One scene in 2012 really had me laughing out loud...

[Hector]

The scene where they board a Russian plane to get to China...you could hear the air traffic controller say, "you are not authorized to take off!"

When the world is literally ending all around you...there's still someone so dedicated...that he's still following protocol...LMFAO...that was indeed truly imbecilic...but funny as hell too...lol...

[boynightwing]

That struck me as pretty rediculas as well. Then if you listen real close you can hear him die as the place is destroyed. Which also made me laugh. I guess in a sense it was a very Klingon death. At his post till the bitter end!

[Hector]

[Hector]

A couple of comments from another site:

By Facepalm at 4:55 AM ON 11/16/09

Fear? I was laughing the whole way through due to the ludicrous science and dumb foreseeable turn of events.

It was utterly ridiculous how there was no shortage of people who were still doing their job in the middle of the apocalypse. "This is tower control, California just sunk into the ocean and a black cloud is slowly devouring us, but you have to follow our orders, do you copy?"

By Vikes4ever at 12:19 PM ON 11/16/09

@Facepalm: I enjoyed the movie, but you're right about the firemen, etc., and especially the air traffic control. "You not cleared for take-off. Stay where you are. You are not cleared for take-off." Whatever, dude. Enjoy your coffee with a side of mountainous ash cloud.

[Hector]

Yet more from a different site:

2012 wouldn’t even be all that bad if it weren’t for the atrocious script by Emmerich and Harald Kloser. There are so many bad lines and ridiculous moments you’ll be stunned. I don’t even mean any of the action sequences. I’m always ready to suspend my disbelief when it comes to special effects magic, but it’s all the little things that begin to add up throughout the course of the film that takes you out of the fun of it all. A perfect example would be the use of cell phones. After the complete and utter destruction of their home and the state of California, Jack (John Cusack) and his wife are able to talk to each other on their phones. I’m pretty sure that the cell towers would be off line after a disaster of that magnitude. I can’t even get reception when I drive on a certain part of the parkway. Who’s their coverage provider, Verizon or Sprint? One character actually makes a call seconds before him and his family are about to be swallowed by a three mile high tidal wave. Is this really the time to reach out and touch someone? I’m surprised they didn’t show him updating his Facebook status! Perhaps my favorite ludicrous moment is when Cusack and friends are taking off in a big jet as the airport around them is being destroyed. Again it’s not about the fact that they are able to take off amid all the destruction, I’m down with that, it’s the awful dialogue that accompanies it. As the plane is taking off, the air traffic controller is screaming at the pilot, telling him to abort.
“You do not have clearance, you must abort!”
The airport is being swallowed by the Earth and this guy is telling them it’s too dangerous to take off. Would there really still be someone in the tower doing their job? Somehow, I doubt it. I can go on and on with examples, but you get the point.

[Meule]

The scene where they board a Russian plane to get to China...you could hear the air traffic controller say, "you are not authorized to take off!"

When the world is literally ending all around you...there's still someone so dedicated...that he's still following protocol...LMFAO...that was indeed truly imbecilic...but funny as hell too...lol...

Haven't seen it yet, but that does seem rather ridiculous