15 Movies People Walked Out on Because They Were So Lame
Choosing the right movie to watch in the movie theater is hard. Not only are we overwhelmed by choice, but movie reviews are also becoming more subjective. A recent online discussion asked people which films forced them to leave the theater early, yielding amusing stories. Not all of them are poor films, though they did repel the thread contributors for various reasons.
According to a recent online discussion, here are 15 of the lamest early-departure movies people have seen.
1. In Bruges (2008)
We begin with a humorous entry that testifies how one couple couldn't handle that In Bruges wasn't about Belgium. “I heard the man muttering that this wasn't a film about Belgium at all,” says the witness. “It really tickled me.” Sadly, the fleeing elderly couple missed a great film.
2. Holmes & Watson (2018)
When Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly team up, it usually means we are in for a treat. However, one fan was not impressed, saying they paid $100 for the entire family to die of boredom.
3. Battlefield Earth (2000)
According to most viewers, John Travolta's famous flop is infamously bad, scoring one star in several prominent reviews. Roger Ebert was baffled by this film, saying, “The director, Roger Christian, has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why.”
4. Deadpool 2 (2018)
One poster refers to the movie theater staff's mistake. The projectionist accidentally put an Amy Schumer comedy on instead of the fans' much-anticipated Deadpool sequel. After about ten minutes of the film, the staff came into the theater and explained that they had put the wrong movie on and couldn’t undo it because of their tight schedule. After being offered a refund and a free Amy Schumer movie, the commenter shares that everyone left.
5. Frozen (2013)
One moviegoer left the film due to being terrified. However, this isn't very clear. Do they mean Disney's Frozen or the ski-lift horror vehicle, Frozen (2010)? I will assume they mean the former; otherwise, what is an 11-year-old doing watching a horror movie?
6. Starship Troopers (1997)
One kid's mom discovered that the innocent-sounding Starship Troopers was anything but when she took her ten-year-old to see it. Even the R-rating didn't deter this mother. “Anyway, we wound up leaving the theater because the violence was too much for me,” reflects her shell-shocked kid, who I assume is now an adult.
7. Cats (2019)
Where do we begin? The trailer looked so bad I couldn't even imagine watching Cats in an ironic sense. One commenter said they decided to walk out, then went back in, only to step out for a second time.
8. Private Parts (1972)
The controversial dark comedy about a repressed young woman and her infatuation with a local creep rubbed many people the wrong way. One contributor recalls his straight-laced father was unhappy with a questionable love scene involving a blow-up doll. After his father left, he and his brother waited for about five minutes before following him out the door.
9. Epic Movie (2007)
Reviewers severely received 2007's spook comedy. The spoof comedy cycle of the '80s and '90s was well over when this one came out. This feeling is summarized by our next commenter: “Epic Movie. Wasn't epic at all.”
10. Spiceworld (1997)
Yes, this one is mine; I am ashamed I went to a Spice Girls movie, and no, the relationship with the girl who took me didn't last long after that. However, I made it through the opening fifteen minutes before realizing my sins. This film consistently finds itself voted the worst movie ever made — I still can't believe I endured 15 minutes of this hideous film.
11. Downsizing (2017)
You'd think this is a cute movie about a family retiring to a tiny-scale world. Nope! It becomes some weird freedom-fighter story instead.
12. Green Lantern (2011)
This was one sorry superhero franchise, though it did give us Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's marriage. Even Reynolds himself acknowledges how bad the movie is.
13. The Happening (2008)
It was billed as M. Night Shaymalan's first rated-R film. Sadly, the only thing happening here was people leaving the theaters. People have favorably compared it to B-movies of the past in recent years.
14. Mother! (2017)
The Darren Aronofsky film has been met with a wide range of opinions, including mass confusion. Moviegoers who managed to stay through the entire movie complain that the story ends with chaos and screaming; some couldn't sit through it without having a panic attack.
15. Solaris (2002)
Sorry, George Clooney, but we can't make it 30 minutes into the film without changing the channel or getting out of our seats. No matter how many times we try, it's just too much.
Source: Reddit).
Raised in England and with a career background in international education, Ben now lives in Southern Spain with his wife and son, having lived on three continents, including Africa, Asia, and North America. He has worked diverse jobs ranging from traveling film projectionist to landscape gardener.
He offers a unique, well-traveled perspective on life, with several specialties related to his travels. Ben loves writing about food, music, parenting, education, culture, and film, among many other topics. His passion is Gen-X geekery, namely movies, music, and television.
He has spent the last few years building his writing portfolio, starting as a short fiction author for a Hong Kong publisher, then moving into freelance articles and features, with bylines for various online publications, such as Wealth of Geeks, Fansided, and Detour Magazine.