Never have walked out & the few I regret having paid money to see, I at least have gotten some value out of by bitching about them over the years.
For those of you who have walked out, how many have gotten your money back?
I did leave midway through a college production of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, the acting was okay (Woody Harrelson was in it) but the pacing was absolutely off! The director was totally great & I don’t know how one of his productions was able to be so dragging.
Highlander: Endgame
When Duncan lopped off Conner’s head I walked. Conner won the freaking game people!
Bolero, the Bo Derek movie. Any sensuality was overwhelmed by horrible acting and sheer boredome.
I made it through Battlefield: Earth but walked out on Friday Night Lights after about forty-five minutes.
To be fair, I had the beginnings of a migraine and had just thrown up my dinner too, so it wasn’t the film’s fault entirely but I still might have anyway.
The movie I’ve seen the most people walk out of has been Trouble every Day but that was due to it being about people that could only have sex while eating the flesh of their partner. The French have a liberal movie tastes but this was too much for a lot of people
Picking up the Pieces staring Woody Allen is the only one that I’ve walked out of so far in my life.
I’m another one that generally doesn’t walk out on movies - guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I’ll stay to the end! That and SpouseO loves movies, will see anything (anything - really), and I’m stuck in my seat even when the movie blows.
Movies I wish I’d walked out on:
[ul]
[li]The Thin Red Line[/li][li]Blade II (gods, what trash!)[/li][li]Cool World[/li][/ul]
Forgot one - add The Passion to that list as well.
I usually don’t walk out, because I feel like I waste my money, and sometimes the people I’m with don’t want to.
The only time I did, was Hope Floats because I knew A Perfect Murder was starting in an adjacent theater so I (and another guy from our group) just went into that theater instead, because after 15 minutes, Hope Floats had me wanting to sleep.
Movies I really wanted to walk out on, but didn’t: Hardware, Strange Days, The Master of Disguise, Waterworld, Street Fighter (with Van Damme). I know there’s a lot more, but that’s just off the top of my head.
Several times.
The ones that come to mind:
Mute Witness with DB Sweeney
Mixed Nuts with Steve Martin
Robin Hood, Men in Tights
Years ago I walked out on Hotel New Hampshire. I went into a different movie that was just startign and so didn’t demand a refund.
I stopped watching Bruce Almighty on DVD after about 30 minutes because it sucked so bad. Luckily it was a borrowed DVD so I wasn’t out any money.
I walked out of Waking Life and Team America: World Police because they were so awful. (Yes, I know I’m in the minority on both of those opinions.)
I would have walked out of Phenomenon if I wasn’t the only person in my group who had driven and didn’t want to abandon my friends.
I don’t like to walk out on movies, because I’m an aspiring filmmaker myself and I imagine I can learn as much or more from bad movies as from good ones.
That said: when I was a kid my parents took the family to see The Gauntlet, a little-known non-Dirty-Harry Eastwood cop movie.
It was much more violent than Dad had expected, so we left and got our money back.
As an adult I’ve walked out on Eraserhead (which interestingly, I note at IMDB, was originally released the same year as The Gauntlet), which is the most repellent film I’ve ever seen part of.
I really should have walked out on Mike Figgis’s Hotel, but I kept hoping it would get better. Or at least, ah, shorter.
I’m all for experimentation (the movie’s plot was all-improvised), but when your experiment is a failure, don’t charge me 8 bucks to see it.
Walked out of two movies:
One was Tank Girl. I’d rather pound my nuts flat with a wooden hammer than watch it again. I left DURING the nude scenes (when she goes to rescue the kid). And that’s a painful admission for me.
Walked out during It Could Happen to You. Nic Cage and Rosie Perez (two actors I’d opt to masturbate with a cheese grater than watch) as a couple. Bridget Fonda (who could be readin gthe phone book, and I’d watch) as a waitress who’s told by Cage that, if his lottery ticket wins, he’ll give her half.
I SHOULD have walked out during The Mask. Only the special effects (and Cameron Diaz) kept me in the chair. I paid $1.25 to see it, and asked for my money back.
I walked out of Meet the Parents. Got talked into to seeing it by friends and it was even more excrutiating than I imagined. Two freaking hours of stupid misunderstandings. Unforntunately, my friends thought liked it and I just wandered over to another theatre to watch something else til it was over…
Well, recently I walked out of “Sideways” although I did so frontwards. I was bored. The predictable gags, the sterotype characters. Yawn. See you.
Had to sit all the way through “Crossroads” though. (Professional obligations.) I was chewing on my leg, hoping that would get me out of it.
Walked out of “American Beauty” in disgust. Pedophilia is pedophilia, hollywood glitz or not.
But then, I figure if I already wasted my money, there is no point in wasting my time too. I walk out as soon as I realize I don’t care what happens for the rest of the movie. I have walked out of a lot of movies in my time.
Tris
I left Young Einstein after about 20 minutes. We decided we would go across the hall to see The Abyss instead.
Generally, though, I am of the mindset that I’ll stick it out because something entertaining might happen or there may be some nudity. Notable in the category of “really considered leaving but found other entertainment during the movie” were:
Star Trek V, where I became entertained by one of the speakers that would vibrate occasionally. I somehow found this very very funny at the time.
Congo, where I became aware of the small number of people in the theater, and wondered what proportion of them were actually enjoying it.
Missing in Action, which I remember mostly because someone on the other side of the crowded theater farted very loudly.
DAMMIT! I didn’t mean Mute Witness…that’s an entirely different movie!
It was “Hear No Evil” with DB Sweeney.
Wow. That was one of my favorites. Go Harvey!
Never walked out, but what about falling asleep? I slept through 75% of Turning Point.
I’ve never walked out of a movie by my own choice.
The wife made me walk out of Dreamcatcher where the beer guzzler takes a leak in the snow and one of the alien critters attacks him
Before I knew her, the wife and her friend walked out of Boogie Nights. They went to the theater with and asked the guy in the ticket booth for recommendation. She had no idea what the movie was about walking in. I still tease her about that.
Every time but one. I got cash back one of the times, the rest I got coupons for full-price admission to see something else another time at that theater, which I think is perfectly fair. The only time I didn’t get, or even ask for money back, was when I walked out of Heat and went across the hall to see The American President, which was just starting. The movies I can recall walking out of the theater completely during were: I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, White Man’s Burden and An American Werewolf In London. There may have been 1 or 2 more, but for the life of me I can’t think of what they were, they were that bad.