Speaking about the films just as films, I was annoyed with the 2nd one when the dwarf was constantly tripping over himself, falling behind when they're running, being told to lower his axe, falling off his horse, unable to get his armor to fit properly, saying "Toss me..." because Aragorn's holding out to make him say it, etc. I felt a lot of this stuff was really over the top and generally served no real purpose other than to make the dwarf look bad and make Aragorn and the elf look good by comparison. It also threw off the drama and tension of certain scenes.
A couple of the weepier speeches by Sam could have been left out. The scene in the Extended Edition of Two Towers where Eowyn gives Aragorn the crappy stew made her look bad.