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* The ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' has a lot of this. The [[Film/{{Transformers}} first movie]] has a subplot involving hackers that, in retrospect, does absolutely nothing to move the plot forward. (It didn't help that the scenes were a little boring and featured some spectacularly bad HollywoodHacking.) The RomanticPlotTumor in both movies tends to fit the "Why should we care?" aspect due to how jarring it is next to the action that everyone came to see.
to:
* The ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' has a lot of this. The [[Film/{{Transformers}} [[Film/Transformers2007 first movie]] has a subplot involving hackers that, in retrospect, does absolutely nothing to move the plot forward. (It didn't help that the scenes were a little boring and featured some spectacularly bad HollywoodHacking.) The RomanticPlotTumor in both movies tends to fit the "Why should we care?" aspect due to how jarring it is next to the action that everyone came to see.
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Renamed trope
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* The second half of ''Film/ADayAtTheRaces'' has an extended musical interlude which starts with Allan Jones singing "Tomorrow Is Another Day," which is followed by Harpo using his flute to summon a black chorus which sings "Blow That Horn, Gabriel" and "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm." The chorus has nothing else to do in the movie except reappear to sing the finale. Many Creator/MarxBrothers fans consider this sequence as objectionable on an EthnicScrappy level, while some say it's [[FairForItsDay not really that bad by itself]] and the choir are very good, but it just stops the plot dead and its earnestness clashes painfully with the Marxes' usual slapstick and wisecracks.
to:
* The second half of ''Film/ADayAtTheRaces'' ''Film/ADayAtTheRaces1937'' has an extended musical interlude which starts with Allan Jones singing "Tomorrow Is Another Day," which is followed by Harpo using his flute to summon a black chorus which sings "Blow That Horn, Gabriel" and "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm." The chorus has nothing else to do in the movie except reappear to sing the finale. Many Creator/MarxBrothers fans consider this sequence as objectionable on an EthnicScrappy level, while some say it's [[FairForItsDay not really that bad by itself]] and the choir are very good, but it just stops the plot dead and its earnestness clashes painfully with the Marxes' usual slapstick and wisecracks.
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Disambiguation
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* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk According to]] Creator/KevinSmith, during the initial writing for a ''{{Film/Superman}}'' film that never got made, [[ExecutiveMeddling Jon Peters]] demanded a scene about Brainiac fighting a polar bear, just to add another "action beat" to the movie.
to:
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk According to]] Creator/KevinSmith, during the initial writing for a ''{{Film/Superman}}'' ''{{Film/Superman|FilmSeries}}'' film that never got made, [[ExecutiveMeddling Jon Peters]] demanded a scene about Brainiac fighting a polar bear, just to add another "action beat" to the movie.
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* ''Film/KaamelottPremierVolet'': Myth/KingArthur's PlayedForDrama flashbacks as a teenager have no relevance on the main plot and are little more than a distraction even in-universe when one prevents Arthur from killing Lancelot at the end (though they might set some things up for a sequel, that's in WildMassGuessing territory for now).
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* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Strahm vs. Hoffman" plotline (other than Erickson arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was the new Jigsaw killer responsible for abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
to:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Strahm vs. Hoffman" plotline (other than Erickson arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was the new Jigsaw killer Killer responsible for abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
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None
Changed line(s) 27 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was the new Jigsaw killer responsible for abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
to:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman "Strahm vs. Strahm" Hoffman" plotline (other than Erickson arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was the new Jigsaw killer responsible for abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
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* ''Film/{{Stripes}}'': In the extended edition, John and Russell try to desert the Army during Basic Training, and somehow end up parachuting into [[BananaRepublic somewhere in South America]], before running into a group of rebels, accidentally dumping a bunch of LSD into their stew, almost getting killed, and sneaking off before getting put back on the plane and sent back to Basic. [[OrphanedReference This was why, in the theatrical cut, Sgt. Hulka tells the platoon that some soldiers left the base without permission]], and threatens to punish the entire platoon before John and Russell reluctantly fess up.
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Names The Same is no longer a trope.
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* Everything dealing with former reporter [[NamesTheSame Steve Martin]] (played by Raymond Burr) and the American army in ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla''. These scenes were filmed and written specifically for the American cut of the film, mimicking the original importation of ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Godzilla: King of the Monsters!]]'', where Burr's character was much better integrated into the plot, mostly by essentially taking the narrative place of Hagiwara, a major character in the Japanese cut. But in ''Return'', none of the American characters actually ''do'' anything, so we're left watching other people effectively watching the movie with us from within the movie.
to:
* Everything dealing with former reporter [[NamesTheSame Steve Martin]] Martin (played by Raymond Burr) and the American army in ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla''. These scenes were filmed and written specifically for the American cut of the film, mimicking the original importation of ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Godzilla: King of the Monsters!]]'', where Burr's character was much better integrated into the plot, mostly by essentially taking the narrative place of Hagiwara, a major character in the Japanese cut. But in ''Return'', none of the American characters actually ''do'' anything, so we're left watching other people effectively watching the movie with us from within the movie.
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None
Changed line(s) 27 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson and other FBI agents arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was the new Jigsaw killer responsible for abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
to:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson and other FBI agents arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was the new Jigsaw killer responsible for abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
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None
Changed line(s) 27 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson and other FBI agents arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed that they were meant to believe Strahm was Jigsaw's new apprentice and was responsible for testing them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
to:
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson and other FBI agents arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed by Kevin Greutert that they were meant to find evidence that would make them believe Strahm was Jigsaw's the new apprentice and was Jigsaw killer responsible for testing abducting them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
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* While it splinters off from the main plot, Rachel and Randall's troubles in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022'' is given a fair amount of focus even though the whole point of the sideplot was mostly to frame the plot to apprehend Sonic at the wedding. This is while Maddie's efforts to free Sonic, Tails, and Tom from custody is given little comparative screentime. It's almost as if because they introduced the events to the plot, Rachel and her fiancee had to be given closure in the story despite the fact that their involvement with the story proper stopped mattering immediately after it happened.
to:
* While it splinters off from the main plot, Rachel and Randall's troubles in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022'' is given a fair amount of focus even though the whole point of the sideplot was mostly to frame the plot to apprehend Sonic at the wedding. This is while Maddie's efforts to free Sonic, Tails, and Tom from custody is given little comparative screentime. It's almost as if if, because they introduced the events to the plot, Rachel and her fiancee had to be given closure in the story despite the fact that their involvement with the story proper stopped mattering immediately after it happened.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* While it splinters off from the main plot, Rachel and Randall's troubles in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022'' is given a fair amount of focus even though the whole point of the sideplot was mostly to frame the plot to apprehend Sonic at the wedding. This is while Maddie's efforts to free Sonic, Tails, and Tom from custody is given little comparative screentime. It's almost as if because they introduced the events to the plot, Rachel and her fiancee had to be given closure in the story despite the fact that their involvement with the story proper stopped mattering immediately after it happened.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* Everything dealing with former reporter [[NamesTheSame Steve Martin]] (played by Raymond Burr) and the American army in ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla''. These scenes were filmed and written specifically for the American cut of the film, mimicking the original importation of ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Godzilla: King of the Monsters!]]'', where Burr's character was much better integrated into the plot, mostly by essentially taking the narrative place of Hagiwara, a major character in the Japanese cut. But in ''Return'', none of the American characters actually ''do'' anything, so we're left watching other people effectively watching the movie with us from within the movie.
* The lengthy "Broadway Melody" sequence in ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' seems to divide fans on the question of whether it is entertaining enough to justify leaving the plot on hold for over ten minutes.
* Ditto the long ballet segment in the middle of (the uncut version of) Ken Russell's film adaptation of ''Theatre/TheBoyFriend''.
* The second half of ''Film/ADayAtTheRaces'' has an extended musical interlude which starts with Allan Jones singing "Tomorrow Is Another Day," which is followed by Harpo using his flute to summon a black chorus which sings "Blow That Horn, Gabriel" and "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm." The chorus has nothing else to do in the movie except reappear to sing the finale. Many Creator/MarxBrothers fans consider this sequence as objectionable on an EthnicScrappy level, while some say it's [[FairForItsDay not really that bad by itself]] and the choir are very good, but it just stops the plot dead and its earnestness clashes painfully with the Marxes' usual slapstick and wisecracks.
** There's also the water ballet sequence, which even the film historian on the DVD commentary advises you to skip!
** Pretty much all of the MGM Marx Bros. movies have a disposable musical number or two - ''Races'' at least has the exceptional talents of Ivie Anderson and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers on full display. The funny thing is that these moments weren't so much filler as they were a throwback to old vaudeville variety shows, but it can be fairly jarring for modern audiences.
* The ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' has a lot of this. The [[Film/{{Transformers}} first movie]] has a subplot involving hackers that, in retrospect, does absolutely nothing to move the plot forward. (It didn't help that the scenes were a little boring and featured some spectacularly bad HollywoodHacking.) The RomanticPlotTumor in both movies tends to fit the "Why should we care?" aspect due to how jarring it is next to the action that everyone came to see.
* The original ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'' would occasionally cut away from the main plot to show the antics of a pair incompetent cops trying to get back to the Collingwood house.
* In ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'', the machines are plotting to destroy Zion. They have done this six times before, and there is nothing special about this Zion. The only hope is that Neo can stop the machines at the source. This does not change that about 60%-70% of the movie is about the battle at Zion, with Neo's adventure as almost an afterthought.
* The subplot with the teenage couple in the car in ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'' is completely irrelevant to what's going on with the rest of the cast. It briefly appears to have gained a shred of relevance when the couple points the police in the direction of where the main characters are. The police go to investigate and even hear a gunshot... and then immediately give up ("Sound does travel a long way at night. It could be clear over in Mexico, for that matter.") thus making the subplot entirely pointless again.
* In ''Film/{{Stealth}}'', after Jessica Biel's character gets shot down, she manages to safely land in North Korea, meaning the audience has to be repeatedly subjected to scenes of her attempting to flee the North Korean army. The main plot of the film ([[AIIsACrapshoot about an AI fighter jet which goes rogue and attempts to instigate nuclear war]]) is pointlessly and awkwardly dropped off [[MalignantPlotTumor so that the climax of the film can be about saving her from North Korea]].
* According to Creator/RogerEbert, ''Film/PearlHarbor'' is about how on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese forces staged a surprise attack on an American [[RomanticPlotTumor love triangle]]. Especially baffling because none of the main characters are present for the initial attack.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk According to]] Creator/KevinSmith, during the initial writing for a ''{{Film/Superman}}'' film that never got made, [[ExecutiveMeddling Jon Peters]] demanded a scene about Brainiac fighting a polar bear, just to add another "action beat" to the movie.
* The cop subplot (if you can even call it that, considering how thin it is) from the original version of ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979''.
* The excuse for the stunt flying competition in ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion'' is that the protagonist is an airplane tycoon. It's still strikingly irrelevant sequence for a political comedy, especially one based on a play.
* ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' has a ''lengthy'' subplot where [[Film/JamesBond Bond]] has to aid his friend Kerim Bay against an assassin making an attempt on his life. [[Literature/FromRussiaWithLove The original novel]] had this as well.
* The main plot of ''Film/TheLedge'' deals with a love triangle between a Christian, an atheist and the former's wife. However, for some reason there is also the sub-plot of the cop discovering that his children are not his.
* Several scenes in Creator/DarioArgento's ''Film/DeepRed'' focus on Rome's police department dealing with an officer's strike. While partially explaining why the protagonist must investigate the murders himself, these scenes are handled so perfunctorily they add nothing to the film.
* The film ''Film/SSTDeathFlight'' (one of the first films to be riffed by ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'') is exceptionally guilty of this. The main plot is about a commercial plane suffering engine trouble with a contagious disease stored onboard, but there are ''innumerable'' subplots that have almost '''nothing''' to do with this: a guy and a wife discuss his possible job change, a woman and her lover (Creator/JohnDeLancie) meet her ex (Creator/PeterGraves) and [[TheMissusAndTheEx tension ensues]], a consultant on the plane has an old grudge against the pilot, a beauty contest winner doing PR work has gotten knocked up by the company's [=PR=] manager, the consultant has a budding romance with one of the stewardesses.
* ''Film/{{Hollywoodland}}'' is about a fictionalized investigation into the (real life) suicide of George Reeves (the star of ''The Adventures of Superman''), but approximately half the run-time is devoted to the investigator's troubled family life and another botched case that ends with a client shooting his wife -- none of which has anything whatsoever to do with George Reeves's death.
* ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'''s climax centers around the main character entering a black hole, which will either lead to an unparalleled discovery or a relatively exotic death. At the same time, the movie insists on focusing on the main character's daughter trying to sneak past her [[ConflictBall suddenly irrationally hostile]] but never actually dangerous brother into their family home.
* This happens a ''lot'' in the later films of ''Film/TheHobbit'', thanks to the massive amount of AdaptationExpansion going on.
** The subplot of Gandalf investigating the Necromancer, originally explained in the appendices, pretty much goes nowhere and doesn't have any bearing on the overall story aside from tying into ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' (and it's a pretty loose tie, considering that the two plots have very little to do with each other). It reveals the orcs are working for somebody, but they already have multiple leader figures and a motivation for chasing the dwarves, so it's basically an answer to a question no one was asking. This is to be expected, as the entire plotline happened offscreen in the book (and Tolkien admitted the whole thing was just a throwaway excuse to get Gandalf out of the picture for a bit; he [[RetCon didn't envision]] while writing ''The Hobbit'' that the Necromancer and Sauron were the same person).
** The subplot with the [[RomanticPlotTumor Legolas/Tauriel/Kili love triangle]], completely added for the film. It has essentially no bearing on the overall storyline, to the point of two-thirds of its members being a CanonImmigrant and CanonForeigner, but eats up a ''lot'' of screentime, to the point of overshadowing much more plot-relevant arcs in the third film. According to Evangeline Lilly, the entire love triangle was added in reshoots, over her objections and despite Peter Jackson's assurance there would be nothing of the sort. Quite tellingly, nearly any {{Fan Edit}} of the films that you can find will excise the whole subplot, often reducing Legolas to TheCameo at most, and it's astonishing how little it changes the overall story with Bilbo and the dwarves.
** Even among the many messy subplots of the films, Alfrid's subplot in ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'' stands out. It goes as follows: Alfrid tries to steal something, Bard finds him out, Alfrid gives a halfhearted argument to his defense and promises he won't do it again, repeat three or four times. It strains disbelief that Bard wouldn't just shove him in a cell after the first time. Between Alfrid being TheLoad and a CanonForeigner, and the fact that he ''never'' impacts the course of the battle (or anything, really), many found his scenes difficult to sit through - and keep in mind, this is in the middle of massive, epic, bloody war sequences. Even from the perspective of comic relief, it stands out as unnecessary because the series already had a number of comic relief characters. On top of that, in the theatrical cut, his arc has NoEnding, and he just vanishes from the plot [[KarmaHoudini running away with an armful of gold]]. You'd be very hard-pressed to find a FanEdit that keeps him in.
* The bulk of the criticisms around the Russian family subplot in ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' centered on how they felt out of place with the rest of the movie and like they were tacked on for the sake of giving the League civilians to be concerned about (which they ''were'', being purely a product of the re-shoots done under Creator/JossWhedon). Tellingly, [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague the "Snyder Cut"]] never had such characters around, and even Creator/ZackSnyder has made potshots against it.
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson and other FBI agents arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed that they were meant to believe Strahm was Jigsaw's new apprentice and was responsible for testing them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
----
* The lengthy "Broadway Melody" sequence in ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' seems to divide fans on the question of whether it is entertaining enough to justify leaving the plot on hold for over ten minutes.
* Ditto the long ballet segment in the middle of (the uncut version of) Ken Russell's film adaptation of ''Theatre/TheBoyFriend''.
* The second half of ''Film/ADayAtTheRaces'' has an extended musical interlude which starts with Allan Jones singing "Tomorrow Is Another Day," which is followed by Harpo using his flute to summon a black chorus which sings "Blow That Horn, Gabriel" and "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm." The chorus has nothing else to do in the movie except reappear to sing the finale. Many Creator/MarxBrothers fans consider this sequence as objectionable on an EthnicScrappy level, while some say it's [[FairForItsDay not really that bad by itself]] and the choir are very good, but it just stops the plot dead and its earnestness clashes painfully with the Marxes' usual slapstick and wisecracks.
** There's also the water ballet sequence, which even the film historian on the DVD commentary advises you to skip!
** Pretty much all of the MGM Marx Bros. movies have a disposable musical number or two - ''Races'' at least has the exceptional talents of Ivie Anderson and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers on full display. The funny thing is that these moments weren't so much filler as they were a throwback to old vaudeville variety shows, but it can be fairly jarring for modern audiences.
* The ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' has a lot of this. The [[Film/{{Transformers}} first movie]] has a subplot involving hackers that, in retrospect, does absolutely nothing to move the plot forward. (It didn't help that the scenes were a little boring and featured some spectacularly bad HollywoodHacking.) The RomanticPlotTumor in both movies tends to fit the "Why should we care?" aspect due to how jarring it is next to the action that everyone came to see.
* The original ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft'' would occasionally cut away from the main plot to show the antics of a pair incompetent cops trying to get back to the Collingwood house.
* In ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'', the machines are plotting to destroy Zion. They have done this six times before, and there is nothing special about this Zion. The only hope is that Neo can stop the machines at the source. This does not change that about 60%-70% of the movie is about the battle at Zion, with Neo's adventure as almost an afterthought.
* The subplot with the teenage couple in the car in ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'' is completely irrelevant to what's going on with the rest of the cast. It briefly appears to have gained a shred of relevance when the couple points the police in the direction of where the main characters are. The police go to investigate and even hear a gunshot... and then immediately give up ("Sound does travel a long way at night. It could be clear over in Mexico, for that matter.") thus making the subplot entirely pointless again.
* In ''Film/{{Stealth}}'', after Jessica Biel's character gets shot down, she manages to safely land in North Korea, meaning the audience has to be repeatedly subjected to scenes of her attempting to flee the North Korean army. The main plot of the film ([[AIIsACrapshoot about an AI fighter jet which goes rogue and attempts to instigate nuclear war]]) is pointlessly and awkwardly dropped off [[MalignantPlotTumor so that the climax of the film can be about saving her from North Korea]].
* According to Creator/RogerEbert, ''Film/PearlHarbor'' is about how on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese forces staged a surprise attack on an American [[RomanticPlotTumor love triangle]]. Especially baffling because none of the main characters are present for the initial attack.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk According to]] Creator/KevinSmith, during the initial writing for a ''{{Film/Superman}}'' film that never got made, [[ExecutiveMeddling Jon Peters]] demanded a scene about Brainiac fighting a polar bear, just to add another "action beat" to the movie.
* The cop subplot (if you can even call it that, considering how thin it is) from the original version of ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979''.
* The excuse for the stunt flying competition in ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion'' is that the protagonist is an airplane tycoon. It's still strikingly irrelevant sequence for a political comedy, especially one based on a play.
* ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' has a ''lengthy'' subplot where [[Film/JamesBond Bond]] has to aid his friend Kerim Bay against an assassin making an attempt on his life. [[Literature/FromRussiaWithLove The original novel]] had this as well.
* The main plot of ''Film/TheLedge'' deals with a love triangle between a Christian, an atheist and the former's wife. However, for some reason there is also the sub-plot of the cop discovering that his children are not his.
* Several scenes in Creator/DarioArgento's ''Film/DeepRed'' focus on Rome's police department dealing with an officer's strike. While partially explaining why the protagonist must investigate the murders himself, these scenes are handled so perfunctorily they add nothing to the film.
* The film ''Film/SSTDeathFlight'' (one of the first films to be riffed by ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'') is exceptionally guilty of this. The main plot is about a commercial plane suffering engine trouble with a contagious disease stored onboard, but there are ''innumerable'' subplots that have almost '''nothing''' to do with this: a guy and a wife discuss his possible job change, a woman and her lover (Creator/JohnDeLancie) meet her ex (Creator/PeterGraves) and [[TheMissusAndTheEx tension ensues]], a consultant on the plane has an old grudge against the pilot, a beauty contest winner doing PR work has gotten knocked up by the company's [=PR=] manager, the consultant has a budding romance with one of the stewardesses.
* ''Film/{{Hollywoodland}}'' is about a fictionalized investigation into the (real life) suicide of George Reeves (the star of ''The Adventures of Superman''), but approximately half the run-time is devoted to the investigator's troubled family life and another botched case that ends with a client shooting his wife -- none of which has anything whatsoever to do with George Reeves's death.
* ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'''s climax centers around the main character entering a black hole, which will either lead to an unparalleled discovery or a relatively exotic death. At the same time, the movie insists on focusing on the main character's daughter trying to sneak past her [[ConflictBall suddenly irrationally hostile]] but never actually dangerous brother into their family home.
* This happens a ''lot'' in the later films of ''Film/TheHobbit'', thanks to the massive amount of AdaptationExpansion going on.
** The subplot of Gandalf investigating the Necromancer, originally explained in the appendices, pretty much goes nowhere and doesn't have any bearing on the overall story aside from tying into ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' (and it's a pretty loose tie, considering that the two plots have very little to do with each other). It reveals the orcs are working for somebody, but they already have multiple leader figures and a motivation for chasing the dwarves, so it's basically an answer to a question no one was asking. This is to be expected, as the entire plotline happened offscreen in the book (and Tolkien admitted the whole thing was just a throwaway excuse to get Gandalf out of the picture for a bit; he [[RetCon didn't envision]] while writing ''The Hobbit'' that the Necromancer and Sauron were the same person).
** The subplot with the [[RomanticPlotTumor Legolas/Tauriel/Kili love triangle]], completely added for the film. It has essentially no bearing on the overall storyline, to the point of two-thirds of its members being a CanonImmigrant and CanonForeigner, but eats up a ''lot'' of screentime, to the point of overshadowing much more plot-relevant arcs in the third film. According to Evangeline Lilly, the entire love triangle was added in reshoots, over her objections and despite Peter Jackson's assurance there would be nothing of the sort. Quite tellingly, nearly any {{Fan Edit}} of the films that you can find will excise the whole subplot, often reducing Legolas to TheCameo at most, and it's astonishing how little it changes the overall story with Bilbo and the dwarves.
** Even among the many messy subplots of the films, Alfrid's subplot in ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'' stands out. It goes as follows: Alfrid tries to steal something, Bard finds him out, Alfrid gives a halfhearted argument to his defense and promises he won't do it again, repeat three or four times. It strains disbelief that Bard wouldn't just shove him in a cell after the first time. Between Alfrid being TheLoad and a CanonForeigner, and the fact that he ''never'' impacts the course of the battle (or anything, really), many found his scenes difficult to sit through - and keep in mind, this is in the middle of massive, epic, bloody war sequences. Even from the perspective of comic relief, it stands out as unnecessary because the series already had a number of comic relief characters. On top of that, in the theatrical cut, his arc has NoEnding, and he just vanishes from the plot [[KarmaHoudini running away with an armful of gold]]. You'd be very hard-pressed to find a FanEdit that keeps him in.
* The bulk of the criticisms around the Russian family subplot in ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' centered on how they felt out of place with the rest of the movie and like they were tacked on for the sake of giving the League civilians to be concerned about (which they ''were'', being purely a product of the re-shoots done under Creator/JossWhedon). Tellingly, [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague the "Snyder Cut"]] never had such characters around, and even Creator/ZackSnyder has made potshots against it.
* ''Film/SawV'': The Fatal Five and their reasons for being tested have almost nothing to do with the "Hoffman vs. Strahm" plotline (other than Erickson and other FBI agents arriving to their scene), or even Hoffman or John's backstories. You can feel that their trial was only added to keep the film's length from being too short in comparison to other ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' films. It was later confirmed that they were meant to believe Strahm was Jigsaw's new apprentice and was responsible for testing them, adding to Hoffman's frame job in the ending, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this plotline was cut]].
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