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

[Retinend]

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".

I did so after about 40 minutes. I can't tolerate Depp these days, and nothing about it made me sympathise in any way with him. The romance was the corniest crap yet the script clearly believed it was the height of film noir urbanity. It was like seeing little kids dress in mummy and daddy clothes and play "grown-ups".

[El Unicornio, mang]

I didn't like the film either (surpising to me as I always like Mann's films) but I would give anything more than 5 mins (especially if I'd paid to see it at the cinema)! 40 mins seems reasonable to me

[Famous Mortimer]

I didn't like the film either (surpising to me as I always like Mann's films) but I would give anything more than 5 mins (especially if I'd paid to see it at the cinema)! 40 mins seems reasonable to me

Can't you ask for your money back if you've not been in there longer than X minutes? Or is that an urban myth?

[waste of chops]

Re: misleading trailers, I've seen a fair few trailers for foreign films which (deliberately?) don't include any dialogue which hides the fact that it's subtitled. Not a problem for me, but...

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

...I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon at the cinema, and a group of girls walked out after 5 minutes when they realised it was going to be subtitled. I saw Hero at the pictures too, and someone sitting near me said loudly "Oh, I don't come to the cinema to read" when the first subtitles appeared, but at least he shut up and stayed for the rest of the film.

[variant]

I don't think I've ever walked out/given up on a film even though some have been a real struggle to get though. At worst I've had to stop the DVD and come back to it but I feel like I should always make it to the bitter end.

Films I wish I had given up on include:

Clueless
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Amelie
Beerfest


EDIT: Oh and Zombie Strippers.

[Jemble Fred]

I don't think I'd have ever walked out of a cinema halfway through a film either, the idea seems mad, when you've paid... until I went to see Austin Powers 3. I couldn't put myself through any more after that Michael Caine/pissing statue scene. I was losing braincells.

[phes]

I left Half-way through

Alice in Wonderland
The A-team

Both outrageously crap in their own way.

[The Boston Crab]

I walked out of so many films in China because the audiences are full of absolute cretins. People think nothing of having normal volume conversations during the film, as if it's their own front room.

[Glebe]

Obviously a good opening scene does not necessarily a good movie make, but there's nothing like a spine-tingling opening-sequence to kick things off. I love the start of Close Encounter, the way it starts off quietly with a black screen, then John Williams music build to a crescendo and we're suddenly transported to the Mexican desert... more recently The Dark Knight, which really grabs you from the start.

[Mister Six]

I walked out of so many films in China because the audiences are full of absolute cretins. People think nothing of having normal volume conversations during the film, as if it's their own front room.

Very much the same in Dubai. People will just sit there talking on their mobile phones, the fucking twats.

[dr beat]

I was very close to walking out of Synedoche: New York after 30 mins when I went to see it.  I stayed, and while I think it has its flaws, I'm actually glad I saw it to completion.

[vrailaine]

Generally more down to my mood than anything, although it can be pretty bloody fast for shorter films, and I usually don't have the patience/attention-span for longer ones.