xtcian

I fell asleep during "Father of the Bride" with Steve Martin.

That's like walking out, right?

Aloha,
lisa

Walked out of Rain Man, and still don't know what happened. I just found Dustin Hoffman too darn annoying.

Walked out of Strange Days: all the virtual sex crime was too much to take.

Have seen none of the Godfather nor any of the Rocky movies, so I supposed I've virtually walked out on them.

Have seen Heaven Can Wait half a dozen times.

Elephant Man and Pink Floyd's The Wall. The first was giving me the willies and the second bored me to tears.

I was only ten and at the movie with my parents, so instead of walking out, I put my ski jacket over my face and cried until it was over. (Yeah, I also wonder why my parents didn't take me out.) I'm aware the Elephant Man is supposed to be a great movie and I wasn't frightened by his appearance. His suffering and humiliation was just more than I'd ever imagined at that age. I actually went home and cried the rest of the day and haven't dared to see the movie since.

Funny you mention "The Cook..." because that's the only film I can recall people fleeing en masse. Me and my girlfriend stayed until the bitter end, but about two thirds of the patrons left before it was over and a dozen left during the first scene alone.

I've never left a movie before the end.

I have seen the Wall countless times but I don't remember anything about it. I guess my brain walked out but the body stayed.

Hey! I walked out of "The Cook. . . " in Chapel Hill, too! I HATED that movie!

Let's see. I walked out of some horrible Robin Williams movie called "Toys", I think. I kept waiting for a plot that never came. I fell asleep during Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" and Mel Gibson's "Braveheart." I remember telling my husband that "Unforgiven" was so dark -- literally a visually dark film -- lots of night-time scenes? -- and I couldn't stay awake.

In contrast, the first movie that I remember NEVER WANTING IT TO END and being glued to my seat the entire time was "Raiders of the Lost Ark." What a movie!

va heff and i went to 'the cook, the thief,...' back in our charlottesville days and we not only survived the entire screening, but we also managed to scarf down bowls of ragu-drenched pasta back at our pad afterward. i recall staring dolefully down at my crimson din-din and wondering, 'how can i be hungry enough to chow anything so soon after...THAT FILM?!' >shudder<

I truly wanted to walk out of "From Hell" with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham, but didn't, for some reason, maybe because of the money. Really sucky movie about Jack the Ripper with lots of disemboweled prostitutes and nineteenth-century lobotomies. And Heather Graham.

My husband and I walked out of "Far from Heaven," which still saddens me because I'd heard great things and wanted to enjoy it. But the pace was so lugubrious that we just couldn't do it--probably had a lot to do with the fact that my husband had just recovered from emergency surgery and we were feeling like we needed to be savoring every moment.

I walked out of that Casino movie with Joe Pesce. I disliked Titanic so much that I became fascinated by the people who were staring raptly at the screen around me and so I watched them as much as the movie through the last quarter or so, looking at their reactions. I think that maybe Sean, Jordi and myelf may have walked out on "Showtime", but I'm not sure of that. I know we snuck into some movie afterwards that wasn't very good, either. It may have involved Ice Cube, for whom I usually have profound respect.

I walked out of Waterworld. Too horrible for words. I walked out of Jurassic Park after the t-rex tried to eat the kids in the jeep. It scared me to death and watching terrified children wasn't how I wanted to spend a night out at the movies. My husband and I walked out of the Big Lebowski when we first started dating not because it was bad, but because we were in the thralls of young love and well . . .you know.

I stopped watching "Liar, Liar" on a transatlantic flight after paying for headphones. Does that count? Of course, I wouldn't have even spent the money in the first place if they'd told the truth about what movie they were going to show. Jim Carrey's face drove me off after about 3 minutes.

When I was about 13 or 14, I walked out of "A Christmas Story" so that I could hang out with the cool kids who were going to smoke behind the theater.

More recently, I stayed through all of Napolean Dynamite (and liked it) despite the pleas of my buddy who was dying to leave after the first 30 minutes.

Walked out of "Serenity" the other day because a beagle was in pain--Sophie got paged.

I walked out of Forrest Gump.

I didn't walk out of the Cook but I hated it as much as any movie I've ever seen.

I wish I had walked out of the Twin Peaks movie.

I walked out of the end of that Dennis Quaid/Jake Gyllenhall (sp?) Global Warming movie.

I didn't walk out of Jurassic Park, but I agree with Salem's Little Sister that it was terrifying. I think it's the scariest movie I've ever seen in a theatre.

i walked out of "belly of an architect" when i lived in argentina. i also walked out of that striptease movie with burt reynolds and demi moore, back when there was a $3 movie theater in hell's kitchen. even though i'd only spent a few bucks, i could FEEL my brain rotting.

I walked out of Making Love. I just thought the entire movie was pointless.

Ehren, we also walked out of CASINO. And we were seeing it for free at the Johnny Knight premiere at the Varsity.

To console date 15 minutes before the end of "Kids" in 1995. Note to self: Kids is not a good date movie.

>>I walked out of Making Love.

;) That comment made me laugh.

I walked out of Charlie's Angels and Interview with the Vampire...in my own living room. Then I realized all I needed to do was press "Stop." I'm not good with those newfangled what do you call them, VCRs.

The pumpkin patch is likely getting sooooaked this morning.

walked out of "the accidental tourist" (on purpose). also saw "the cook..." at the varsity - which didn't have room for the full movie name, remember? i thought i was going to a movie about a cook and a thief. that was way before the people with no business being naked on screen got naked. ugh.

I think I'm one of about 3 males in the world who HATED this movie...though I didn't actually walk out, it was only because my friends wouldn't leave with me. THE MATRIX.

ugh. vanilla sky. we didn't actually leave, but we both napped during the never-ending last half.

Hi everyone--although I've often read Ian's blog for years now, I've never posted, but for some reason, today is the day. I saw "The Cook..." when I was 15 at the student center in Athens, GA (where I grew up). And I remember being completely transfixed. I think it was the first time I witnessed art going to that dark, creepy place, and I was mesmorized b/c I didn't know such things existed.

I saw 9 1/2 Weeks at that theatre as well, which also taught me a couple of things I didn't know about...

I didn't walk out of either.

Have a great day everyone!

I walked out of "Terminator 3" in protest.

To make matters worse, it was playing on my TV.

Luckily it wasn't cold out yet.

I can't recall ever walking out of a movie, either.

I did give "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" a 'snoring ovation' -- which I'm told it deserved.

I nearly walked out of the horrid "8MM" with Nicolas Cage -- my friend and I were groaning out loud and virtually begging his character to cease his investigation and bring the movie to a close.

I didn't really watch "Kids" so much as watch the kids in theater in Georgetown watching "Kids" -- they seemed to be having a grand time seeking a high in bottles of Robitussin. Can you still do that, or is that only in Jim Carroll autobiographies?

Oh my God, I was there when Chris walked out of Forrest Gump, was sitting right next to him. I've told the story a number of times, with the walking out happening at different moments, so now I'm not sure exactly what it was. I *want* it to be when Jenny gets the mystery virus, but if my memory is right, it was when Forrest just started to run.

In any case, Chris leaned back sharply and made the signal at the screen for a technical foul and then marched out of the theater. You have to know, he's not the kind of person who does this sort of thing for other people's benefit, he just didn't know any better way of saying what he wanted to say, so he t'ed up the movie and threw himself out. It made me enjoy the rest of the movie so much more knowing they were playing with one technical.

Oh, and Mom and I (and Michelle) walked out of Made In America because in one scene, Ted Danson was on an elephant chasing Whoopi Goldberg on a bicycle, and they both ended up getting thrown into a fountain.

I mean, I sat through the entire Tommy Lee Jones Texas Cheerleader movie, so it's not like I have standards. It's just, Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg meeting cute by falling off an elephant into a fountain, irony free, I just couldn't do any more.

I, too, saw The Cook, The Thief . . . in Chapel Hill. I realized then that I couldn't trust the friend who recommended it to me and I still don't understand or recall anything more from that movie than they ate the fat dude near the end. I walked out of LAST ACTION HERO with Ah-nuld. And I walked out of THE BURBS with Tom Hanks. In law school a group of us all went to see the Nicole Kidman bomb, "To Die For". We all stayed through the entire stupid movie. However, after getting out, we all agreed that if one of us would have had the stones to suggest it, we ALL would have left early.

Laurie, how could you not like Braveheart? It's one of the best movies ever.

I can't remember a movie that I have ever walked out of. Come to think of it, I can't even think of a rental I have never finished. I believe there is something magical about movies that makes be believe that even a crappy movie will redeem itself at the end. Sometimes I am wrong though. And I never started to watch The Cook, so maybe I would have ditched it.

Hi Greg. I know, I know. I need to rent "Braveheart" and give it a chance. We saw it during a miserable period when I was working at a horrible law firm, all stressed out all the time, and I was always so exhausted that I couldn't stay awake past 10pm. When I woke up in the theater, my husband said, "You just missed the best movie I have ever seen." There again, it was all about the scenery and colors. . .lots of blues and greens and foggy landscapes, and I was out cold.

I LOVED "To Die For"! It was the first time I realized that Nicole was talented instead of just being Tom's arm candy. Joaquin Phoenix was great as well!

Am I the only one who saw that "Toys" movie? It was the worst movie ever! And, the worst kids' movie I have seen with my daughter is "The Country Bears." God, that was AWFUL.

I don't care if it was directed by Barry Levinson. It stunk!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105629/

i can't recall ever walking out of a movie...as a director, i sort of consider every screening to be a lesson, whether it's what not to do, what can happen when casting goes wrong, or whatever.

but, the last movie i was DYING to walk out of was KUNG FU HUSTLE. i think there was a huge cultural divide and unuderstanding of chinese genre films keeping me from getting it, so i mostly found it offensive, repetitious, and boring.

the last movie i stopped watching, while on a plane, was KICKING AND SCREAMING. i can watch will ferrell do almost anything, but this was SO bad...man, i can't even find words to describe it.

thanks for the code word, ian, and safe travels!!

My date made me walk out of Mike Leigh's "Naked". I suppose I could have stayed, but he had driven us there. (That should have been the first sign, but ya know.)

I feel asleep drunk during "Toys" at the Carolina Union during one of their movie nights - does that count?

Almost walked out of Heat. Instead found myself laughing through the last 45 minutes, or maybe it was the last hour and 45 minutes.

My date and I walked out of Pulp Fiction. I thought it was awful. I failed to see even a glimmer of entertainment in it. My date, who loved movies, took one look at my face and said "let's get out of here". The up side is that we've been married for almost 11 years and he still reads me better than anyone ever has.

Never walked out. Once I've plunked my dollars down, I have some faith that there's going to be some kind of payoff at the end. By the time it's over and I know for sure, it's too late to walk out during it.

To my mind, "The Cook" etc., "Bad Lieutenant" and "Sexy Beast" were movies that were horrible to sit through but had some degree of payoff at the end that made it at least sort of worthwhile. Your mileage may vary.

Also to my mind, "Highlander 2", "Meet the Feebles", "The Avengers" and "The Gift" (the one starring the Jane's Addiction guy) had no such payoff. Again, YMMV.

"The Gift" is probably the worst turkey I've ever seen, although "The Avengers" is the only one where I remember hearing actual, audible cries of disgust and anguish from other people as they raced for the exits...

I walked out of that Roger Rabbit cartoon movie

If planes count, then I stopped watching 'Hitch' after 15 minutes on a 14-hour flight this summer. I had nothing else to do - I literally sat and stared ahead of me - but it was better than the alternative. The middle aged business man I was sitting next to found it hilarious, though, so maybe I was missing something.

>> they seemed to be having a grand time seeking a high in bottles of Robitussin. Can you still do that, or is that only in Jim Carroll autobiographies?

Yes, some high school kids think it's awesome. My little brother (16 yrs. old) got caught after my mom cut off all of his access to weed. Now he's not allowed to go to CVS by himself. It's stupid and sad, but a little funny, that he brought on 24-hour parental supervision with cough medicine.

Walked out of "Hook". Just couldn't do it anymore. Did not realize that I should have given a technical foul.

Chip, how could I not know the technical foul story? I was living with you at the time! Anyway, I agree that "FG" was terrible, and I would've walked out had I been alone and not with Audrie, who sort of liked the movie. I watched "The Cook..." at the undergraduate library (at those little TVs with the laserdisc machines and the uncomfortable headphones) and I quit watching after 20 minutes or so. Disgusting. (Ryan Balot had sworn to me that it was redeemable artistically.) The only movie I've ever walked out on was an old Louis Malle movie that I saw at the North Carolina Museum of Art that was about an alcoholic and it was so relentlessly depressing that Katherine Cloninger and Jim Holm and I left before we were compelled to commit suicide in our seats.

You missed nothing. "Hitch" is one of the most awful movies ever.

"Dying Young" with Campbell Scott and Julia Roberts

I didn't remember the technical foul story. I do think I walked out when Forrest said "The doctors say she's got some kind of virus" a/k/a/ Jenny gets AIDS.

Eric:

I saw the Cook with Ryan Balot and we had a big disagreement on its' artistic merit, with me taking the "none" side.

three movies in the past month alone, all at the same theater. junebug, broken flowers (which I snuck into after junebug), thumbsucker (which my girlfriend sat through while I went to california pizza kitchen and drank margaritas)

I wanted so badly to like these movies, but they were all so tedious and square. (any movie where jeffrey wright is made to be cute and cuddly is a human rights violation.)

seeing good night and good luck tonight, featuring the lovely and talented ms. patricia clarkson. muy excited.

How funny, Susan. Maybe Pulp Fiction should be a compatibility litmus test. I saw it in 1994 on a first date. We both loved it and I'm due to give birth to our second child in 4 days!

"How funny, Susan. Maybe Pulp Fiction should be a compatibility litmus test. I saw it in 1994 on a first date. We both loved it and I'm due to give birth to our second child in 4 days!"

Your 2nd child in 4 days? OK, I'm impressed. :-)

Joanna-

A lot of people I know loved Pulp Fiction. Not my thing at the time I guess. On the other hand I found myself glued to the TV the other day when one of the "Kill Bill" movies was on. Perhaps I've become desensitized to violence over the last decade? Hmmm...

eric, I don't know if I know you or not, but I knew Jim Holm (we both shot for the Yack) and ran into him recently (umm, well, maybe 3 yrs ago recently) at his job in DC.

Anyway, back to the subject...

I walked out of Collateral because it sucked and out of the Last Samurai because Tom sucks and it was too violent. Hey wait. They've both got Tom in them. I guess I hate Tom.

Katie! No! Don't dis Tom! I love him so! Collateral and Last Samurai were fine films. You have to admit that he was excellent in Jerry Maguire. . . right? Right?!

To the Pulp Fiction fans. . . . I LOVE THAT FILM! My husband and I saw it in London during our honeymoon, and we were both blown away. I had never seen a film like that, and I am still waiting for another film to even come close. I thought about it for weeks afterward. I think that everything Q. Tarantino did afterward stunk (What was that Jackie Brown nonsense? The vampire film with George Clooney?), but Pulp Fiction was classic. If it is a lithmus test, I am not quite sure what that says about ME, but I loved that film.

And, how can you not like Forrest Gump! I have seen that movie 4 times! I loved that one too!

I took a date to see "Street Trash" at the Varsity in 1988 or so. Not a great idea. She walked out when the severed penis went flying around the junkyard, from one bum's hand to another's, in closeup...

I cheered when Robert Downey's character died in "Less Than Zero", and almost peed myself laughing over Andrew McCarthy's and Jamie Geertz's characters crying about it...

But the only flick I ever walked out on was "Henry & June", the bio of Anais Nin. If you had laid odds on my soul that I, 24 years old and stoned, would walk out on a movie that featured a nude, attractive woman as its star, I would have taken the bet and be serving satan as I type.

I walked out of "Naked Lunch," at the University Theater on Franklin Street. That's the last movie I can recall walking out on. I just was not enjoying myself. I never saw "The Cook, The Thief, etc," but now I wonder if I'd have stayed.

Otherwise, I rented "The Saddest Music of the World," on DVD and I stopped it 30 minutes in as I was completely bored.

did not walk out of good night and good luck, a compelling and relevant, if incomplete, film, featuring terrific performances from the underrated david strathairn and ray wise.

previews included jarhead, which doesn't look as good as it's cracked up to be (though annie seems to think the preview is amazing and I could absolutely be wrong), and syriana, which looks like it might be even better than the (truly amazing) preview.

(I love previews.)

good night, and good luck.

Deciding to start baking banana bread instead of watching "Spawn" on VHS with an ex...
Jon Leguizamo was the only redeeming thing in that piece of crap....
definitely the beginning of the end of that relationship.

Aloha,
lisa

Brazil. I ran sobbing from my seat. A movie theater usher came over to see if I was alright. The man I was living with at the time did not, and stayed through the end. Needless to say, I am NOT having his child in 4 days!! :)

For some reason I thought that the film of Angela's Ashes would be a good movie to watch when Catherine was 8 months pregnant.

It was not.

There's babies dying haywest and crooked in Angela's Ashes. It is not a good movie to watch when you are pregnant.

We stopped.

I honestly don't think I've ever walked out of a movie, but then I try to be pretty careful about what I'm willing to pay to see. Sure there have been plenty of turkeys, but I paid my money, so I'm going to suffer through it.

I did walk out on Jane's Addiction opening for Love and Rockets at dook back in 1987. Walked over to the chapel next door and listened to the organist for 45 minutes and then came back in to watch Love and Rockets. As I recall, I made some comments about how lousy Jane's was and how they'd never go anywhere.

I walked out of Mulholland Falls in 1996 in the Ram Triple on Franklin St. I told my friend, "if they light up cigarettes in 12 consequtive scenes... I'm gone." Left about 15 minutes later.

Forrest Gump was the last chicken fried scrap left on the baby boomers all you can eat buffet of navel-gazing and self congratulations.

that was chip with the above comment about Forrest Gump.

Of course I like Casino, at least what I've seen on cable, because I think it's shot beautifully.

I thought the trailer for JARHEAD was one of the best trailers I have ever seen. It transformed my complete disinterest in that movie into total interest.

>>Forrest Gump was the last chicken fried scrap left on the baby boomers all you can eat buffet of navel-gazing and self congratulations.

Chip/Chris - I am always saying the same thing. In fact, I said it to friends the other night at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, where we were having dinner. Can you imagine our generation doing that? "Gen x nostalgia is a FAD!!!" I liked Forrest Gump, but there's a reason it was popular besides the writing.

Just Andrew:

I had a similar concert experience in which I saw Ben Lee open up for the Lemonheads. I only wanted to see Ben so I left after the Lemonheads played "it's a shame about Ray", but opening up for both bands was a group I had never heard of called Matchbox 20. I groaned when my friend said she liked them and assured her that she'd better listen up 'cause she'd never hear them again. Whoops.

I walked out of Lost City, or whatever that terrible movie was that was based on a comic book, starring William Hurt. I wanted to walk out of Forrest Gump, but I was seeing it with someone who really seemed to be enjoying it, and I didn't want to be rude. But I hate that movie to this day, and lots of people don't understand why. I also almost walked out of Mulholland Drive. David Lynch, harumph. I was the only one in my group who didn't walk out of Chasing Amy, which I always think is interesting.

Greg,

Not sure if I know you or not. I was in the same fraternity as Jim, and we stayed close friends throughout my law school days at Duke. I have lost touch with him recently; we exchanged e-mails about a year and a half ago. It's funny, this thread made me think of him multiple times, because I also saw "Pulp Fiction" with him. We sat there slack-jawed in amazement. Such breathtaking originality.

Chip, you're hilarious. But I knew that already. Slide your animals some treats from Uncle Grib.

A latecomer to the discussion, I proffer the unreachably bad movie-never-to-be-watched-in-its-entirety, "The American President." Saw it in the mid-90s at the Varsity with Clay (as I remember, it wasn't too hard to convince him to leave) and it remains the only theater movie I've ever walked out of. It was so bad, I don't even remember why it was bad. I remember a helicopter on the White House Lawn--I remember scenes of the "President" (Michael Douglas) having intimate little jokey flirtations on the phone with Annette Bening--I remember a waltz scene in slo-mo. No, no.....

Funny thing was, I went to see it on the recommendation of Novie (redhead of Pepper's fame) who was no fool, in fact quite sharp. Then again, she also recommended "How to Make an American Quilt."