How Far Into A Film Can You Tell If It's Going To Be Good Or Not?

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

I can generally tell in the first two minutes I reckon. I don't think I've ever been proved wrong.
Sometimes you can tell by the titles alone of course.

[Jemble Fred]

I don't think I've ever been proved wrong.

But how could you ever know if you were wrong or right...?

This is largely dependent on whather you've actually paid to see a film or not. I'd never give up on something I'd paid for until at least the halfway point. But then I'm very picky with movies, so it's rare that I'd ever 'just give something a go'. If I'm giving up 90 minutes or more of my lifespan, it has to be something I'm pretty keen to see anyway.

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Sorry, I phrased that badly. What I meant was "I've never been massively surprised." I've never thought a film was shit two minutes in only to think it was a masterpiece at the end, or vice versa.

[Subtle Mocking]

Most can usually tell by the trailer.

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Most can usually tell by the trailer.

What, the trailer for the film or the trailer for other films on the DVD?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

What a load of fucking bullshit.

[Famous Mortimer]

I have a 20-minute rule with films, in that if they've not shown themselves worthy of viewing in some way by then, it's going to get turned off. The only film I've apparently missed out on from the hundreds of films which haven't made it to half an hour is "Dead Snow", which I thought was super-tedious but most people I talked to about it said was great.

[Subtle Mocking]

What, the trailer for the film or the trailer for other films on the DVD?

For the film, of course. It's easier to skip them on DVD.

[Johnny Textface]

Three recent film abandonments - but should I have carried on?

Antichrist - 25 mins
Transformers - 1 hour
The Hours - About 10 mins

[Jemble Fred]

Impossible to say – it's beyond my ability to empathise with anyone who could get through the first minute of any Transformers film without killing something, let alone a whole hour. I'm glad I saw Antichrist, but that doesn't mean you weren't right to give up when you did.

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Trailers aren't a great indicator of a film's worth though. Quite often they contain stuff that's not even in the film, or they give a wildly inaccurate picture (like the Sweeny Todd one that didn't mention it was a musical.)

Oddly enough, you can get a sinking feeling from the other trailers on the DVD though. If they're all films with terrible titles you've never heard of you do tend to think "Uh-oh."

[Subtle Mocking]

Transformers - 1 hour

If anything you stayed for too long! I did about the same with the sequel, perhaps I should write to Michael Bay asking for that hour back in lieu...

[Famous Mortimer]

Three recent film abandonments - but should I have carried on?

Antichrist - 25 mins
Transformers - 1 hour
The Hours - About 10 mins

My flatmate is a huge Transformers fan, so I went to the cinema to see the first Transformers film. And, at the basest level, it had Megan Fox looking pretty in it. Dunno about Antichrist, but I loved The Hours.

[Johnny Textface]

Well it was fun for an hour, the bit where they're hiding in the garden finished me off though.

[Subtle Mocking]

Also, with the criteria of ditching a film after a certain number of minutes, does one allow longer for a longer film and vice versa? If a film is nearly three hours long it may not get to the point as quickly as a film that's 90 minutes long.

[Famous Mortimer]

Also, with the criteria of ditching a film after a certain number of minutes, does one allow longer for a longer film and vice versa? If a film is nearly three hours long it may not get to the point as quickly as a film that's 90 minutes long.

It's not a hard-and-fast rule, and can be adapted for film length / subject matter / people saying "it takes a while to get going". But I'd recommend adopting a rule like this for all media, really. There's so much that we need to occasionally not finish something.

[Subtle Mocking]

Yep. It's often not so much thinking that the rest of the film/show is going to be bad, just that you're probably not going to enjoy it.

[Dark Sky]

The Hours - About 10 mins

The Hours is one of my favourite films, but to be honest, if you're not absolutely thrilled by the stunning first ten minutes of it, it's probably not for you.

I actually never stop watching films, even if I hate it. They're usually only two hours long or less, so I stick them out.  Also, I've either paid for them for the DVD, or to see them at the cinema, as I never watch films on TV because they've "probably" been edited.

Never ever walked out of a film at a cinema.  Can't imagine anyone doing it, but apparently people do?

[mjwilson]

I got quite a long way into "Dogtooth" before starting to hate it.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

You should probably give it 30 minutes to be sure as the meat of the story doesn't usually kick in until around then, but in reality you'll probably know in the first 3 (not including the credits).

[kidsick5000]

haven't made it to half an hour is "Dead Snow", which I thought was super-tedious but most people I talked to about it said was great.

Huge disappointment. Zombie Nazis. the thing writes itself. How the frig do you fuck up a film about zombie Nazis?
I got to the end but not without a lot of scanning.

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Actually, the first line of dialogue. That's when you can tell.

[Dark Sky]

You should probably give it 30 minutes to be sure as the meat of the story doesn't usually kick in until around then, but in reality you'll probably know in the first 3 (not including the credits).

It always annoys me in high concept Hollywood films where "the big event" doesn't happen until twenty/thirty minutes in, because invariably there's this huge mysterious build up to it, and yet you're sitting there thinking, "I know it's going to happen, I saw it in the trailer".

What's great, however, is when a film deliberately plays with your expectations of what's going to happen.  E.g., Bill Cosby comedy and possible "best film ever", Ghost Dad.  It starts with the dad (Bill Cosby), NOT as a ghost.

"Aha," you think.  "He's gonna die horribly and become a ghost!" 

And then the clever narrative takes you on a fun game of "how's he gonna die!", involving lots of misdirection and red herrings.  It's genius!

Well, it's not.  But I liked that the story knew that the audience was one step ahead.

Huge disappointment. Zombie Nazis. the thing writes itself. How the frig do you fuck up a film about zombie Nazis?
I got to the end but not without a lot of scanning.

I found Dead Snow a bit boring at first, then livened up when the gore got good.  It was fine.

[Gulftastic]

You can never tell. I remember watching 'Dumb & Dumber' and thinking it was OK, but not  the laugh riot I'd been promised.

Almost as soon as Lloyd & Harry start their road-trip, it got amazing.

[Pepotamo1985]

they give a wildly inaccurate picture (like the Sweeny Todd one that didn't mention it was a musical)

1. I saw several trailers for Sweeney Todd, both on TV and before films in the cinema. While they were selectively focused on action, they both ended with Todd singing, musical style. So, not sure how that deceived you to the film's true content.

2. Sweeney Todd is - get this - a well known musical. The film adaption was hardly going to be a straight drama or horror film then, was it?

[Serge]

I don't have a specific rule of thumb, but I'd guess half an hour is probably enough. Having said that, I have occasionally sat through films that I was absolutely hating, just to see if they were annoying all the way through - 'Amelie' being the prime example of this. I needed to know if I could hate the whole film rather than just assume it was from the early stages.

I've never walked out of a film at the cinema, though this is largely because all of the ones I wished I had - 'Sin City', 'Kill Bill Part 1', 'Control', etc - I went to see with other people, and I thought it would be rude just to get up and walk out and leave them on their own.

[Mister Six]

Well it was fun for an hour, the bit where they're hiding in the garden finished me off though.

See, that was exactly the right point to leave it. I was restless for a bit before that (though as you say, the start of the film is okay), but when it got to that scene (which seemed to go on for hours) I thought, 'Right - lightly comic sequence to create a tonal counterpoint to the big dramatic climax. Bit of humorous scampering about and then we're done.' But then John Tuturro turned up and I realised that it wasn't a character - they were introducing a new character, and the film was going to go on on for another hour and a half at least and OH FUCK OFF.

The worst bit was that I convinced two mates to see that piece of shit. I'm amazed they still talk to me.

[Famous Mortimer]

Never ever walked out of a film at a cinema.  Can't imagine anyone doing it, but apparently people do?

"Robin Hood: Men In Tights". I made it to about halfway before walking out (and hurling good-natured abuse at my mate who worked at the cinema).

[El Unicornio, mang]

A friend of a friend posted a facebook comment saying that he walked out of Public Enemies after the first 5 minutes, and had "wished he'd gone to see Transformers 2 instead".

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

1. I saw several trailers for Sweeney Todd, both on TV and before films in the cinema. While they were selectively focused on action, they both ended with Todd singing, musical style. So, not sure how that deceived you to the film's true content.

2. Sweeney Todd is - get this - a well known musical. The film adaption was hardly going to be a straight drama or horror film then, was it?

But Sweeney Todd isn't just a musical, is it? It's a story that's been around since 1846 - and there are four, four, non-musical films of it, as well as a play, a ballet and numerous non-musical radio and TV adaptations.