Movie Walk Out!

[retsuko]

There's an interesting essay over on The Onion's A.V. Club page about whether you should be able to ask for a refund from a theater if you don't like the movie. I've never, ever walked out of a movie, although I have received refunds and free tickets from a theater when there were projector problems (in the case of one of the "The Mummy" films, the movie was so bad anyway that the projector breaking down didn't really bother me; in the case of "Doubt", I did notice a strange shadow on the screen throughout the whole film, and was pleased that the manager of the theater was waiting at the exit, freebie tickets in hand and apology at the ready.)

There have certainly been movies that I wanted to walk out of, but didn't do so because I was with someone else. For example, "Event Horizon" was awful and gross, but I was with a friend who didn't seem bothered by the content, so I just waited for it to be over. (After the movie, a guy in front of us was going on and on about how great it had been, and my friend and I walked to our car, silent. After a long while, she said, "I wish I could have seen the movie he saw, because it sounded really cool.") "Mortal Combat 2" was so laughably terrible that I couldn't take seriously at all; it also helped that the theater was filled with drunken frat boys who kept screaming "MORTAL COMBAAAAATTTT!!!" at every conceivable opportunity. The film itself was horrifically stupid, but the viewing atmosphere was fabulous. And the part of me that doesn't like hyper-violence wishes I had walked out of "Kill Bill, Part 1", because, well, I just can't un-see things.

But, in general, I feel like asking for a refund from the theater itself is counter-productive. The staff didn't make the film; they're just showing it to you. You're paying for the opportunity to sit in the theater and watch a movie, not comment on its content. If you want to vote with your dollars, shouldn't you have already done so before walking into a movie? There are plenty of reviews out there that will tell you if the film is your cup of tea, and even though I think the ratings system is deeply flawed, at least it gives you some indication of what you're about to see. But perhaps I am overthinking it. I know that some people just walk into a movie, judging it by its poster and crossing their fingers. Do they get a refund if they don't like the content?

[Poll #1761434]

I try to come up with a straight answer to this and keep going around in circles. Say there was a scene in the movie that you were utterly unprepared for, even after doing research and reading reviews; would that warrant a refund demand? And how soon is said refund demand appropriate--10 minutes into the movie? 20? The end? There's a detail of the social contract here that I'm definitely confused about.

In all honesty, there are other matters that I feel far more inclined to complain about at the theater, most notably the exceedingly overpriced popcorn and candy. And, then, of course, there are the movies that I WISH I could have walked out of, because they were unpleasant ("American Beauty"--how I despise that film) or boring ("Meet Joe Black" = UGH). Anyway, given how rarely I get to theaters now, I hope never to walk out of a movie and plan to do my review-reading homework as diligently as possible.

Comments

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

generally speaking i would not expect a refund. the sole exception i can come up with is if the rating and trailers were deeply flawed, "tricking" me into seeing a movie that triggered pshychological issues, AND the film had been out long enough that i could expect the theater to be aware of this, because that would make them complicit.

i have no examples, but think this most likely to happen with one of the modern "kids movies"

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I guess I can understand that. My beef with the ratings system comes from the disproportionate ratings for sex and violence; violence gets far too much of a free pass, in my opinion. (And American movies love to show the violence with none of the consequences.) But now that I type this, I'm hard-pressed to come up with an example, as well (the recent brouhaha over "Blue Valentine" comes to mind, but that's more in regards to sex, not violence.)

Edit to ask: what movie did you walk out of?

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

i walked out of THe Cell. Thought I could handle it. Thought wwong!

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Knowing what that movie is, I have never had any desire to see it. I couldn't have handled it on the big screen at all, and the small screen? Still probably not.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

I knew what it was going in, but I'd never really trupied waching that sort of thing and it sounded interesting.

soooooo wrong

[goddessvicky.livejournal.com]

I'm of the feeling that if you just walk into a movie without doing any research into what it's about doesn't mean the theater should be forced to compensate you for your lack of foresight.

There have been some movies where I went "Why am I watching this?" and I'm definitely left the theater thinking "I just wasted 8 dollars and 2 hours of my life" but it's not the theater's fault. If anything, it's the person who made the movie and the person who advertised the movie. And myself, for thinking I'd enjoy it.

I'm trying to think of an example that would correlate, but I'm having trouble finding something comparable.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, yes, there have been movies like that ("Snakes on a Plane", I'm looking your way) and I knew it was my own damn fault for buying a ticket in the first place. It was stupidly entertaining, but that is two hours of my life wasted.

[goddessvicky.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Yeah. Anything with Jennifer Lopez is usually on my list of 'WHY, self? WHY!?'

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

True! Most rom-coms make me feel that way.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I see movies in the theater so rarely that if I've actually bothered to get to a movie theater, it's usually for something that I'm committed to seeing. (I did consider walking out of "The Ghost Writer" when I remembered during the opening credits that it was directed by Roman Polanski, but since I wasn't prepared to demand a refund from the theater on the grounds that I'd accidentally paid to see a movie by someone I had decided not to give more of my money to, I figured I was stuck for it and might as well stay to see the film.)

Generally, I wouldn't ask for a refund if I walked out of a movie, because, as you say, the theater isn't responsible for the content. On the other hand, it is in the interests of the theater to try to make sure that their customers have a good experience - if refunding the price of an occasional movie ticket makes customers more likely to take the risk of seeing more films at that theater, then it probably works out to that theater's benefit.

The only circumstance in which I can really imagine asking for a refund is if I took some children to see a movie, and it was obvious very early on that the movie wasn't appropriate for them. At the very least, I'd want the theater to know that some of their customers had a problem with the film despite doing research via reviews and trailers.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

So, was "The Ghost Writer" worth it? I saw "Rosemary's Baby" a while back and loved it, but my feelings about Roman Polanski are pretty much akin to yours, and I definitely won't be paying to see any of his films again.

For kids, especially, I think this is an important point. I've seen far too many adults making their children sit through a movie that's inappropriate. Having a baby now, I can understand the desperate urge to something that is not 100% kid-focused all the time, but there are a lot of "children's movies" that aren't actually kid-friendly, and I can definitely understand asking for a refund for those.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

As something of a British politics junkie, I loved the whole secret-history/conspiracy theory look at the political career of a fictional British prime minister who was clearly meant to be Tony Blair. Even setting that aside, I thought it was a smart and cleverly plotted thriller, though I had some issues with the ending. Had it been directed by anyone else, I'd have no compunctions about urging everyone to see it.

[blencathra.livejournal.com]

I would have walked out of Titanic if I had been able to. As it was I was trapped in the middle of a row in a crowded cinema & unable to move.

Titanic is still up there as the worst movie I've ever seen, but has been joined recently by Twilight. Though at least the latter was a borrowed DVD so I hadn't forked out any money.

But I have to say I wouldn't have dreamed of asking for my money back. I think it's my problem if I didn't like it. Obviously many, many people loved both those films! However, i would ask for my money back if there were technical problems.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I want to high-five you right now; I hated Titanic, too, but I was in a horribly crowded theater and seemed to be the only one not enjoying myself! People were in tears around me, and I was glancing at my watch and rolling my eyes. And, yeah, Twilight. So boring. "Eclipse" was so dull that I couldn't even find things to snark at, and it was not improved by alcohol, either (we were watching it on DVD at home.) :p

[rhiannon76.livejournal.com]

Heh, I saw a free showing of "Titanic" at Smith the year I worked as an RC, and I just remember people all around me were sniffling or even bawling for what seemed like an hour before the damn thing ended. My friend and I, on the other hand, were trying our hardest not to laugh too loudly at how ridiculously overwrought it all was.

In general, I feel that it's not the theater's fault if I don't like a movie that I paid to see, and I've never considered asking for a refund. I've also never walked out of anything, though I really wanted to walk out of "Dogville", which was the worst piece of rape-culture-dressed-up-as-high-art shit that I've ever seen. (I didn't, because I was with someone who wanted to see it; and I knew nothing about the film beforehand, hadn't even heard of it until my companion suggested it when we were trying to pick a movie to go watch.)

I have a perverse, schadenfreude-filled love of the Twilight films, but I have to go to them with hecubuscathead and we have to heckle the entire way through. (It helps if you've read cleolinda's recaps of the books and/or films-- far better than actually reading the books.) That said, I agree that Eclipse was too dull to even heckle properly. Sigh.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

I won't pay money for the Twilight films, but I do like watching them to heckle ;) Haven't seen Eclipse yet but I suppose I'll watch it when it comes out on cable.

Very much looking forward to the last one, because dude, that book was screwed up and even a sanitized version of it has to be bad!

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Twilight films! Definitely not a case where I'd ask for my money back, because it's my own fault (so obviously!) They and Titanic skirt a thin boundary of "so bad it's good" but have never really crossed into the "good" territory for me. Titanic is way too overwrought for its own good and about as subtle as a pile of bricks to the head, and the Twilight movies... are just stupid. I was mildly interested in the Volturi, but even they were dull in Eclipse! (I mean: you're a super badass vampire with kick-ass powers and you're just watching this dull conflict?! Why not come out on top? By doing something??)

I do love me some cleolinda recaps, but I've been too disorganized lately to get to reading them before the movie viewing. I need to do that. As for Breaking Dawn, there's a perverse part of them that is very excited, because it's going to be a hot mess of crazy, no matter how you slice it.

[alexeia-drae.livejournal.com]

*Gasps* There are other people who don't like Titanic!? You mean I'm not alone!? I need to find others and form a support group now! You don't know how much flak I've gotten for not liking that stinkin' movie!

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Dude--who's been giving you flak? 'Cause they're idiots. :p (In sum: you are not alone!)

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Unless there's a technical fault, my opinion with films is that you pays yer money, you takes yer chances, so to speak. If it's a crappy film, well, blame the studio (and yourself for probably ignoring all the critical reviews that said it was a crappy film).

I don't offer to pay them extra if I loved the movie, so why ask for a refund if it was crappy?

[alexeia-drae.livejournal.com]

I remember walking out of movies when I was young and my mom realized I was bored by whatever it was we were seeing. Song of the South and White Fang were movies I seem to remember walking out on. I'm fairly sure my mom didn't ask for a refund.

As an adult I've never walked out on a movie because I was with someone who I thought was enjoying it. The horrible American version of Godzilla, Mission Impossible II (though I later found out everyone else in my group wanted to walk out on it as well), Transformers 2 (NEVER seeing another Michael Bay film again!). Actually with Transformers I went and hung out in the bathroom because I couldn't stand to watch another minute of it but my husband was enjoying it so much.

The only times we got free tickets to another show was during Independence Day when someone in the audience had a grand mal seizure and they had to stop the movie to get him the medical care he needed and they gave the rest of us tickets to a later showing. And when we saw one of the Lord of the Rings movies, the audience was SO horrible that we were complaining about them amongst our group as we were leaving the theater and the manager heard us and gave us free tickets to whatever we wanted to see. We weren't expecting it, and we certainly weren't going to ask for it, but we sure as hell weren't turning them down!

It's not like you can return a movie you see in the theater...or get 2 hours of your life back. And since I've never seen a movie alone, there's also a I'm-spending-time-with-people-I-love element that a bad movie can't detract from, and good or bad, I'm going to have something to discuss with whomever I've seen it with after it's over!

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Argh, Transformers 2! My husband went to see it with his brothers and they all fell asleep in the theater.

What a shame about the LotR experience. I saw the first film in a packed theater in Vancouver and it was the best: people shouting and cheering at the exciting parts, and when Aragorn killed the Uruk-Hai that was going to slaughter Boromir, there was practically a standing ovation. It's one of the best film viewings I've ever been to!

And since I've never seen a movie alone, there's also a I'm-spending-time-with-people-I-love element that a bad movie can't detract from, and good or bad, I'm going to have something to discuss with whomever I've seen it with after it's over!

Ah, yes, this is very true. At the very least, even a terrible movie can be snarked at later... (except when it can't, like the Meet Joe Black case; I saw it on two separate occasions with people who thought it was the best movie ever and all I could do was smile and politely nod. Erk!)

[jtaylor2.livejournal.com]

I am very picky about what movies I choose to pay full price to see. I tend to read reviews and ask friends about their opinions before buying a ticket.

I see a fair amount of movies at the second-run theater, so for $2.00 or something, I can't complain if it doesn't live up to any expectations I had.

And then there are the movies I've forced myself to sit through because it was a "family outing". I couldn't just walk out on family...

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Argh, I wanna go to a $2 theater! I wouldn't mind waiting a few months for most movies!

Ah, the dreaded family outing. My family is incredibly picky, so we don't see many movies, but I know some families go often and this can be a real source of contention... :p

[jtaylor2.livejournal.com]

btw, so glad that you hated American Beauty. I could not stand that film!

Sadly, cheap films are like $4 here in Portland. I used to be able to see the second-run ones for like $1.50 in Eugene - now it's like $2 or $2.25, something redonk.

My parents see pretty much anything that's remotely catering to their sensibilities. Rom coms of all shades of bad, in particular. They don't tend to watch any of the more 'quality' films that hit the theater, Oscar-contenders included. It can be seriously annoying.

[kyrielle]

I am most likely to walk out of kids' films, apparently. Shrek and I think maybe Cars. I left my husband watching both times. I read a book outside. I didn't feel the theater owed me anything, but I really dislike a lot of what they think is "funny". No way would I sit through that if I didn't have to (some day I may if I am the only adult escort and Drew is enjoying it, but he doesn't get to go to movies yet).

But it's not the theater's problem. I will write an irate review if I feel so moved, but. ;)