To ask for your worst viewing experience in cinema or theatre?

[LouiseBrooks]

Inspired by another thread where people are dissing one of my favourite recent films (please go over there if you want to moan about that one ). Which other film or play did you utterly loathe?

Mine:
Film - Out of Africa. Streep's ridiculous accent, Redford's (who I normally love) awful miscasting, the fact that I knew they had messed about with the facts. Michael Kitchen was great though . My Streep fanatic friend left at the interval since she hated it more than me.

Theatre - Blood Brothers. Absurd story and awful songs.

Les Liaisons dangereuses, seen both film and stage production. Very disappointed in both. The French and Saunders take off was much better.

Theatre and cinema are both a big treat for me so takes a lot for me to walk out. Only ever have once in an amateur (or I assume it was as it was so terrible) production of Into The Woods. Only saving grace was I had won the tickets which included a bottle of Champagne. Took that home with me and drowned my sorrows.

DP and I both saw both of these separately, but we both landed on Remember Me and Cats!

Intolerable Cruelty - Clooney and Zeta Jones. Awful.

However my worst cinema experience was most definitely being on the same row as a couple where his hand was up her skirt for half the film!

Yawnmower Man. Pile of utter shite. If I hadn't been with a bunch of other girls from my school, I would have walked out. And no mobile phones to noodle on quietly back then. It was torture.

What was that film with Tom Cruise in it where it rained frogs? Vanilla sky possibly? Exh made my Dad and I go and see it with him and about two of the very long thirds of the way through it, my Dad audibly groaned at how awful it was and then managed to fall asleep (which I was very envious of)

Magnolia

Another vote for Lawnmower Man, utter drivel.
The Perfect Storm and also Twister, both a load of boring old tosh.

Film: Pulp Fiction. But only cos I walked in (wrong cinema screen) halfway through, assumed it was a trailer and then didn't understand wtf was going on! And I was with my mother. I have since watched the full film and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Theatre: Les Miserables. Sweet jesus what a crock of turgid old shite.

The Three Amigos film, dire rubbish, I’m sure there’s been others too, and alone stuck in London on a course I went to see Phantom....boring dreadful, terrible sets, the most awful thing I’ve seen in the theatre. Only one real song in it...and then I turned the wrong way out of the theatre, on a taxi drivers advice and took hours ( seemed like it ) to get an actual taxi back to the hotel....not fun.

Eyes Wide Shut

Ahhhh, I thought this was going to be a thread about the worst viewing experience not the worst film.

There are loads of popular movies I hate - Amelie, Back to the Future, Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Bloody Gump. The worst movies I've seen have been in a different league of awfulness than these, though. Casshern has to take the biscuit - turgid, pompous and interminable.

But the worst actual theatre experience of my life was in the East End of London. I had the day off and had gone to see a morning showing of the Lord of the Rings - either the first or the second film, I don't remember which. I had the movie theatre all to myself and was just settling down to my popcorn when literally 500 high school kids entered on a Christmas 'treat' with their school. I dunno which bright spark of a teacher thought it might be a good idea to take them somewhere dark and loud where it would be almost impossible to maintain any authority, but (quite predictably) they proceeded to riot - there was food and drink flying everywhere, they were tearing up the seats, and screaming so loudly that the film was totally inaudible. The best thing is that when I walked out, the theatre tried not to give me my money back!!

Oh, and ANY movie with Adam Sandler is guaranteed to be terrible, apart from Reign Over Me, where he is actually quite good.

Yes Magnolia! Thankyou-that was annoying me!!

I loved Cats, just saying. Worst experience was taking dd to Alvin and the Chipmunks, for some reason we had to go twice. Also Life of Pi, a film that would have been hugely improved had the tiger eaten the boy at the first opportunity (and yes I do know it was allegorical, that just made the whole thing more tedious).
As a teenager we walked out after the first 20 minutes of Apocolypse Now, I think that’s the only time I’ve not stuck it out to the end.

Les mis at theatre and film. Fell asleep

I didn’t really enjoy Rent. There was a sound issue at the beginning so some of them were cutting out every other sentence, then they overcompensated and turned the everybody up very loud - it actually hurt at some points!

And while we’re on the subject, a recent Scottish Opera version of La Boheme. It was some long-winded and clever idea where there was a lady dying and the opera was happening in her imagination. If I’d watched the handy video explaining this first I might have been ok, as it was I got very confused! I knew the plot as well (I’ve seen it before) so it really put me off when I couldn’t work out what was going on. Fantastic singing though.

Film
I’m Not There
So called biopic of Bob Dylan with Dylan’s played by a range of actors including Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and a young black lad named (I think) Carl Franklin. It won loads of awards and I found it the biggest load of pretentious claptrap ever. I was so disappointed and walked out before the end.

Somethings gotta give
Mamma Mia
Charlie's angels

I wouldn’t go to see that. I could smell it would be a bad ‘un!

Mamma Mia at the cinema. Was horrific.
And I reckon I could cut Les Mis but about an hour and a half. Pretentious shite.

I enjoyed quite a lot of these, esp Les Mis, which I've seen a few times.

Agree with Queen that Mamma Mia production was horrendous, musicals are always a little contrived, but this took it to the next level.

The only film I haven't watched through to the end at the cinema was an Eddie Murphy film called Harlem Nights, which was basically Eddie Murphy swearing with no discernible story line.

Only ever walked out of a film once, and that was 'Pretty Woman' ....WTF?

I've enjoyed quite a few of these! Just goes to show that it takes all sorts!

I couldn't stand the version of 'An Inspector Calls' that ran in the West End for c. 100 years. It was my GCSE text and I think for some reason I ended up seeing it twice. One concept play; one concept production.

I had to leave a production of Midsummer Night's Dream at Cambridge because the girl playing Titania couldn't pronounce her 'r's. I had tears pouring down my face by the fifth time she talked about her 'Obi wan' and had to leave. I'm a bad person.