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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish people could sit through a film without stuffing their faces

183 replies

user1485342611 · 29/01/2018 14:34

No problem with people having a bar of chocolate, or quietly eating some popcorn. But people who spend half the film guzzling and slurping and chewing and munching and rustling through paper bags and stinking the place out with greasy hot dogs and stinking nachos drive me mad.

AIBU and trying to deprive people of the full 'cinema experience'?

OP posts:
Original poster
user1485342611 · 29/01/2018 16:14

I mean, at a kids' film you expect rustling and loud whispering and in and out to the loo and so on, but when a bunch of adults can't sit quietly and watch a film without noisy.eating, phone checking, smelly food, slurping on ice cubes etc you really have to wonder.

OP posts:
yeahforfriday · 29/01/2018 16:18

Actually one weekend me and DH went on the Friday night to a film and the couple next to us were so annoying. She was sat with her legs across his with her feet on the arm rest next to me and constantly asked him to explain everything little thing that was going on.

The next day we went on our own to watch a minions film, cinema packed full of kids, that was much quieter and the kids were far more considerate.

Riverside2 · 29/01/2018 16:20

@yeahforfriday - did you say anything?

The80sweregreat · 29/01/2018 16:21

YANBU, but the big cinema owners want people doing all the above ( not smuggling it in as i do on the odd occasion i do go)

I listen to Mark and Simon too, its ace.
the Jason Isaacs thing is funny and yes, his code of conduct is very true ( as is ' the six laugh test' if its a comedy review) I think he is a very good reviewer, very honest.

Clandestino · 29/01/2018 16:24

Not sure I agree. Eating a huge portion of Ben and Jerry's and stealing DD's popcorn for the whole sweet and savoury combo experience is what makes cinema special. Otherwise I'd wait till it's on Apple TV.
People talking on their mobile phones and loud snogging is more revolting. I was thinking about going to see 50 Shades but heard stories about leftover cucumbers afterward so not sure.

The80sweregreat · 29/01/2018 16:27

I remember the ice cream seller on at the break ( they made films longer back in the day) she had a little torch and was weighed down with ice cream in tubs and ice lollies. Sometimes we had two films as well - a short one for about 10/ 15 minutes and hardly any ads at all. one memorable one was about Ford car engines - we talked all the way through that,
One screen as well, none of these 10 screen type places.
Going to the pictures was a real treat for us kids, didnt go that often.

yeahforfriday · 29/01/2018 16:35

Riverside2 Not to the couple no, I actually thought he could do with all the help he could get because honestly it was not a challenging film and she just appeared to be really really thick.

I did have another time though when we went to see Jurassic world and a family sat behind us and the mom was constantly talking really loud that I could hear her over the film even in the loud bits.

I turned round and asked her if she wouldn't mind keeping it down, then I turned round asking her to talk more quietly and after 4 times I did turn round and say "I have asked you nicely now shut the f* up" (not my proudest moment).

At the end of the film her husband asked why I was rude to his wife and I did explain that I had asked her several times to keep it odwn and she was really loud. She told me that she wasn't aware that she was in a church and had to be quite so I told her that church was free, I had paid a lot of money to listen to the film and not her.

Mostly I just ignore the best I can as people who are rude won't care about other people because they don't believe they are actually doing anything wrong so how can you convince them otherwise without coming across as a pushy knob and then disrupting everyone else around you anyway.

LemonShark · 29/01/2018 16:42

"I was thinking about going to see 50 Shades but heard stories about leftover cucumbers afterward so not sure."

That's some clever marketing from the cinemas, seems it had the opposite effect on you 😂

Riverside2 · 29/01/2018 16:46

@yeahforfriday "Not to the couple no, I actually thought he could do with all the help he could get because honestly it was not a challenging film and she just appeared to be really really thick"

you are much kinder than I am.

Don't worry about the "shut the fuck up" in the other situation. While I was still going to the cinema, I asked someone to be quiet once...and then the second time it became "shut the fuck up" with my best "Imma kill you" face.

If people are stupid enough to sit there chatting they can deal with that. Also the woman looked so shocked it was totally worth it and probably the only thing that would have worked.

someone mentioned going to the cinema when it's quiet - working shifts I can do that, but the last time I went in the morning, a couple came in 20 minutes through the film with bags of shopping, proceeded to rifle through the shopping looking for snacks, then on the way out I heard them say to each other "that ending didn't make any sense" and I said "yes, probably because you missed the first 20 mins".

I honestly think some people are blessed with a skill that makes them tune out that kind of noise. Most of my friends and family are very happy to go to the cinema and while they don't eat anything there (except possibly ice cream), none of this bothers them. I wish I could tune people out like that.

crazycatgal · 29/01/2018 16:55

I don't mind the munching sounds, it's just rustling if bags that annoys me.

Although nothing can be more annoying than the two women talking at full volume in the cinema last week, I shushed them twice and then DP leaned over and asked them to stop talking. They were bloody 50+ not teenagers. Someone people have no self awareness.

Dancergirl · 29/01/2018 17:04

Cinema is a public place, you can't expect complete silence

Errmm yes you can when the whole point of going is to watch a film.

Why are people so inconsiderate these days and lack awareness of others? Sometimes I long for the olden days when people were polite to each other.

BlueMirror · 29/01/2018 17:13

I can't say it bothers me. The films are played are played so loud people would have to be going some for you to not be able to hear it. Like it or not munching popcorn at the cinema is a thing and you are probably being a bit u to expect it not to happen.

The80sweregreat · 29/01/2018 17:13

I think some people just go for a gossip and the food by the sounds of these posts! why spend money on a film, just go to the pub that does food instead.

Purplerain101 · 29/01/2018 17:29

No one is saying there needs to be 100% silence at the cinema. But for there to be enough noise to distract someone else nearby it’s not ok. It’s not difficult to eat and drink quietly. Talking during the film is totally not on. It’s an expensive outing going to the cinema and I don’t want the experience to ruined by some selfish twat sitting near me

mrsmuddlepies · 29/01/2018 17:34

Agree with you Purplerain. You summed it up in a nutshell.

RedDogsBeg · 29/01/2018 17:41

Doesn't matter how loud the film is if someone next to you, immediately behind or in front of you is slurping, munching, rustling and rummaging in bags you hear it, it is annoying and distracting and people doing that are also incapable of sitting still. Are people really unable to last two hours without eating or drinking vast quantities as noisily as they can?

I8toys · 29/01/2018 17:48

YANBU. This is why I never go anymore. It irritates the hell out of me. When they get their big bag of individually wrapped feckin sweets out and pass them around the family all through the film.

Far enough popcorn at the start but some people bring a bag full and trough through the whole film.

YouTheCat · 29/01/2018 17:54

If you want to be able to eat smelly food, talk, check your phone and be an arse, wait for the sodding dvd to come out.

During Justice League I was sitting behind a family with 2 adults and 13 children (all the same family - I could tell because they frequently yelled 'Mam I want a wee' throughout the film). Packets of crisps/haribo were thrown about all through the film. They got up a total of 8 times to go to the loo - running across the screen yelling as they went every single time. The younger kids (about 3-5 years) spent a considerable amount of time playing on the stairs and opening the fire door.

Purplerain101 · 29/01/2018 18:06

@youthecat it must have cost them about £100 for all the tickets. They should have just saved their money and waited for th dvd if they want to behave like idiots

bilbodog · 29/01/2018 18:14

I go to watch a film, not stuff my face with snacks and it drives me mad which is why i try and go when it is less busy and always sit at the side in the hope that most sit in the middle. When i can i go to the local privately owned cinema where people dont make lots of noise. The cinema is not cheap and it gives me the rage that people have so little consideration for others. Mostly i watch films at home now because of this.

Littlechinagirl · 29/01/2018 18:15

I am of the same opinion as you OP... However, my DH is one of those annoying people! It really is annoying!!! I feel like a nag in the cinema telling him off!

TheCowWentMoo · 29/01/2018 18:19

This really doesn't bother me, maybe because I don't find people eating disgusting? It's just food, I wouldn't find hearing or watching people eat in a restaurant disgusting so I don't get why suddenly because theres a film involved it's disgusting. Is it because you consider the food unhealthy? Or is it because you need to judge people? Plus cinemas are so loud it drowns out most sounds.

I think the cinema is just not what you want it to be, if you don't like it don't go and wait for it to be on Netflix. There is hot food at the cinema, it's just part of what going to the cinema entails and so if you don't like it don't go, or find a cinema that doesnt sell food. You can't expect people not to eat when food is sold by the cinema. Its a bit like expecting a football match to be quiet, it's just never going to be and comparing the cinema to opera is a bit like comparing football to snooker. They are different and different behaviour is acceptable.
If you can't deal with other people then really the cinema isn't the place for you.

I don't eat nachos or hotdogs etc in the cinema, although I do like a good tango ice blast, so I'm not biased.

Dancergirl · 29/01/2018 18:37

And God, the phones!

Why can't some people go for a couple of hours without checking their phone??!

Is it any wonder where teens get their phone addiction from?? Hmm

ForalltheSaints · 29/01/2018 18:42

Was it Chris Rock who had everyone put their phones in a sealed pouch? Lovely idea and just wish it could be done for all theatres and cinemas.

As for the food on offer, not only is it noisy, some of it is unhealthy.

RedDogsBeg · 29/01/2018 18:52

I don't find people eating disgusting, I find people eating food noisily in an area where the point is to watch and listen to something incredibly annoying. You cannot compare a restaurant with a cinema, you go to a restaurant to eat food, you go to a cinema to watch a film.

Food shouldn't be part of what going to a cinema entails.

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