...

I walked out of Ben Affleck flick "Deception", because I'd gone with my then girlfriend (now wife), and it was a bit too nasty for her, and more to the point going to sit in the park and have a sly shog seemed much more appealing.

That's the only time

Matt

Ice Age. Shear boredom. We had just seen Shrek, which is really the same movie, and it was our first right away from our baby. I looked at my wife and said, you know, this movie is cute, but our son is cuter. She agreed.

Twice, both during my college years. I first walked out on Oliver Stone's The Doors, because the shaky camera was all too effective at making me feel like I was hallucinating.

Around that same time -- maybe earlier, maybe later, but I was at home, either for summer break or because I'd graduated by then -- I threw in the towel on Ridley Scott's 1492. I was very tired when I saw it, and it was very boring.\

But ya know, those were the only two instances, and both more than a decade ago. I'm usually interested enough in the movies I choose to see that I stick 'em out, even when they're disappointing.

I walked out of The Crow because my ex-girlfriend went to the bathroom and didn't come back. After walking around the mall for an hour and half, we finally met up again. I'm sure glad I found her or else she would've never become El Wifebo.

Years later, together, we walked out of some Arnie film, I think it was called The Fifth Sense or something... Oh, had to look that one up, it was called The 6th Day. Same thing. Well, the sound and picture were bad, but after half an hour that was only an excuse to get our money back. I'm actually glad we didn't have to sit thru the whole thing. You'd think that by the year 2000 I would've learned my lesson if I discovered Kiezlowski in '96, but ouch, old habits die hard.

-s.

I was the film reviewer for my university daily, and was paid per article. I remember one week in particular when the only movie playing in town that had a decent actor (Ed Harris) was something called Milk Money, a feel-good drama about an abused prostitute with a heart of gold who is redeemed by the love of a young boy blah blah blah. About 20 minutes into the film, I was reeling from the remorseless onslaught of clichés and decided, paycheck or no, this film was not worth 90 minutes of my life plus the amount of time it would take me to slam it in print. I left the theatre and enjoyed the night air. It was a beautiful evening.

I think this might be a better way to calculate IQ. Then subtract the number of minutes of Milk Money you've seen. There's your IQ. I think I watched half.

I walked out of

- Top Gun
- Angel Heart

I haven't walked out of one for years--hopefully I've become more discerning about which movies I see--but I have stopped DVDs at home before they finish, including Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Yes, if we're counting DVD's for reasons other than sleepiness or phone interruptions, or children on fire...

Interview With a Vampire
Series 6 or is it 7? or 8? The fake reality show (wow - that's a postmodern mouthful) about klilling people.

This isn't The Rant Room, right? I can complain about other people's choices?

Why in the world did you walk out on Series 7? Other than one very damaging mistake in the concept -- having people forced to participate rather than volunteer for it -- it would have made that year's top ten list for me. And Brooke Smith was awesome, as always.

Dale

I know there are some fans around here. And even though Ken asked not to complain here, my defense is simple. I thought the movie was well-conceived and interesting, but after it made its point (in the first two minutes) the violence was some of the most graphic I'd ever witnessed. Perhaps because these were supposed to be real people. The pregnant women in particular really pushed me over the edge. If you want to challenge me further I'll be glad to discuss. Just link me to the old thread.

Never walked out... but I've fallen asleep a few times.

The most notorious incident was when Sara and I went to see The Matrix with a friend. I snoozed through most of the movie, but woke up when the music and sound effects got loud so I could see the special effects.

I voted "other", because the one time I wanted to walk out my husband talked me out of it because "...it might get better. Let's wait a bit longer." It didn't, then suddenly rushed to a "holy cow! We're going over budget! Wrap it up quick!" kind of ending. That was my experience with the Casper Van Dien (sp) Tarzan movie.

Also, when I was a wee Sea Scout and we were on leave in Bremerton (which in the late 70s was about as exciting as a bar of soap but nowhere near as clean), the only thing playing that night was "The Black Hole". Here I am, a teenager (abeit a science nerd teenager), and a sci-fi nut, and I want to leave soooooo bad because it's sooooo awful...but there's nothing else to do and the rest of the crew is fixated. Bleh.

As far a home viewing "walk outs" go; some pals rented "Harold & Kumar..." and I lasted about five minutes before I decided it was past my bed time. I thought it was just plain stupid.

I rented "Swordfish" because I'd heard it had "cool guns" in it, which would keep my hubby interested, but both of us were appalled after about ten minutes. John Travolta was really irritating and the sexual assault on the protagonist right out of the gate was pure shock value cheapness. The kids at the video store couldn't understand when I brought it back 20 minutes after walking out with it. They did not offer to send me home with a replacement choice free of charge, and that's when the glamour of the video store finally wore off for good. This has turned into a rant, which I will now continue in the rant room...

When we have some steady income I'm going back to Netflix.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The end.

Neb

In college, some friends of my now-wife rented Clerks; apparently one of them had heard it was very funny, so they and Kim and I decided to give it a chance. Ten minutes later, they'd turned it off and put in The Princess Bride.

Dale

Ahem-ish.

I've seen the whole thing, dating to a time when I felt compelled to see every film that was filmed locally. There are a few nice shots of the city.

I've never left a film voluntarily. My dad took my sister and I to see one of the Friday the 13th movies when I was 13 or 14. I'm pretty sure he had almost no idea what the films were about, and I didn't have any firsthand experience myself. We were drug out somewhere around the twenty minute mark.

Oh -- and I should mention that at one point during our courtship, my wife-to-be and I discovered that we had both walked out of Top Gun. We knew then, of course, that we must be destined for great things (so to speak).

I have walked out of two movies in my life.

These two events were separated by nearly 20 years. On both occasions I was at the theater with a guest. The first time, it was my guest who mentioned the prospect of leaving, and I agreed. The second time, it was I who mentioned it and my guest who agreed. (It was a different guest.)

In both cases I left because the film had sufficiently disgraced itself in my estimation that I reached a moral certitude that no conceivable second half could redeem the film in my eyes, and furthermore even on the slight chance that I was wrong it wasn't important enough to me to stick around and find out.

Here is the first film.

Here is the second film.

When I was a teenage fundy, I walked out of Full Metal Jacket. Around the same era I saw Blue Velvet, which I almost walked on... and wished i had.

Turned off the DVD: Leaving Las Vegas.
Wish I'd turned off the DVD: Mulholland Drive.
Wife wishes I'd turned off the DVD: Memento.
Watched all the way, waiting for redemption or something interesting/unpredictable (got about thirty seconds of the latter and none of the former): The Jimmy Show.
Wish I'd left: Full Frontal.
Wife wishes we'd left: Primer (not me — I was intrigued).

How about walking out of plays? I can think of two: a miserable community-college production of She Stoops to Conquer in Sequim, Washington, and an atrocious adaptation of Poe stories at Hyperion Theatre in Los Angeles, which managed in the first thirty seconds to imply that Poe was a necrophiliac.

I was young, and those blue electrical zappy things in Star Trek were scary. What can I say?

As an adult, I suppose I research enough about movies before I decide I want to see them, and my wife & I go out to the theater rarely enough... that if I think there's a chance I'll walk out on a movie I probably just won't go to see it. Feel free to heap "shame on you"s if you wish.

Walking out on movies is great fun.

Movies:
Backbeat - We (my girlfriend, now wife) walked out because of the constant sexual content (shagging) and demeaning attitude towards women.
Michael, with John Travolta, we asked for our money back.
Dances With Wolves, need I say more.
Grifters I wish I had walked out

Intentionally stopped DVDs (I soooo wish the list was longer):
Blue Velvet
Clerks
Harold and Kumar...
Panic Room we stopped and I rushed back to BB in order to exchange it.

This is beginning to sound like it belongs in "The Rant Room."

I don't think I have ever walked out of a film, and even when I watch something on DVD, I feel obliged to finish it once I start it -- although, in those cases, I might break the viewing of the film into multiple sessions. Heck, it's only in recent years that I've begun to allow myself to walk out of a theatre during the credits -- although, if the film is a comedy or a cartoon or the sort of film that might have an extra bit of footage after the credits, I'll still stick around.

I HAVE fallen asleep during a few screenings, especially when I'm catching a double-bill at the 'theque and my body decides it really can't make it through the second film, or the late part of the program -- it always annoys me when that happens. But even THAT doesn't happen too often.

And at least two films have been such big wastes of my time that I left the theatre quoting Henry David Thoreau to the effect that "you cannot kill time without injuring eternity" -- the films in question being The Specialist, starring Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone, and the aforementioned Michael.

But what about the filmmaker's obligation to give you something worthwhile?

mrmando wrote:
: But what about the filmmaker's obligation to give you something worthwhile?

[ shrug ] He puts months if not years of his life into the project, and I put in only a couple hours. The least I can do is see if the film redeems itself by the end.

Films I can remember walking out on (I'm sure there are more.)

Akira.
I was a college freshman, and the only foreign films I'd seen were Babette's Feast, Jean de Florette, and Manon of the Spring. For some reason, about a half hour into Akira, my spirit became deeply troubled to the point of nausea, and I decided I had better leave. I wonder what I would think of it now.

Titan A.E.
It was sooooo not working for me. The painful Top 40 rock soundtrack. The lazy character design. (The talking kangaroo was far more aggravating to me than Jar-Jar Binks ever was.) And the number of lines lifted right out of the Star Wars films went beyond annoying to just making me mad. I left with about fifteen minutes left in the film. You'd think having made it that far, I'd just stick around to see how it ended. But really, I just couldn't take it.

Film I would have walked out on, if I hadn't been with a friend:
K-Pax
Still can't believe how many complaints I get for having given it a bad review.

Sirens.
Man, that movie made me angry.

Intersection
Richard Gere. Man, I just don't get the appeal of that guy.



Film I would have walked out on if it weren't for Juliette Binoche
The English Patient - Man, that movie made me angry. I wonder what I would think of it now.


Film I would have walked out on if it weren't for Lena Olin
Mr. Jones
Painful.


Films with Richard Gere I'm glad I didn't walk out on
Sommersby (The Return of Richard Guerre) - Just barely worth seeing.
Shall We Dance? - Just barely worth seeing.
Days of Heaven - Beautiful, in spite of Gere.

It's really not much more interesting than that. It was rather violent and she wasn't hardened to violence yet. I have helped her out with that issue, regretfully.

It turns out that she wasn't trying to avoid me, we really did just miss each other. This all lead to what was probably our first heated discussion after being back together again (after being apart for two years after the first time we dated). But we made up, obviously, and now the doctor tells her he thinks our second child is arriving this week (the words "fully effaced" are how he described the situation).

-s.

Let's go Brandon Lee Loy!

and if it turns out to be a girl, Brenda Leigh Loy.

I walked out on The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

Of course, it was like the 6th time I'd seen it, but my girlfriend made it to the part where they [spoiler]cut out Pup's belly button[/spoiler] and she said "I'm leaving. You can stay if you want." I debated for a moment, then decided Yeah, I'd better go...

Years later she did the same thing with Closet Land. This was after we'd broken up but were still friends--and I'd rented the movie not knowing what it was about, just knowing we both liked Madeline Stowe and Alan Rickman. Her parting shot was "You always know how to pick 'em."

I felt nonplussed...like the look on Jack Nicholson's face in The Shining when Shelley Duvall accuses him of abusing their son after Danny goes into Room 237...

The only other movie I left was Coma, which I snuck into when I was about 9. Bad idea. I snuck back out, because roomfuls of bodies was a bit too much for me at that age. And a blue Tom Selleck with his tongue kinda pokin' out was just, like, yuck.

I've never walked out of a movie in my memory. Of course, since I don't get paid to review films, it's rare that I see a movie that I don't have some interest in.

However, a friend of mine once walked out of Coyote Ugly when we went to see it. I stayed to "enjoy" it.

The Whole Nine Yards -- I was watching it at a dollar theater with a friend, and about half-way through, the movie became so predictable that my friend said, "You wanna go?" I don't regret it.

The only DVD I can remember stopping intentionally was Angels in America. There was a homosexual sex scene that sickened me. Really, the sound of it sickened me. I've seen worse on Six Feet Under, but there was something particularly upsetting about it at that exact moment.

Now if you asked how many times I've walked out of a church... that would've been a much higher number.

Totally forgot--I walked out of Showgirls because I was paged to come back to work 15 minutes before the end. I really could have waited...but nah.

Alan, this post needs to be somehow incorporated into Jason's title ASAP.

When I was five or so I was scared to death by the big storm in American Tail and had to leave.

Yes: A friend of mine, her family and I went to see a showing of the film "1776"
at NYC's Radio City Music Hall some thirty years ago, when I was visiting her. That film was SOOOO boring that we both walked out in the middle of it and waited in the ladies lounge of Radio City Music Hall until it was over. We weren't the only ones--there were these two older women who'd also walked out of "1776" and who were laughing to each other about it.

Oops!

Just realized I told a fib. Back in 1985 I was on a date and we went to see the rerelease of Fantasia. I was not a true cinema afficionado yet (that began in earnest in 1988) and I didn't realize that Fantasia was a set of animated sequences without a strong plot holding it together. Both my girlfriend and I were bored and decided to try the new Timothy Hutton movie, "Turk 182!."

We shouldn't have skipped Fantasia and we should have walked out of Turk 182!

Houseguest

Speaking of gay sex, Wilde was way over the top. We turned that one off rather quickly.

When I was really young, my mother carried me out of the theatre when I got scared during The Elephant Man. That movie still kind of creeps me out.

I wish I had left Dangerous Beauty. I had difficulties with the premise of defend your local prostitute.

I fell asleep during The Truman Show.

The closest I ever came to walking out was during "The Rookie" with Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen. The female on male rape scene was bad enough but the ending was so morally offensive I was tempted to leave. And bear in mind, at that time in my life I was a high school kid who mostly watched dumb action movies and not much else. (I'd like to believe my tastes have improved since then.)

Just recently, I walked out of 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' - come to think of it, this may've been the first time I walked out of a movie. I just found it very unfunny; plus, I was tired, and the special effects were giving me a headache.

I have walked out of at least two films.

Blue Velvet. First time I saw it the zooming in on the ear almost gave me a panic attack - and then I spent the rest of the time before leaving waiting for a particular torture scene someone had told me would be in the film. After a while I just decided that this isn't any fun, so what is the point, and left.
Since I have seen Blue Velvet several times. It turned out the torture scene didn't even exist. And it is now definitely on my top 200 list.

I also walked out on 1900 because I got very irritated for some obscure reason which now elude me. THis is also a film I have watched and enjoyed in it's entirety later.

If the circumstances under which I had seen it had been different, I would easily have walked out on The Cat in the Hat. Alas, when I saw it I was killing time before a party, so walking out would have been just as much a waste of time as staying.

Link to new 'Movies you walked out on' thread. (Perhaps they should be merged?)

I knew the new thread sounded familiar. Thanks for reminding us Russ and from keeping me from saying the same exact thing.

Also, Peter just because one might follow his wife out of a theater does not mean he is whipped; love and respect are also shown in this way. Enjoy marriage!

I have walked out on three films in my life: Prizzi's Honour and Liquid Sky through sheer boredom, and The Honeymoon Killers in order not to miss the last train home.

The closest I've ever come to walking out on a movie was shutting off my rental of The Apostle. I think it was shortly after Robert Duvall attacked a man with a baseball bat and I felt the movie was going nowhere I cared about. However this was long long before I got "into" film, I'd say.

The ones I can remember:

Risky Business: couldn't figure out why every woman present wasn't walking out

The Emerald Forest: hamfisted symbolism

Michael: what a bore

King Kong: got our money back


On DVD? Too many to list or remember. The latest: Gods and Generals.

Yeah, I think you might want to revisit it and see where the film goes from there.