Stop Being an Asshole at the Movies!!

Regardless of how big your home theater is or how powerful your surround may be, there is something special about seeing a movie at the cinema. Rarely, despite technological advancements, do movies ever look and feel the same at home as they do when inside a movie theater. However, there’s a growing annoyance that has begun to fatal infect the magical film going experience – the rude person sitting next to you.

Now, granted being that as a critic it is rare that I pay to see a film. But there are plenty of screenings that I go to with regular moviegoers in their full glory. Back when I started as reviewer more than a decade ago, most people thought it was something special to get the chance to see a movie before it came out. Nowadays, that is not the feeling. Instead they feel entitled to be there and as such their behavior has grown worse to the point of intolerable.

While seeing Paranormal Activity 2 back in October two girls thought it would be okay to talk throughout the whole film. It got to the point that I actually had to give the dreaded shhhh to them. In the past people have answered their phone and started talking on it. There’s also always someone who decides the reserved seat must before them, despite having a specific person’s name on it. However, my favorite experience came when a family brought a picnic spread of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and all of the sides to a screening at the Ritz Five. When they were told that wasn’t allowed, the one woman got upset and began yelling at the security guard. He told merely told her she would have to take the food outside or throw it away.

What is wrong with these people? Having a picnic at the movies? Really?

It’s not like being quiet in a movie theater is a new rule that was just started. These have been in place since the beginning of cinema. It’s common courtesy that is missing from many people and before you say it, age knows no boundaries to the douchebaggery. Adults are just as much to fault as younger people. The only difference is that the adults definitely should know better.

Everyone will make a quick comment in a movie or check their phone to see the time, possibly even sneak in a candy bar. Heck, half the fun of going to the movies while growing up was seeing what you could sneak in. It’s not just the fact that audiences are behaving this way, but the attitude in which they are doing it. They think there is nothing wrong with their behavior. What’s worse is that as a society many of us are getting so desensitized to it that we almost just accept it.

Well, it’s time to take a stand. Normally, I’m not a fan of inflicting violence, however, next time someone is talking if you smack them in the face I guarantee they will be too stunned to talk. (However, be careful in Philadelphia – they have a habit of shooting people for lesser offensives) If someone answers their phones, just take it and throw the phone at the screen. If someone smuggles in some kind of offensive smelling food, just take a bite out of it. No one will ever know what hit them – literally.