Random Movie Characters Way Too Poor To Realistically Afford Their Lifestyles (15 items)

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  (#5) Dana Barrett

  • Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Ghostbusters III

  Dana Barrett, the first customer of the crew in Ghostbusters, lived in a rather exclusive Manhattan penthouse during the events of the film. The movie also makes clear that she worked as a professional cellist at the time. Even accounting for the disparity in pay between orchestras in the United States and the rest of the world, she likely only earned around $80,000-a-year at the time the film was set. That’s nowhere near enough to afford an apartment that was likely to cost several million dollars, especially when you consider that she lives alone. Of course, an apartment with a portal to the World of the Dead may sport other features that keep it at supernaturally low prices.
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  (#10) Indiana Jones

  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Disaster Movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

  How Indiana Jones is able to afford to travel around the world constantly is never explained in the series. While he does hold a reliable job as a professor, this would only pay the equivalent of $82,000 today – not enough to cover the expense of his traveling.

  It’s clear he uses none of the treasures he finds to fund himself, as the honest archeologist donates everything to museums and the university where he works. His employers would also be unlikely to pay for the expeditions because of all the violence and controversy surrounding Jones’s adventures. Realistically, would probably have to peddle a ware-or-two to jetset like he does.
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  (#15) Peter Parker – Spider-Man: Homecoming

  • Spider-Man: Homecoming

  In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker is gifted his AI-enhanced suit by Tony Stark, Iron Man himself. It's a good thing, too - some sites estimate that the suit would run a whopping $1,067,523.

  But there are more costs to being a friendly neighborhood crime fighter. Namely, the neighborhood itself. Peter lives in Queens, NY, one of the cheaper areas in the greater New York City area. But even here, apartments cost an estimated $2,100 a month ($25,200 per year). Sure, that might be covered by Aunt May, but she's never seen working.

  Finally, there's the issue of Peter's age. He's 15, meaning he has to pony up about $1,086 per year. How's a high school student supposed to find that cash?
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  (#6) Sonny Koufax

  • Big Daddy

  It is made clear in Big Daddy that main character Sonny Koufax won an accident lawsuit before the events of the film and now uses the proceeds to pay for his lifestyle. This is supplemented only by a tollbooth job that he works one day a week. Despite a modest income, he lives in relative comfort and stay in a gigantic apartment in central New York.

  Estimates for the type of home and its locations suggest it would cost around $6,000 a month to rent or almost $3 million to buy. So his $200,000 settlement would only keep him in that apartment for just under three years, and that's if he doesn't spend it on anything else like food, clothing, and other general expenses. 
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  (#2) Laura Burney

  • Sleeping with the Enemy

  The movie adaptation of Sleeping with the Enemy made some notable deviations from the novel, most notably with the financial situation of the protagonist Laura. After escaping from her abusive husband with just a small amount of money, she manages to rent a rather large house and carry out renovations despite the fact she previously worked only part-time as a librarian. Furthermore, she also shells out for her mother’s care at a nursing home on what little salary she gets from her new job. Even in Iowa during the '90s, it still seems farfetched to believe she can afford her expenses with the tiny income she apparently has.
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  (#4) Ben Stone

  • The Family Stone

  Seth Rogan’s character in Knocked Up is Ben Stone, a weed-smoking low baller with low self-esteem. He doesn’t work and spends most of his time hanging out with his friends smoking pot. Though he works no job and boasts few skills, he lives in relative comfort, in a large home where he consumes plenty of drugs

  This is apparently all possible due to a lawsuit settlement he won years before the film takes place. With that knowledge in hand, you'd think it must be a massive settlement. But that too fails to make sense considering Stone cannot even afford a wedding ring later in the movie, suggesting his finances are not in good shape.

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