Like many others, Gothamist headed to the movies this weekend. We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the Oompas Loompas rule), and to our surprise, more disturbing than Johnny Depp's characterization of Willy Wonka was the behavior of some of our fellow moviegoers. During the afternoon showing full of adults and children alike, a young girl start to bawl during the movie. Not fun for the rest of us, but it happens. Except usually parents will usher a child out of the theater if the crying is excessive. But these parents let her cry for at least 10 minutes, before other moviegoers of the aggro kind started to scream, "GET HER OUT!" repeatedly. So the bawling girl's father takes her down to the middle of the theater...but doesn't take her out, letting her cry there longer. That's when an angry patron trying to get his $10.50 worth stood up and got in the father's face. After a few moments of the two men staring each other down (some possible pushing might have occured but we were trying to watch the movie), the father took his daughter, plus his wife and other child, out of the theater.
Now, aside from being sort of excited in a mob justice way, Gothamist was disappointed by the behavior of our fellow moviegoers. We're surprised that someone would try to get into a fight during an children's movie, but the first transgressors were the parents who let their kids cry in the movie too long. And in another Charlie & the Chocolate Factory moviegoing incident, one couple talked throughout the movie, comparing it to the book. Gothamist thought the movie social contract was to loudly comment until people would be embarrassed enough to shush, but are we in an unembarrassable time? And is it just us, or are moviegoers getting worse and worse?
Ask Gothamist tackled movie annoyances and latecomers; and the City Council is trying to get movie theaters to present the real showtimes of their movies. And did you see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? What did you think? And what about the book and the 1971 movie? We're going to get the soundtrack because the Willy Wonka song is stuck in our head.
