Comments on: Movie Etiquette 101

By: cftoto

cftoto — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:39:00 +0000

Yeah, pregnant pauses should be avoided at all costs, especially when they add tension and drama.

Feh. Who needs that?

By: wankette

wankette — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:39:07 +0000

Here’s an appendix to #7:

Please recite aloud what Julia Roberts plans to say at the climax of Notting Hill, into that silence *before* she says it. I prefer your line reading to that overpaid hag’s, any day.

By: Nate

Nate — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:07:44 +0000

Well written, James.

By: James Frazier

James Frazier — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:54:57 +0000

Thanks Lisa! Perhaps I should make pamphlets and donate them to my local theaters.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:45:27 +0000

Excellent! Oh, how I wish that the average movie goer who already employs all these bits of wisdom would read your review and had the mental capacity to understand how the rest of us esteem them so for getting the most out of their movie going experience.

Loved reading this! I wish this article were a prerequisite read for ticket purchase. Sigh.

By: Mrk

Mrk — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:27:00 +0000

IF there’s only three seats left in the theater, it’s always best to take the middle one.

Or.

Don’t sit next to your kids. Sit them with me.

By: James Frazier

James Frazier — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:59:45 +0000

I actually haven’t had a lot of bad luck with people coming in while the movie is in progress. As much as I complain about theater etiquette, I consider myself sort of lucky. I talk to friends in Chicago and LA and the stories are far, far worse than anything I regularly encounter in Cedar Falls, IA.

By: K

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:10:36 +0000

EricP: You forgot the best one. Standing in the aisle next to you, discussing where they want to sit while the movie is starting.

By: EricP

EricP — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:39:37 +0000

Bouncing off your last point, K, arriving on or before the posted start-time is vastly overrated and too considerate to fellow theatre-goers, people who selfishly dare to mind when someone climbs over them to get to the coveted middle spots, spilling a butter-soaked trail of popcorn in case they forget the way for their jumbo refill halfway through the movie.

By: K

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:02:16 +0000

I would add that you should allow your small children to run about the theater while the movie is in progress, up and down the aisles at full speed and stand in front of the screen patting it. This will make sure that the cute little tyke is all tuckered out when you get home so there’s no problem with putting her/him to bed.

In addition, nothing’s better than putting your knees up on the chair in front of you and kicking the back when someone is sitting there.

Finally, theater management should get the most out of their commercial advertising by making sure it continues past the posted beginning time of the movie. This makes the advertisers happy as the folks trying to avoid same will have to be seated at that point and become a captive audience. Which serves them right.