going to work perfectly. Cue the actual murder where ''nothing'' goes to plan, as their scheme is so complicated that all it takes is a little mistiming or someone reacting the wrong way to throw it off. They do succeed in killing the guy, only to be busted thanks to one of their many mistakes, with Mark lampshading how a far simpler scheme would have been better.

-->'''Grian:''' ''(while building a minecart track to transport a frog villager into the Void-hole)'' This plan has turned into something... just insane now. I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. [[LampshadeHanging This is a game of tag! Why am I... committing to the flair of a tea party?]]

* Done deliberately in the ''Series/JonathanCreek'' episode "The Eye of Tireseias" by [[spoiler: Andre Masson. His plan to commit suicide and stage it so that it looks like he's been murdered by one of his business associates, as revenge for said associate sleeping with his wife, is intentionally overly complex and convoluted, as nobody would believe that anyone would go through so much trouble to try and frame someone. It would have worked perfectly if it weren't for said associate's flat being burgled and a crucial piece of planted evidence being stolen.]]

* Done deliberately in the ''Series/JonathanCreek'' episode "The Eye of Tireseias" by [[spoiler: Andre Masson. His plan to commit suicide and stage it so that it looks like he's been murdered by one of his business associates, as revenge for said associate sleeping with his wife, is intentionally overly complex, as nobody would believe that anyone would go through so much trouble to try and frame someone. It would have worked perfectly if it weren't for said associate's flat being burgled and a crucial piece of planted evidence being stolen.]]

* Done deliberately in the "Series/JonathanCreek" episode "The Eye of Tireseias" by [[spoiler: Andre Masson. His plan to commit suicide and stage it so that it looks like he's been murdered by one of his business associates, as revenge for said associate sleeping with his wife, is intentionally overly complex, as nobody would believe that anyone would go through so much trouble to try and frame someone. It would have worked perfectly if it weren't for said associate's flat being burgled and a crucial piece of planted evidence being stolen.]]

* Done deliberately in the "Series/JonathanCreek" episode "The Eye of Tireseias" by [[spoiler: Andre Masson. His plan to commit suicide and stage it so that it looks like he's been murdered by one of his business associates, as revenge for said associate sleeping with his wife, is intentionally overly complex, as nobody would believe that anyone would go through so much trouble to try and frame someone. It would have worked perfectly if it weren't for said associate's flat being burgled and a crucial piece of evidence being stolen.]]

** Heroic example in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': Qui-Gon's ridiculously complicated plan to get the hyperdrive replacement needed to repair Amidala's ship from Watto. Watto is apparently the only vendor in Mos Espa who has the part they need, but he won't take Qui-Gon's Republic credits because they're worthless on Tatooine, and Watto is immune to the JediMindTrick. So Qui-Gon hatches an elaborate plan involving tricking Watto into gambling the part in an upcoming Pod Race and then entering Watto's nine-year-old slave Anakin into the race and having him win it for him. Even though the movie makes it pretty clear Qui-Gon's Force powers meant he knew Anakin would win, you'd think there might have been an easier (and less dangerous) way. Like finding someone willing to exchange credits for a local currency, or trading their current ship for a less valuable but functional one. Or just book passage on a transport, or [[Film/ANewHope with a smuggler]] or something. Give them all the money he has now (a trader or a smuggler would have use for Republic credits, unlike a planet-bound merchant like Watto), and promise them a reward from the Jedi council when they arrive at Coruscant.[[note]]Funnily enough, this is pretty much exactly what his former student Obi-Wan does about three decades later to get off the same planet. If it hadn't been for the Empire destroying Alderaan, it would have worked just fine.[[/note]] Or seeing if the Republic has something similar to Western Union and asking the Council to wire them money in a form cashable in local currency.

-->'''But I'm no longer a hater''//
'''Cause I've got an inator''//

''To help finance my cosmic regime!''