# Movies that you have watched but never bothered finishing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206 "2011-03-02T12:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/1 "2011-03-02T12:35:59Z")
A while ago I watched _Milk_. I really like Sean Penn and was happily watching along. I took a break to prepare food. The phone rang and I talked for a while. When I went back to watch _Milk_ I discovered that, since I knew how it all unfolded, I didn’t give a shit. I turned it off and did something else. I do this a lot with TV shows - miss one episode and never watch again. It is less common in the middle of a movie. Have you done it? Deliberately or by chance? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/2 "2011-03-02T12:39:05Z")
If I rent a movie, I’ll generally finish watching it. But if I just flick by a movie on TV, I can easily get distracted by something else and not bother finishing it. For instance, I’ve watched bits and pieces of Gladiator and Braveheart, but I’ve never seen the end of either. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/3 "2011-03-02T12:43:20Z")
I seem to have this problem with Will Ferrell movies, Step Brothers, Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights. Lose interest about half way through and turn off the TV. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/4 "2011-03-02T13:44:53Z")
I’ve tried watching The Big Lebowski about 4 times, and I always turn it off before it’s over. Sometimes it’s from being too drunk to stay awake, sometimes from boredom. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/5 "2011-03-02T13:51:21Z")
Had to shut off _i am sam_ halfway through before I vomited. Yech. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/6 "2011-03-02T14:07:12Z")
I’ve never been able to get all the way through _Cassablanca_. It bores me to tears. I’ve also never been able to get all the way through _Apocalypse Now_, for sme reason. I don’t think it’s boring, but for some reason or another, I always end up falling asleep before the end. I think it’s because all my attempts to watch it have been late at night and it’s a long movie. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/7 "2011-03-02T14:08:35Z")
Milk for me too, and Gladiator. Weird I did not like Gladiator, but I love Spartacus, Gods of the Arena. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/8 "2011-03-02T14:26:32Z")
It took many tries, but I eventually saw the entirety of Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_. Guess what happened the first 4 or 5 times? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/9 "2011-03-02T14:35:52Z")
I can never get more than a few minutes into Forrest Gump, as I said in the thread about it. Basically, I find the movie either boring or offensive, by turns, and I don’t like Tom Hanks. I kept trying to watch Brokeback Mountain, and I WANTED to like it, but I think that I know too many real cowboys, and real cowboy culture, for it to sit right with me. Yes, there ARE gay cowboys, and a gay cowboy culture. But I just couldn’t get into this movie. As for TV shows, I was following White Collar, and enjoying it, but I missed a couple of episodes and lost track. I might rent the series sometime in the future to find out what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/10 "2011-03-02T15:03:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > It took many tries, but I eventually saw the entirety of Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_. Guess what happened the first 4 or 5 times? I don’t know, the worms ate into your brain? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/11 "2011-03-02T15:25:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > It took many tries, but I eventually saw the entirety of Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_. Guess what happened the first 4 or 5 times? Well, if your adolescence was as ill-spent as mine … passed out from taking too many drugs? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/12 "2011-03-02T15:32:24Z")
> [@malthus](#): > > well, if your adolescence was as ill-spent as mine … Passed out from taking too many drugs? 😉 b…i…n…g..o! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/13 "2011-03-02T15:37:15Z")
_The Others_. Got about 10 minutes in before guessing the “twist,” so I turned it off and confirmed my guess on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/14 "2011-03-02T16:07:38Z")
I usually watch a movie straight through, but there were two that I didn’t finish. **The Departed**. I got bored after about an hour and turned it off. It was very familiar ground for Scorsese. **Desperately Seeking Susan**. I was liking it, but I got interrupted and decided not to bother watching the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/15 "2011-03-02T16:30:31Z")
I’ve tried a few times to get through **Black Hawk Down** but can’t seem to follow the disjointed action, which shaved head marine is which, where anyone is at any time, and the motivation behind characters to become sitting ducks. It becomes a jumbled mess and I give up on it. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/16 "2011-03-02T16:37:19Z")
_Gone with the Wind._ Also _Jaws_, although I think I’ve finally managed to see enough out-of-order scenes to add up to most, if not all, of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/17 "2011-03-02T16:43:40Z")
I started watching **Transsiberian** the other day and quit somewhere in the middle. It was when Emily Mortimer’s kinda-shady character is lying to Ben Kingsley’s Russian-police-inspector character, and she was so _transparently, obviously lying_ that I lost all sympathy for her, and for Emily Mortimer as an actress, and shut the DVD off right there. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/18 "2011-03-02T21:44:26Z")
Tons. I have no problem not finishing a book or movie that doesn’t capture my interest. Most recently: Mojave Phone Booth Fifty Dead Men Walking Forever Strong ---
**Author:** ![FrigidLizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@FrigidLizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrigidLizard)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/19 "2011-03-02T22:02:47Z")
Let me see…I know I’ll catch flack for this, but I quit watching **Brazil** about 10 minutes from the end of the film; I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve been meaning to finish **American Beauty** for years now, but I don’t think I’ll ever get back to **One Hour Photo** even though it was pretty good. I get interrupted a lot watching movies at home, so I still need to finish **Stand By Me** , **Death at a Funera** l (2010), and **Suck**. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206/20 "2011-03-02T22:09:35Z")
_Gothic_, the Ken Russell movie about Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John Polidori inventing the archetypes of modern horror whilst on holiday. One of these days I’ll finish the damn thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-have-watched-but-never-bothered-finishing/573206.md?page=2)