Times that you have been SERIOUSLY pissed off in the theatre.

May be strange, but when I was younger, in my twenties and even into my thirties, I'd let jerks who kick chairs and talk and munch popcorn really really upset me. A friend of mine and I even got into a physical altercation once.

Now that I am an old middle-aged fart of 55, I just chalk it up to "jerks" and let it totally slide off my back. And it works! If I turn MY focus away from the jerks and to the screen, I will enjoy the film.

If I let the jerks capture my attention, the experience can be ruined. It took me 20 years to figure out that I could make that choice.

Jerks are a part of the moviegoing experience. Develop a meditation like focus on the film and that stuff will still happen, but you won't notice it as much, won't be nearly as distracted by it and will basically enjoy the film that much more.

Remember the Gary Larson cartoon of God in his workshop finishing up the Earth?

God has shaker bottles labeled "light skinned people" "dark skinned people" "medium skinned people" "snakes" etc and he is using one last shaker as he says . . .

"And just to make it interesting . . " and that shaker is labeled "jerks.":grin:
 
One of the first times I went out on a day with my wife (I think it was Scream 2) we sat in front of a group of high school kids, maybe 3 or 4 of them. They were talking and laughing all through the trailers, and I could just feel her getting more and more fed up. I told her not to worry, they'd probably shut up when the movie started.

Well sure enough, the lights go down, the movie starts...and the talking just keeps going. People around them were giving them the "look" - you know, when you don't say anything but you make it obvious that you are annoyed, hoping they'll catch on be quiet without an incident. It didn't do anything, they just kept on talking...and I mean talking the way you would if you were just sitting at home having a conversation with your friends....making no effort to even keep their voices down.

I turned to my wife and said, "I'm going to say something to them"
She told me, "no, let me"

She then STOOD UP, and leaned over the seat so she was face to face with them and asked "Do you plan on talking through the entire movie? I'm just curious, because if you do then I'll go ahead and leave now so we don't get in your way."

There was a moment of silence, then they apologized and didn't say a word through the rest of the movie. When the movie was over a couple of people thanked her for saying something to them.

:)
 
Luis - After seeing Scream 2 you probably wished the kids would have talked the entire movie. :) Seriously, the next time I'm in Austin, I'm taking you and your wife to the movies. You two are cool. You 're like Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
 
guys, i forgot to share this experience.

i remember the movie- it was "Finding Nemo." I was with two friends, we had the VERY FIRST ROW. anyway, we're watching the movie, and about halfway through this HUMONGOUSLY FAT lady sits in the two seats next to me. (quick sidenote, i never understood WHY people come in halfway through) - anyway, so she like shakes herself into the seats, and all kinds of weird noises are coming from her. this is not a joke.

so i ignore her heavy breathing. but she takes it too far. i swear on my dvx, she farted, and i could feel the vibration through my seat. wait...it gets better. all the people around me are like "oh my god thats sick." i'm staring at the lady. she freaken turns, looks at me, with a face like "you're disgusting." so somehow everyone thought it was me.
 
Zach Lien said:
i swear on my dvx, she farted, and i could feel the vibration through my seat.
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I will never understand why nachos, giant pickles, coffee, and anything else you can think of, are sold at movie theaters.

ugh.
 
I can't believe the amount of crap people are willing to put up with during a movie. I've been in extremely crowded theaters where everyone was obviously annoyed, yet no one had the nerve to say anything to the offending audience members. Come on! We outnumber these jokers! I'm not the most extroverted person in the world, but a while back I reached my limit with idiots at the movies. I either want them to shut up or I want a refund.

#1
The easiest fix to a problem I've had was during a film where a group of five or six kids came in about an hour into the film and sat on the row in front of me. You know hoppers when you see them, and these guys definitely were. I wouldn't care so much except these kids would NOT shut up. I gave them about five minutes and simply leaned forward and asked for their ticket stubs. They bolted.

#2
I went to see The Hulk and had a bad experience. As if the film itself weren't painful enough, there was a family in the back with two or three small children (ages 1 to 3 probabaly). They kept letting the children run around and scream and play. There were very few people in the theater, as I try to go when crowds aren't an issue. I put up with this crap for about an hour and FINALLY got out of my seat, walked to the row behind these people, and asked them to control their kids. They pretended not to speak English and ignored me. I leaned down right next to the father's ear and told him that he was ruining the movie for everyone else and that unless he wanted to personally pay for my ticket then he needed to control the children. He completely ignored me and continued to stare straight ahead at the screen. I eventually had to go out and get a manager who made them remove the children. The mother still snuck back in later with a noisy child and STOOD in the aisle next to me with the kid. To add insult to injury the theater lights came on about 30 minutes before the movie ended. I guess they were on a timer. It was the last show of the night and apparently they usually don't have films running that late. The only people left in the theater at that point were cleaning crew, and they claimed to have no idea about how to turn the lights out. Horrible experience.


#3
Don't remember what movie it was, but this was within the last year. PACKED theater, no seats left empty (or I'd have moved). The kids in front of me kept calling friends and talking on CELL PHONES throughout the movie while giggling amongst themselves while holding multiple full volume conversations. No amount of shooshing helped. This went on and on and on until I finally just kicked the back of the seat in front of me with all the force I could muster in such close quarters. The guy in front of me spun around with a look of shock on his face. He really wasn't sure how to respond. There was no further noise from these jokers for the rest of the film, and they were the first ones out of there when the credits started to roll.

#4
A couple years ago the kids on my row chose to bring bottled beer into the theater. I would have looked the other way except they kept dropping the bottles and laughing at the apparent hilarity of their clumsiness. I asked them a few times to keep it down, but eventually had to go look for a manager. A cop working security that night overheard my complaint and took care of things right away.

Laser pointers are another story, but luckily that seems to have died down over the past year or two.
 
Ugh, I usually don't say anything, but about a year ago I had a really bad week at work, so I went to go see Van Helsing by myself, and this idiot just kept talking on his cell phone as loud as he could, right through the beginning of the movie. I could sense people were giving him the "look" but it wasn't doing any good. It was pretty much the last straw for me, so I go up and let loose on him with a barrage of profanity for about 1-2 minutes.

After he got over the shock, he finally hung up the phone! Then starts acting like a tough guy, trying to get me to react. But, at that point I had gotten everything out of my system and sat down to ignore him while other people started telling him to shut up. New Yorkers are really good at that once they get in on it, really fun to watch/hear.

I felt bad afterwards because he was with his kids and wife, which is why he had to save face afterwards by acting tough, but it didn't change the fact the he was being a jerk in public. What a nice example, I think his wife and kids pleading with him to sit down and quit acting like he was put him in his place.

Of course the jerk leaves his stupid phone on and it rings half-way through movie, at which point his wife and kids tell him to leave and take it outside, not that they had to really tell him, since he high-tailed it out of there.

Not the smartest maneuver on my part, but it ended okay ... this time.


Good and bad thing about New York City theatres, either people are telling other people to shut the f@#$ up or you get some real rough necks that can't be controlled, there's very little in between.

Best time I had was during a Tribeca film screening. A couple of huge body builders were being loud and obnoxious while talking on their cell phones and letting them ring to boot. All of a sudden from the back of the theatre you hear a very DEEP New York voice saying, TURN OFF THE CELL PHONES. The voice all by itself made everyone jump, but when the body builders turned around to respond, there were 12 BIG construction workers sitting in the back looking very displeased.

Suffice it to say, the cell phones were turned off.
 
that's why i got a big screen, i make popcorn i drink my beer i fart if i have to i pause it when i have to wipe up.
 
Times when I get pissed at the theater?

Well...

When I realized I couldn't get my money back after watching Alien vs. Predator.
 
I love going to theatres full of ethnic people. In a quite full showing of Rush Hour some girl started answering her ever ringing cell phone. About a minute into her very vocal conversation an extra large patron stood up and announced, "Turn off your F#*%@(g phone! You're not that important!!"

When, on a date, I went to Meet Joe Black, the two women in front of us began a running commentary during the previews. I said to my date, "If they keep it up when the movie starts, we're leaving." you would think they'd take the hint, they didn't so we left.

I think I'll just stay home and watch the big screen tv in my living room
 
sometimes i don't mind when people talk during the film.
it has to be a really dumb movie and the comments have to be funny-
I can recall going to see "cabin fever" in one of the more ghetto theaters and my friend and I heard our fair share of "aww hell Nah!" and "oh no he didn't!"
the movie was really bad, but in this case the comments made it funny.

you guys have some crazy stories though...either I'm lucky or I'm just so focused on the film i don't notice annoying people.:huh:
 
If I really want to enjoy a movie with as minimal outside interference as possible I go to a mid week matinee(work permitting). Usually just a handful of people, scattered seating.

One time though... Bad Santa... like no one in the theatre. Maybe 3 people, everyone gets they're own section. Dude comes in and literally sits 2 seats away from me in my isle. Thing was he didn't look at me or try talking to me or anything so I didn't want to make it seem awkward by getting up and moving. Laughed my ass off at the movie, but never felt too comfortable.

Only real thing that stands out during regular time movies is when parents bring children under 3 with them. There should be a law against this. Everyone knows the kid is gonna start crying at some point during the film. And everyone knows the parent is gonna try and quiet the kid for 5 minutes before finally deciding to take the kid out. Pet Peeve!
 
I went to see the latest star wars movie by myself in the middle of the day and a really gorgeous woman (late 30's) sat down 4 seats away. All by herself... she was really pretty and even had on the craziest heels I've ever seen.

Need I go on? I could hardly focus on the movie since a beautiful woman actually made a point to see star wars by herself in the middle of the day.

4 seats away says it all unfortunately... I tried my best not to look over but the only thing I can remember from the whole movie was the part where Picard gets shot.
 
I was afraid if I did it we'd be reading her post here about this "creepy guy".:embarasse

But honestly... what guy wouldn't see that and :shocked: I can't stand chicks that are into sports, but sci-fi and guy flicks? :thumbsup:
 
Dude, rule number one. Talk to them all, all of them, ALL OF THEM!!!! Be nice and respectful and witty, but above all talk to them.

Rule number two. Any of them that you find even remotely attractive, you ask out. ALL OF THEM.

Remember, it's just an odds game. It's all about how many lines you have in the water...
 
I was home for the weekend from school fall last year. My dad decides he's gonna take me out to a movie since it was my freshmen year of college and my parents were still adjusting to my being away. For whatever reason, there isn't much out on this particular weekend, so he suggests The Grudge.

We went at about 7 or so, and quickly noticed that in our theater there was an overabundance of middle school aged kids. Two young girls start talking behind us. I dont' worry about it at first because everyone talks during the previews, but it continues into the beginning of the film. I usually don't say anything, but I decide that I'm not going to be angry during this movie. So I turned all the way around and very calmly asked if they planned on talking through the entire film. At first they didn't say anything, but I just kept staring at them until they said no.

They didn't talk, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and my dad said afterwards he had never seen me do that to someone. It was funny because he was impressed.

Precisely the reason why I don't go to see movies that start before 9 o'clock anymore. Oh, and I go to more R movies than anything because little kids have a tougher time getting into those.
 
joemondello said:
May be strange, but when I was younger, in my twenties and even into my thirties, I'd let jerks who kick chairs and talk and munch popcorn really really upset me. A friend of mine and I even got into a physical altercation once.

Now that I am an old middle-aged fart of 55, I just chalk it up to "jerks" and let it totally slide off my back. And it works! If I turn MY focus away from the jerks and to the screen, I will enjoy the film.
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At 26 I don't have the blessing of patience that comes with age, vodka works well though. :laugh:
 
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