# What's the most boring film you could show a child? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 5, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655 "2025-04-05T01:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/61 "2025-04-05T16:58:08Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > There was enough slapstick in his early stuff to entertain me as a kid. Agree - **Sleeper** was one of my favorites since I was around 8 and saw it on TV. I vividly remember Woody battling the giant pudding with a broom and thinking it was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/62 "2025-04-05T17:01:07Z")
I suppose it isn’t a “solid mainstream film” but **Into Great Silence** has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting I’m not the only one who finds it deliciously engaging. But a 2-1/2 hour documentary with no narration following the daily lives of ascetic monks may be tough for youngsters. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/63 "2025-04-05T17:03:08Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Any woody Allen movie… I certainly enjoyed them as a kid, starting with **Take the Money and Run**. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/64 "2025-04-05T17:13:28Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > But it has to be a “good” movie that might be enjoyed by grownups - not just a bad or mediocre film. And let’s say no experimental art films or surrealism. Just solid mainstream movies that your average child would hate. I’ve got it: “ **All the President’s Men** ”. One of my all-time favorites, but I think it fits the spirit of the thread perfectly. mmm ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/65 "2025-04-05T17:30:06Z")
I have no doubt Woody Allen made butt loads of kids laugh 40 /50 years ago. What about today? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/66 "2025-04-05T17:36:50Z")
Are you saying kids have changed or Woody Allen has changed? If the latter, you surely didn’t mean to post “_any_ Woody Allen movie”, right? ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/67 "2025-04-05T17:56:48Z")
I was reading the IMdb message board (before they took it down) about a TV movie named “Gideon’s Trumpet”, and some schoolboy posted that the movie was shown to his class and it was “really boring.” I assume that he was in high school, but there’s no way of knowing. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/68 "2025-04-05T18:21:26Z")
Good choice. I’ve seen _Gideon’s Trumpet_. If you’re a lawyer interested in constitutional law, it is fascinating and gripping. If you’re not a lawyer interested in constitutional law, it is dull as dishwater. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/69 "2025-04-05T18:58:24Z")
_Ladder Safety Training for non-Firefighters_ _Annual Underground Safety Training for non-Miners_ _Annual Fire Extinguisher Training for Administrative Workers_ All three are _still_ available on VHS from your local Department of Energy Training representatives. Tripler "Uncle Tripler . . . What’s “Vee Ehch Ess?” Edited for speling ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/70 "2025-04-05T19:46:51Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Annual Fire Extinguisher Training for Administrative Workers Clearly you have never seen the ‘director’s cut’ version of this training film, which I am told inspired John McTiernan to direct _Die Hard_. “Pull the pin, aim for the base of the fire, and yell, ‘Yippie-ki-yay, office fire!’” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/71 "2025-04-05T19:48:43Z")
My dad liked a PBS interview program called “Kup’s Show.” I hated it, because he would give his full attention to it and we couldn’t bother him during it. I’d probably love it now. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/72 "2025-04-05T19:50:08Z")
Hey, “Babette’s Feast” is my favorite movie! The first time I saw it, I worked at a carryout pizza place and we’d had The Evening From Hell, so I decided to catch the late show. I arrived as the early show was getting out, and EVERYONE was absolutely raving about the movie - and they were right. But I do agree, even though it’s rated G, it’s definitely not a movie for children. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/73 "2025-04-05T19:51:02Z")
Perhaps she needed to nurse har crappula that day, but our 5th grade teacher once put on a film made at the Colonial Williamsburg park on the complete process of barrel-making that nearly killed me. Forty years later, I’m teaching classes, trying to make ladder safety and extinguisher handling interesting. Hands-on (with dangling dummies and gallons of lit gasoline) proved better than any AV assistance. However, there was always **Shake Hands with Danger** [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/v26fTGBEi9E/hqdefault.jpg "Shake Hands With Danger (1980)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v26fTGBEi9E) ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/74 "2025-04-05T19:51:13Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Bored me so much I didn’t make it past about 15 minutes, and I was over 50 at the time The first 15 minutes is the most exciting part! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/75 "2025-04-05T19:52:55Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I lost track of the plot and had no idea what was going on. I remember thinking at the time, what a boring-ass movie. > > But I think I would love the movie as an adult Hmm. When the 1974 film version of _Murder on the Orient Express_ came out, I saw a preview, and it looked so good-- I begged my mother to let me see an interesting mystery, even though it was rated R and I was 7. She would not budge. It came on TV a couple of years later, and I couldn’t wait to see it-- I was 9 by then, and it was the expurgated version. It started out promising, with the Daisy Armstrong kidnapping, but then when it became about Hercule Poirot traveling second class, it put me out faster than NyQuil. I woke up briefly, saw a bit of some interview, and went back to sleep. Some of the movies here are an insomniacs delight, but isn’t the game to come up with a film kids with hate but that adults like? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/76 "2025-04-05T19:53:40Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#): > > The first 15 minutes is the most exciting part! You and I evidently have very different definitions of “exciting”, since I remember it as lots of monologuing and no plot movement at all. If THAT was the best 15 minutes, glad I didn’t waste another hour and three quarters of my life on slogging through the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/77 "2025-04-05T19:58:24Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My dad liked a PBS interview program called “Kup’s Show.” Ah, this reminds me of a mother lode of boring TV / film: **Masterpiece Theatre** , as hosted by Alistair Cooke in the 70s and 80s. This was the only TV my dad watched, and if I wanted to be there too I had to keep quiet. Some was good, such as **Danger UXB**. But a lot of the fare made Merchant Ivory films look like Michael Bay disaster movies. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/78 "2025-04-05T20:06:30Z")
That guy playing the supervisor is channelling William Holden so hard it’s surprising he didn’t get an Academy award, and the faux-Johnny Cash theme sone deserves its own album. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/79 "2025-04-05T20:11:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The Sound of Music Just today, my 7 year old son asked me if he could watch that again. Kids are weird. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655/80 "2025-04-05T20:16:16Z")
When I was a kid nothing bored me more than afternoon soaps. Not sure what the movie equivalent would be, but damn I just could not wrap my head around them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-boring-film-you-could-show-a-child/1016655.md?page=5)