A visit to the cinema yesterday to see Morning Glory, which by the way is a very forgettable title in the context of this great film, highlighted that cinema etiquette has gone out the window.
For a Thursday afternoon there was a good-sized audience, but still plenty of room to select good seats. My friend, Movie Lass, and I walked down the aisle complete with popcorn, coke and Kit Kat, and sat towards the front on the right next to the aisle. We settled in for the film and chatted through the ads.
Along came Rude Woman, coffee in hand, who chose to sit in the next row, directly in front of us. Movie Lass and I looked around the cinema. There was no one sitting opposite us and just a few people scattered around the back seats. We looked at each other and said “What is this?”
The lights hadn’t gone down yet, so in one shared meaningful glance, we picked up our belongings and moved directly across the aisle where we had an unobstructed view of the screen and were a couple of rows in front of the nearest people.
We exclaimed about Rude Woman’s complete disregard of cinema etiquette. Common sense and courtesy dictate that unless absolutely unavoidable, you sit AWAY from others in the cinema. No one likes a dandruffy scalp blocking your view of the latest blockbuster. More often than not, there are way more empty seats than occupied ones at a screening. Unless you choose Friday or Saturday nights when huge gangs of Teeny-Boppers frequent cinemas with juvenile and Gen Y behaviour that seriously flaunts cinema etiquette, but that moan is for a whole other blog post.
While we commented on such appalling behaviour from a woman old enough to know better, Rude Woman went a step further. She took hold of the armrest, turned around in her seat, noted that the seats behind her were now vacant and GOT UP and moved to the seats WHERE WE HAD BEEN SITTING! Quite simply, a normal person would not do that. A polite person would not do that. A cinema-holic would certainly not do that.
I still have a bad case of slackjaw recalling this scene. So, if I’m to make a list of cinema etiquette it would start with:
1. Never sit directly in front of other people unless absolutely unavoidable. Under no circumstance move after you have been the cause of other people moving, and especially not to their recently vacated seats.
As for the movie, I enjoyed it. Rachel McAdams was wonderful and Harrison Ford brought a delightful mix of Indiana Jones and comic softie to his role as Mike. I hadn’t heard anything about Morning Glory, but it comes out on top of the list of the last three films I’ve been to see, beating Love and Other Drugs and The Tourist. Respect to all those out there working on morning shows.
a little cameo 