Films you've seen people walk out from

[CaledonianGonzo]

With a title like 'Unzipped', one could perhaps hazard a guess...

[MojoJojo]

Get Shorty had loads of people walk out of when I saw it. Probably lots of people who had been mislead by critics saying it was good, when it was crap.

[thenoise]

A few walk-outs from Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, pretty early on - I assume because they weren't expecting a musical, but maybe it was the actors' singing voices :-)
Dancer in the Dark had several walkouts when I saw it, mainly due to the audience of drunk students behaving like total cunts and spoiling the film throughout.  My mum walked out of that one too but said she found the camerawork dizzying.
Still never walked out of a film.  Saw some stinkers at university much I was much too mean to leave.

[Cohaagen]

One night when I was about seven years old I was allowed to have my friends Thomas and Edward (choo-choo), a couple of English brothers who lived half a mile down the road from me, around for a sleepover. We spent the day in the woods playing "Vietnam", fashioning punji stick traps and doing sweeps of the nearby "'ville" (holiday homes owned by itinerant tycoons), while my mother went into town to get a video for us to watch before bed.

She came back with fucking Robocop which, for some reason she thought was a cartoon. My mate's mother, a very plummy and outspoken English lady who at the time happened to be heavily pregnant with her sixth child, came over to say goodnight to her boys and sat with us to watch a bit of the film. Naked disgust and horror flushed her gills from virtually the very beginning, and rose steadily with each "fuck", "shit", and double bloodpack squib. She endured the Dutch madman's masterwork right up until the hand came off, whereupon she leaped up, shouted "Thomas, Edward - we're leaving!", and literally dragged her kids away screaming in a cloud of sherbert, tears and snotters.

I got to watch the rest, though!

[Chutney]

I wanted to leave Kalifornia, but was watching it at the Metro Centre and had been given a lift there, so I was pretty much being held hostage by it.

[momatt]

I've walked out of Tank Girl, just because it was awful, ditto Jackie Brown, and Romeo and Juliet because my friend roared ''WOOOOOOO RADIOHEAD!!!'' when Talk Show Host came on, and I really felt we should leave before someone rightfully smacked him. Although it was also awful.

You're wrong, Jackie Brown is amazing!  Though funnily enough you've just reminded me that I also walked out of this film.  I had stupidly arranged to see the film with my mates on the same evening I had a date with some chick.  So left an hour before the end to go and meet the girl.  The date wasn't great either.

Talk Show Host was the best bit of Romeo & Juliet.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Two 12A rated films I've seen have had parents (who presumably assumed 12A meant U) have to take their scared, bawling young kids out of the cinema. One was when Anakin's face started melting off in Revenge of the Sith, and another was the first true appearance of Voldermort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, morphing from that creepy skinless baby thing into a nasally-challenged Ralph Fiennes.

[thecuriousorange]

There were only three people in the cinema to watch The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in Aberdeen that day. One guy got up and walked out halfway through it.

Maybe he mistook it for a formulaic Nicholas Cage action movie, in which case he must have been a bit puzzled by what he got instead. 

[Nobody Soup]

You're wrong, Jackie Brown is amazing!  Though funnily enough you've just reminded me that I also walked out of this film.  I had stupidly arranged to see the film with my mates on the same evening I had a date with some chick.  So left an hour before the end.  The date wasn't great either.

Talk Show Host was the best bit of Romeo & Juliet.

this could be an interesting topic in itself. "worst date films ever"

I went to see Dogville on a first and, unsurprisingly, last date with a girl. sitting through a rape is a bit of a mood killer.

[Treguard of Dunshelm]

But what was the film like *rimshot*

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Just recently I saw some people walk out of The Tree of Life. I wasn't that surprised.

[ColonelVolestrangler]

Two 12A rated films I've seen have had parents (who presumably assumed 12A meant U) have to take their scared, bawling young kids out of the cinema. One was when Anakin's face started melting off in Revenge of the Sith, and another was the first true appearance of Voldermort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, morphing from that creepy skinless baby thing into a nasally-challenged Ralph Fiennes.

Me and my ex-missus walked out of "Goblet of Fire" because of those types of parents with kids far too young for the film who were either bored stiff or terrified, and with a dad next to us narrating the entire sodding film to his bored 4 year-old - "Ooh, isn't that a scary house? Do you think there are ghosts? Look at the scary snake, isn't it frightening? Blah, blah..."

Felt a tiny bit embarrassed as the ex demanded a refund as we were leaving a Harry Potter film because there were too many kids (and she wasn't too happy when later reminded that I'd mentioned that going to see a Potter film on a Sunday afternoon might've been running the risk of being in a cinema full of youngsters) but I did agree that the parents should've realised their offspring were too young before dragging them along. 

[Neville Chamberlain]

The only film I've walked out of is Good Will Hunting because I found it to be somewhat boring!! I nearly walked out of Fahrenheit 9/11 because I found Michael Moore to be utterly unbearable throughout, but somehow I stuck it out until the end. But I've lost count of the number of times I've fallen asleep in the cinema. The only way you could prevent me falling asleep in the cinema is to make me sit on a spike.

[SteveDave]

A handful of cool kids left a showing of Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) about ten minutes in.  It's a documentary about They Might Be Giants.  It features, exclusively, members and fans of They Might Be Giants.  It's billed as 'A movie about They Might Be Giants'.  Essentially, only committed fans of They Might Be Giants could be aware of the film's existence.

What the fuck had they expected to see?

To be fair that film is fucking dull considering that it's about TMBG.

[SteveDave]

I really hope they had this whispered conversation:

"Do you detect a slight undercurrent of Christian family values preaching in this movie?"
"My word, yes! This is inaccurate anthropomorphising designed to appeal to conservative America!"
"Darling, we must leave at once. Make haste!"

Please be aware this was Cardiff on Cheap Tuesdays so it was probably more like-

"I thought this was a fockin' kairtoon?"

Also Cardiff is responsible for the world's greatest ending heckle to any film ever. At the very end of Cloverfield when the woman says "I had a great day" & it cuts to black with the director's name

Woman behind me- "Is that it? Fockin' shit"

You have to hear the intonation in her voice on the "that" though.

[Icehaven]

Watching Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped I noticed an older man near the front of the cinema who kept muttering and grunting. After about twenty minutes of the movie (which is a documentary about haute couture) the man got up and left. As he passed me, striding purposefully, I could hear him say:

in the manner of a sputtering Colonel in a club lounge. I continue to wonder what he expected.

That reminds me when I saw Wilde at the cinema, about 20 people walked out, 3 or 4 at each gay bit. Again, film about Oscar Wilde, what were they expecting etc. Actually in hindsight maybe it was Jude Law's acting.

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

Best one I can remember was when me and two mates went to see "Crash". (The David Cronenberg wrecks n' sex one from 1996, not the Paul Haggis-directed star-fest from 2004).

Remember it as clear as day.  It was on 'National Cinema Day', the idea being that you could go to your local cinema and see any film for about £1.  Me and my mates were big Cronenberg fans, and knew exactly what the film was about, and roughly what to expect.  The majority of the rest of the audience ....er...clearly didn't.

As you'd expect, being National Cinema Day, the screening was rammed so we had to sit about 3 rows from the front. Presumably the rest of the audience, including a lot of OAP's, just couldn't get in to see anything else.

Anyway, film starts, first scene after the titles is a woman having sex in an aircraft hanger.  Lots of sniggering from audience.

Cut to James Spader having sex in an editing suite, more sniggers and light tutting from some of the more senior members of the audience.

More sex, some car crashes.  During quiet dialogue scenes, you can hear some footsteps heading towards the exit.  Me and my two mates start smiling at this response.

A scene where wreckage from a car crash is shown, including a close up of a dead, bleeding dog.  OAP's directly behind me heard saying "Ooh dear, no, i don't like this, it's disgusting".  Cue them shuffling out, mumbling complaints.

This goes on for about another half-hour, more sex, close-ups of injuries, masturbation, audience desertion.

Film eventually ends with James Spader and his missus fucking on a grass verge after crawling out of a car crash.
Me and my friends get up to leave, and notice that it's only us 3 and two other people at the back that have made it to the end.  Bloody hilarious, it was!

[Pseudopath]

this could be an interesting topic in itself. "worst date films ever"

I went to see Dogville on a first and, unsurprisingly, last date with a girl. sitting through a rape is a bit of a mood killer.

I took my first ever date to see Philadelphia. Ironically for a movie battling ignorance and prejudice, she came away from the cinema convinced that snogging boys (even 15-year old virgins) would instantly give her AIDS.*

^{* In retrospect, I should have tried to persuade her that tops and fingers were the only known cure.}

[packageholiday]

Probably the most people I've seen walk out was during Brüno - about three separate groups of 6 to 8 teenage lads left in the first half hour or so, all at 'gay' bits. I think the singing cock was the last straw for the largest group.

There were a couple of walk-outs at that scene[nb]

Spoiler alert

Stop! Hammer time.

[close]

[/nb] in Kill List last week, which the director Ben Wheatley seemed pleased about in the Q+A afterwards.

The best walk-out I've seen was by a couple who stormed out of À Ma Soeur, harrumphing and making clear to the rest of the audience their disgust at the violence, only for the man to have to sheepishly return to his seat minutes later to pick up his scarf.

The only film I've walked out of myself is Black Sheep, due to boredom and having better things to do, although Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back sorely tested my patience.

[Noodle Lizard]

I walked out of Captain America recently, after the first twenty minutes or so, simply because it was so terrible that my friend and I couldn't bear it any longer.  We then (very naughtily) went in to see Insidious instead, which was equally (if not more) dreadful, but we stuck that abortion of a film out until the bitter end.

Aside from that, I don't think I've ever walked out of a film myself.  I noticed people leaving Borat during the naked wrestling scene, Sweeney Todd had a few, probably from confused Johnny Depp fans, and of course Irréversible holds the record for the highest number of walkouts at Cannes, and is likely pretty high up on the general walkout list.

If I'd seen Breaking The Waves or Dancer In The Dark in the cinema, I would likely have walked out - not because the films are bad, but because the handheld camera is truly physically nauseating, and would probably be far more intense on the big screen.

[thenoise]

Not quite a walk-out, but a sensitive young tyke a few chairs down from me was left in floods of frightened tears at the last film I went to see - the studio Ghibli Borrowers adaptation 'Arietty' (Cert: U).  Bewildered mummy was trying to assure him that

Spoiler alert

the little people would be fine and happy in their new home

[close]

, but he wasn't convinced.

[BlodwynPig]

I walked out of Captain America recently, after the first twenty minutes or so, simply because it was so terrible that my friend and I couldn't bear it any longer.  We then (very naughtily) went in to see Insidious instead, which was equally (if not more) dreadful, but we stuck that abortion of a film out until the bitter end.

Aside from that, I don't think I've ever walked out of a film myself.  I noticed people leaving Borat during the naked wrestling scene, Sweeney Todd had a few, probably from confused Johnny Depp fans, and of course Irréversible holds the record for the highest number of walkouts at Cannes, and is likely pretty high up on the general walkout list.

If I'd seen Breaking The Waves or Dancer In The Dark in the cinema, I would likely have walked out - not because the films are bad, but because the handheld camera is truly physically nauseating, and would probably be far more intense on the big screen.

The beginning of Irreversible is positively vertiginous and that just fucks you up for when the real shocks kick in.

[Noodle Lizard]

The beginning of Irreversible is positively vertiginous and that just fucks you up for when the real shocks kick in.

Oh yes, definitely.  The mental cameras, combined with the low frequency droning soundtrack as well as the disturbing imagery is pretty damn hellish.  And this is all within the first 20 minutes - never mind the infamous rape scene later on!

Incredibly clever camerawork though.

[pk1yen]

I always find people walking out of films to be more of a rather dramatic gesture than an actual response. The type of thing people do just to retell to their friends afterwards,[nb]And to strangers on internet message boards, you scumbags![/nb] when they laugh at how: "The Tree of Life didn't even have a story" or whatever.

I sat through the entirety of the Da Vinci Code, which is the worst film I've seen at a cinema -- but I'd never dream of actually making the over-dramatic gesture of walking out (especially due to the fact I don't tend to go to the cinema on my own, and I'd rather sit through an hour of bad storytelling and try to analyse why it didn't work, rather than storm out in fake outrage with the risk of pissing off the people I went with).

Thinking about it -- I think it's the rather boastful tone most people tell these stories in that annoys me, rather than the actual act. I can't fucking stand it when people are superior about not liking a thing, as there's a rather arrogant implication about the other people who maybe did enjoy it a bit. (I've been guilty of this so many times myself too.)

The same with the "I have better things to be doing" reason that people give -- there's the implication there that everyone but you is wasting their time with shit because they have stupid empty lives. (I appreciate this is probably not intended -- but it sometimes comes across this way.)

[BlodwynPig]

I would think with the inflated price of cinema going nowadays, no-one can afford to walk out. Kill List tomorrow m'thinks, whatever the cost.

[phes]

I always find people walking out of films to be more of a rather dramatic gesture than an actual response.

That's one way to look at it, and another:

I would think with the inflated price of cinema going nowadays, no-one can afford to walk out. Kill List tomorrow m'thinks, whatever the cost.

I walk out regularly. Why waste your time when you've decided something absolutely isn't for you - just quietly slip out and, if at all possible, slip into another screen!

I haven't walked out for a while. The last I can think of were The A Team and Tim Burton's Alice. I wanted to leave halfway through Beats, Rhymes and Life (Tribe Called Quest Documentary) because they were fucking dull and not worthy of a documentary, but I was stuck mid-row and everyone was loving it.

[packageholiday]

The same with the "I have better things to be doing" reason that people give -- there's the implication there that everyone but you is wasting their time with shit because they have stupid empty lives. (I appreciate this is probably not intended -- but it sometimes comes across this way.)

When I said that about Black Sheep I meant I had specifically better things to do right then (with the lady who had accompanied me). Usually my life is relatively stupid and empty, I assure you.

Enjoy Kill List, Blodwyn. It's great, and not too squeam-inducing.

[SavageHedgehog]

Was this the Black Sheep about actual sheep, or was it the Black Sheep about Chris Farley falling on top of David Spade?

Strangely not the first time I've wondered this in the last week.

[pk1yen]

When I said that about Black Sheep I meant I had specifically better things to do right then (with the lady who had accompanied me).

Well obviously, a randy lady is one of the few acceptable reasons for walking out of anything![nb]I typed this purely because I don't get enough chances to use the phrase 'randy lady' in conversation  :([/nb]

[Buffalo Many Times]

[nb]I typed this purely because I don't get enough chances to use the phrase 'randy lady' in conversation  :([/nb]

You should come along to my social club for caddish men and anonymous female sex objects then. I say it all the time when introducing people. "Randy, I have someone I'd like you to meet. Randy, lady. Lady, Randy. Have fun"