How to deal with theater rudeness

The key is to nip it in the bud immediately.  Kill 'em with kindness at first.  If it doesn't work, immediately find theater staff to remove the offenders.

+1

I used to work in a theater.  Catching and throwing out rude brats like that was the best part of the job.  

oops, dp

maybe it belongs in another thread, but perhaps carrying weapons would decrease the amount of rudeness in theaters?  

Ok, now we know. How do you deal with a bad moviegoer... Bring pregnant, hormonal wife and have her deal with it... This was awesome, Magic... Now if I can just get my wife pregnant again....

Couple of months ago, I told a couple of teenage girls at the last Twilgiht picture (My wife watned to go, that is my story and I am sticking to it) to knock it off or move. They were quiet for the rest of the movie.

Generally I just go to the manager.

Had same problem once with three teenage boys yacking during a movie, I don't mean whispering a little loud I mean talking like they were in their own house or something.  They got up and left about 10 minutes in and I was happy because I thought they were done.  Came back in about 20 minutes later and picked up where they left off.

Blood just started boiling and I was getting angrier and angrier.  Lady down the row from us turned around and shushed them.  They responded to her shushing with a "F--- you" at which point I stood up turned around and pointed at them and yelled "Shut your flippin mouth!"  except I didn't say flippin.  Scared the heck out of my wife and I would say most of the movie patrons.  They were nothing more than a typical bully blustering there way through life, being rude and not expecting their boldness to be met with equivalent force.  As I stood there awaiting a response from them if there was going to be any had, I was met with applause once the intial shock wore off.  I sat down and enjoyed the rest of my movie in what had to be the quietest theater I have ever been in.

When the movie was over and we were getting up to leave I spotted the three misguided youths and kept a close eye on them in case they had anything further to say to me.  As I was coming down the stairs they were heading for the exit....one looked up at me....and said "Sorry sir".  It was at that point I realized I had become the grumpy old man.  But hey I'm good with that.

My husband and I don't mind shushing loud teenagers at movies, but what happens when you go to something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the old folks with a hearing impairment who attend the movie and can't keep up with British accents and are unaware of how loud they are, keep asking out loud, "What did they say? What just happened? I don't get it..." It's just as annoying as young people texting on their cell phones, but I feel I shouldn't shush them.

Mercifully, the local theater I go to has staff that usually stands at the back to watch the movie. They're quick to tell people to take their phones and conversation to the lobby.

Be very careful with that - they can turn on you in an instant.  Other people talking could easily become your fault.

Or a throat punch if need be, but not fo teenage girls.

DanielG - 2013-01-20 5:28 PM

Beat me!

I was just going to type something along these lines.  I actually really hate going to movies that attract an older crowd because apparently all self-control goes out the window after age 60.  I agree, it's hard to say something. I have no problem correcting teenagers and they are more likely to listen to me.

My two recent standout movie annoyance experiences were both older ladies.  One was smacking her gum open mouthed and she exchanged pieces every 3 minutes or so (I could seriously go postal on this!) and another sighed and sort of reacted to everything that happened (lots of "ohs" or "hmms").  In the second case, I eventually asked her to please be quiet because it had seriously built in frequency and volume and I was getting worried.  She didn't take it nicely.   The former I just made lots of pointed glances and smacked my own gum loudly in her direction.  Fortunately that was at the latest Bond flick, so the movie sounds covered her up enough that I could tolerate being there. 

I go to a theater with assigned seats, which is normally the best thing in the world.  It's only downside is you can't really change seats if things are going badly unless the place is fairly empty.