People That Walk Out Of Movies
I haven’t written up reviews for the last two movies I saw, mainly because I wanted to talk more about what happened during them than the movies themselves. In both instances, there were people that walked out of them after a half hour or so. Now I don’t know if it’s the shear volume of movies I’ve been seeing this year or what, but it’s happened a few other times whereas as I don’t think I’d seen anyone walk out for anything I’d seen in the prior five years. The thing to note is that these were critically praised movies, too. So what is going on?

The most recent movie I saw was ‘BlacKkKlansman’, Spike Lee’s latest. This is a movie about an undercover cop in 1970’s Colorado Springs infiltrating the local chapter of the KKK. Oh, and he’s black. The trailer kind of pitched this as a comedy farce, where the black officer Ron makes all the introductions happen over the phone and then his white partner acts as him in person. It’s like a non romantic comedy version of Cyrano De Bergerac, or so it’d seem. Knowing it’s a Spike Lee movie though, I knew it’d be a very on the nose allegory to today’s political climate while still being based on a real story. Yeah, this actually happened!
There were only 10 or 12 of us in the theater, mostly white or hispanic, none black. The movie wastes no time hitting you over the head with hate speech directed at blacks and Jews, setting the tone for how it portrays racists. Soon after, it shows a Black Power speech that expresses the opposing view. This is kind of the key to this movie, in that equal time is given to the haters and the hated. Yes there is some comedy, but it is most definitely not the latest Tyler Perry movie we unfortunately had to see the trailer for.
Now I don’t know exactly how long into the movie we got before the first couple got up to leave, but it’d been long enough to establish what the movie was, at least 30 minutes in. They had disgruntled looks on their faces, were a middle aged couple, and quietly left. About 20 minutes after that, another couple left. Did they find the movie boring? Offensive? Not as advertised? The rest of the movie I kept thinking about these exits, wondering.

The previous movie I’d seen in the theater to this was ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. This is certainly a movie as advertised, a rom-com that is making a huge splash at the box office and practically trips over itself to be pleasant. This is so not my kind of movie, and even I found it enjoyable. So imagine my surprise when again, probably halfway through the movie, an older couple exited. It’s not like they got a phone call and had to leave. Both these screenings I was at were late night showings, so the only better thing these people possibly had to do was go to bed. The one thing about CRA is that it is very much told from an Asian point of view, and it doesn’t even attempt to explain certain things.
As a white male, I found this cinema immersion into another culture to be excitingly different. I also realized this must be what it is like for many other people of color when they are expected to relate to Julia Roberts movies. It’s one thing to purposely set out and view a foreign movie, it’s another when it is an American product for American cinemas. I couldn’t help but think that perhaps this is what caused the couple to walk out, because in every other way it was a normal, well made film.
The one other notable walk-out I saw this year was during my opening day screening of ‘A Quiet Place’. I’ve already described how it was one of the most memorable theater going experiences I’ve had due to how quiet and respectful everyone was while watching. Once again, less than halfway through two guys got up and left, but not before whispering to everyone, “this movie is boring”. At least I knew why they left, but the funniest part was no less than 5 minutes later the movie kicked into high gear and never let up after.
All these movies are ‘fresh’ on Rotten Tomatoes, resoundingly so. I can’t get this feeling out of my mind that the two most recent walkouts were because the people were made racially uncomfortable. ‘BlacKkKlansman’ for sure is a bit of harsh pill, but it’s also very positive for proper police work. Maybe with ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ it was the excessive wealth on display that was the tipping point, and not the fact that it was highly educated, intelligent, and proud Asians. Or am I too politically sensitive right now and should instead be looking at something like MoviePass? I mean there are plenty of movies I’ve seen this year that I never would have given the time of day to were it not for my MoviePass. I just happen to be one of those people who once I’ve blocked out a portion of time for a movie, I’m committed to seeing it the whole way through. Yeah, I’ll even sit through the credits!
There’s only ever been one movie I almost walked out of, ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’. The only reason for that was there is an extended moment that made it very uncomfortable to sit through with my date, due to language being used. She was gathering her stuff, and then the scene passed, and she settled back in. The conversation after the movie was a treat, I’ll tell you what! At home, there are plenty of movies I’ve turned off, but usually I know within 10 minutes. Once I’m halfway into a movie, I flip the switch from needing to turn it off to seeing just how terrible it can really be. I might be wasting my time at that point, but it was time reserved.
Perhaps people just aren’t good at knowing what they are comfortable watching. I almost always know what I’m getting myself into, whether from who the movie was made by or what the trailer showed me. ‘Sorry To Bother You’ was nothing like I expected other than that I knew I didn’t know what to expect! I saw ‘Hurricane Heist’ knowing full well it was going to be cheesy and over the top, not the next Mission: Impossible. So I’m curious, have you ever walked out of a movie, and if so why?
