Friday, October 21, 2005

THE MOVIE WAS RATED "G," BUT THE SHOUTING WAS AN "R:" I finally got around to Wallace & Grommit this evening, and I echo all the good things that have been said about it elsewhere. What was truly bizarre, however, was the moviegoing experience. I had two empty chairs on either side of me, on which were coats and the like. Trailers rolled, as did the reasonably cute Madagascar short that preceded our main feature. Then the movie proper started. About 5 minutes into it, and about 30 minutes into the show, a family of four noisly wanders in to the theatre. First, they ask me (quietly) if the seats are taken. I respond that they're not, and remove my stuff. I was not asked to move over.

Children lumber over me as the parents take one of the seats. The mother proceeds to stand directly in front of me and talk loudly to her child. I then whisper that I'd like to watch and hear the movie. The mother then launches into a profane tirade (joined by the father) about how I "hate children." The couple on the other side of me angrily stares at them and "Shhh!"s them. After a moment, they calm down. The children are remarkably well-behaved, not fidgety or talky through the whole movie, though mother spends much of the movie staring daggers into me.

At the conclusion of the film, I remain in my seat and let the kids out (I'm a credits-watcher). Daddy then proceeds into a lengthy, profanity-fueled tirade directed toward me ("tough guy") as he's walking out of the theatre, inter alia, claiming that I needed to go home and look at porn on the Internet like a "good faggot." I took the smile and nod technique and attempted to ignore him. I'm actually still a little shaken, and actually spent my whole trip home looking over my shoulder to make sure daddy wasn't around the corner to beat me up. Just me, or was that perhaps a bit of an overreaction?

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