I’ve read that people who will leave a bad movie in the middle (cutting their losses) are happier and more successful than people who won’t (trying to get their money’s worth). Which kind are you?
[Edit: Okay, I totally screwed this up. I accidentally posted all five personality tests, then noticed my mistake and took out four. But it’s showing up in feed readers with all five, so some people are answering all five. So if you see someone answering five, they are not crazy! I am careless!]
Well, I don’t go and see many kinds of movies and when I actually do go, I tend to be so picky that I almost always enjoy what I see.
All that being said, I have never walked out of a movie at a theatre. Now I have stopped watching one at home because it was too ridiculous for words. But never at the theatre.
I took a Reader’s Advisory class in grad school (basically, this teaches you to pick out books for other people depending on what they like. Like reference work for fiction) and my professor told us that life was too short and there are too many books to ever finish one we weren’t enjoying. So, I believe that goes for movies as well.
ha, the post in my feed reader isn’t the one that’s here now. I’ll wait fr the other questions.
I won’t leave a theater in the middle of a bad movie, because I rarely get to go out. And once the movie is started, i don’t have time to see another, so I sit. If it’s rented, I have no problem fast-forwarding to see if it gets better, or just turning it off.
1) I honestly don’t know. Looks aren’t that important to me, but being smart IS. Conversely, however, I know I’m very smart. I never doubt my intelligence. I can see that part of me objectively, while I truly don’t have much of an idea as to whether I’m pretty or not. So I guess I’d rather hear that I’m pretty, only because it’s one area that I can’t see for myself.
2) No. I wouldn’t wear my seatbelt for that. But I *do* wear it for the shortest of trips downtown, which is less than a mile.
3) I hoard them.
4) I used to stay through the whole movie/book/whatever, feeling like I wasted my time if I didn’t see it through. Now, I see that I shouldn’t waste any MORE time than I’ve already wasted, so I either get up and leave or put the book down and ignore it.
5) I used to eat the bad ones first, saving the good ones for last. In recent years, I realized this was STUPID and I should just EAT THE GOOD ONES ALREADY and screw the ones I don’t like. They won’t be offended.
Maybe the people who won’t leave aren’t necessarily trying to get their money’s worth, but are holding out hope that it’s got to get better. So they are hopeful and optimistic? Maybe? Oh, okay, I’d totally stay ’til the end.
I would leave, but I always thought that was because I’m impatient and have a short attention span and low tolerance.
OK, I’ll be honest..at this point in my life, I’d rather hear I was pretty over smart. It’s lame and my college-aged self is screaming but, eh, she can kiss my pretty, pretty….face.
No, I do not use a seatbelt to move my car from the garage to the street and vice-versa. I might if any of the kids were with me, though. It’s the only time I don’t wear one, I believe.
I use the good stuff immediately because I might die an untimely death before tomorrow.
I never leave a movie because it’s bad…I’ll just nap instead. In fact, I’ve fallen asleep in perfectly good movies, too.
I only eat the candy I like and give the rest of the mix to the kids/DH. Life is too short for 2nd rate treats.
Hmm..I also guess I really don’t care what this reveals about me…perhaps that I’m selfish, vain and oh so tired.
AHHH. I answered them all! I was answering while you edited it!
I MUST get my money’s worth. I’ll stay until the end of anything because, DAMMIT ALL, I PAID FOR IT.
I usually will cut my losses on other stuff, but for movies I’ll stay till the end every time. Especially now that even going to see a movie is such a rarity.
I leave if the movie is bad. The money I spend on a movie ticket is gone either way, so it is not a factor in my decision to stay or not.
I am definitely the type of person who stays till the end, not only to get my money’s worth, but in hopes that it’ll end up getting better. Usually I am let down.
Kind of like my relationships. Let them drag on too long in hopes of it getting better and am only let down.
Twice in my life I’ve walked out of a movie. Both times I was a teenager. First, was the Spice Girls movie that came out in the late 90s (i can’t believe my friends and i even went to it in the first place) Second, was that Godzilla movie with Matthew Broderick. So so bad. I think now I have the tendency to stick it out and hope it gets better.
I would stay, but not to get my money’s worth. My nosy personality would prevent of from leaving; even if it sucked, I would want to know how it ends.
I’ve only left a theater during a movie once and that was because my son was SO BORED I thought he was going to kill himself. It was the day I realized he was too old for stupid kids’ movies. But I don’t sit through movies I’m not liking, I just usually enjoy the experience enough that it doesnt bother me to stay the length of it. MORE POPCORN THAT WAY.
This obviously doesn’t happen any more as a mother of two kids two years apart (one a newborn) if I’m going to a movie, it’ going to be a Blockbuster. And I will usually like it.
But back in my day, when I had that elusive time thing, I would leave if it sucked. I left during Home Fries and Dumb and Dumberer (loved the first one).
It was like any other mundane activity at the time. Like if I was at the mall and it was boring, I left. When you have all the time in the world, you don’t think much about these things I guess.
The money option never entered my mind, and not because I was/am rich but because time has always been more valuable.
oooh interesting! i verrrry rarely walk out on movies, but i think that has more to do with the fact that i’m very, very, very easily entertained, so i’m probably enjoying myself even during a terrible movie.
that said.. i have walked out on 2, i believe, and far more if we’re counting dvds at home. actually, those i just fall asleep during if they’re bad. does that count? :-)
I’ve never walked out of a movie, but I can’t recall ever being that disgusted with a movie either.
If it were a really, REALLY bad movie, I would probably walk out and do something else fun.
I would classify myself as a happy go lucky person though.
I’m a “leave if it sucks” kind of person.
Maddie and I actually walked out of the puppet show storytime at the library a couple of weeks ago. The lady doing the puppet show was LOUD and she was taking too damn long to tell the story. We were both bored, so we left and went to Chik-fil-a for lunch instead.
I love going to the movies so it would have to be pretty bad but I have walked out of at least two movies. The first one was Gremlins when I was younger. Those cute little furry things got all mean and multiplied when they got wet. When one fell in the pool, I was out of there. I don’t like to be scared.
I will also stop watching a dvd if I don’t it. Although, I have seen Rat Boy, the worst movie ever made, several times so I am obviously not that discerning.
I walked out of Sleepy Hollow. When the tree started bleeding, I was out! Recently we saw Wanted and I would have loved to have walked out, but I knew my husband was enjoying it so we stayed.
Hate all the blood and gore.
It’s interesting, because my inclination is to say that I am the type who does NOT walk out of movies, but actually when I started thinking about it I realized that I have walked out of movies a couple times. AND I am very likely to turn off a movie I’m watching at home if I don’t like it.
It is hard for me to imagine a movie bad (or gross, or scary) enough for me to walk out of it. I’m just that stubborn (also cheap!). That said, at home I am a bit more choosy.
I never walk out of movies in the theatre. The thought has never even crossed my mind. I guess I figure, I paid for it and chose it, so if it’s not good then that’s a chance I take. I’m more the type to just use it for fodder for complaining later if it sucked. LOL. I can’t join the throng of haters if I didn’t stick it out. ;-)
I have turned off movies at home, but not that often. I usually pick things I know I’ll probably like.
I also stick things out because I keep hoping there’ll be some twist and it’ll improve. LOL.
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I have such a short attention span for sitting and watching that its a wonder I ever sit through a whole movie at all. The first movie we got to go see after the boys were born was for my husband’s birthday and I let him choose (the Forbidden Kingdom). It was so bad that about 40 minutes in I turned to him and said “This is not worth the sleep I’m not getting” and we left. I only regret having stayed so long.
I’ll leave a movie if it’s bad. I rarely go to the movies (kids, you know), so I’ve only ever left one in recent history – Cloverfield. I was already suffering from severe morning sickness, and the movie made me so freaking sick … and it was pretty bad on top of that.
Before I had my son, I don’t think I ever left a movie early. Now my time is just too precious. If I don’t like it, I’m out. I’ve always been that way with books though. Don’t have the time for a book I don’t like.
I have wanted to leave many movies, but never have. I guess I just want to give the movie the benefit of the doubt until the end. So I sit and suffer through the movie…. hmmm, while my husband falls asleep in the chair next to me.
I have left two movies in the theater in the middle because they were too disturbing. I’ve also stopped watching plenty of movies on TV or DVD just because they are crap. I also decided a few years ago to stop reading books that bored me. I definitely had to make a conscious decision that life was too short to read or watch things that I didn’t like though, I didn’t used to be able to step away from things even if the were junk. I guess getting older is better for something after all…
I’ve never walked out on a movie. It’s too expensive… but, come to think of it, my time should be worth more than $10…
I have never walked out on a movie in the theater, although I’ve wanted to (I’m thinking “Lady in the Water”), but I can’t even count the times I’ve cut off a rented movie at home if it was crap.
Woot woot! I left Spawn and that Disney movie with the little girl and Dwaye the Rock (forget his last name). I sleep through movies all the time at the theatre too…I figure don’t fight it. From an accounting perspective the money to get in is a sunk cost and should not be considered in evaluation of future opportunities. ;)
I used to force myself to wade through horrible books and movies, but now I cut my losses. Life is too short, and I have too little spare time to consume things that I don’t enjoy. I will give the thing enough of a chance to redeem itself (for movies, about the first 20 minutes; books, up 100 pages if necessary), but if it doesn’t improve then I’m out.
With Netflix, we hardly ever go to the movie theater anymore, so it’s easier to justify shutting off really bad movies (and OH, there are just so many of them these days).
I rarely go to movies because frankly I’m too cheap to pay for them. (And also because they just come out with so much crap all the time.) That said, I will *totally* be seeing Harry Potter on Nov 21. /nerd
However, I have given up on books that just don’t hold my attention. I used to feel really bad about it and try to stick it out til the end, but then I realized that there are so many other books worth reading.
I totally stick it out because I paid for it, darnit. But I have a bunch of friends who have left in the middle and waited outside for me.
I would go ahead and walk out of a terrible movie. Sunk cost. Any more time wasted watching it is just more of a waste.
I would stay. I’ve got the stick-to-it-ive-ness of a damn coon dog. I’d sit under that tree till the coon DIED AND FELL OUT, just to see the thing through to completion. Dammit. I think this is where we get the term “dogged.” That’s me.
But I also think I’m happy! And, successful! Depending on your reference point, that is.
I will watch the whole thing, but more so that I can more thoroughly expound about how much it sucked. If you leave half way through, you have half the ammo.
I used to stay through the whole sucky movie because by the time I realized I really didn’t like it, I was invested. Kind of like landing on a bad tv show with the remote but having to watch it until the end because, well, invested.
These days? I will leave and not give it a second thought. I’ve actually gotten my money back or free passes to the next movie.
Only once have I left a movie halfway through (“Weekend at Bernie’s” anyone?) and I would do it again, though I have sat through some pretty bad ones. At home, I’ll stop bad movies all the time. The only book I’ve ever waded through while hating it was “The Corrections.” Never again will I do that with a book just to find out how it ends.
I walked out of a bad movie once. And I even went to the manager and got a free pass for another movie of my choice. I haven’t ever seen another movie at the theater that was so bad I walked out, but on many occasions I have given up on rented movies.
I’d stay. I’m already there, I already paid and since I rarely get out, I wouldn’t leave.
I’ve definitely walked out on movies. I don’t really like going to the movies to begin with, so I usually only go when a film is getting rave reviews. I’d rather be reading a book.
It’s pretty rare that I’ll go see a movie that I don’t like in the theatre. But I’ve sure netflixed some bad ones and I have no hesitation about turning it off and doing something else if it is bad.
In the past, I have not left. Not even for _Johnny Mnemonic_. Now, though, I think I’d leave, but it’s actually pretty hard to find a movie that I hate enough. I pretty much always like the movie. I’m very easy to entertain at the movies, because I really really want to be entertained.
But over the years, I have decided to stop forcing myself to finish books I am not enjoying, and I think I’d do the same for a movie I don’t like. On the other hand, the movie is a finite amount of time, so it’s easier to convince myself to keep giving it a chance.
1 – I haven’t been to the theater in years.
2 – I have never left a movie. I might if I were alone or with girlfriends who hated it. D would NEVER NEVER leave without getting his money’s worth.
i’m a ‘leave in the middle’ kind of girl. i think of it the same way as leaving food on the plate when i am no longer hungry, even if i spent way too much money on the meal. i know i would spend that “wasted” money to get rid of the belly ache or over eating guilt the same way i would pay that money to get my time back after a bad movie.
Is this…a SUNK COST QUESTION? Heh.
I would leave. Total sunk cost. Although I do have trouble applying the theory to BOOKS, for whatever reason. I nearly always finish one when I start it.
I have walked out of a movie and I would again. I don’t usually want to though.
I go to movies so few and far in between that I haven’t ever walked out because it was bad. I have, however, left a live dance performance, and I routinely abandon movies and books I don’t like. I also have ditched lessons of one sort or another that I have already paid for, like kid swimming lessons that weren’t working out b’c Patrick was being a brat about them or a dog training class that was terrible, since I figured it was bad enough that I lost the money without being miserable as well. So, I think theoretically I am in the ‘would leave’ category, although I have never done it.
Oh, and plus? 99.999% of movies I see are kid films, so if *I* left, I would have to drag a screaming entourage with me. Um, no.
I stay. I suppose it’s partly to get my money’s worth, but mostly because I keep hoping it gets better.
When I was younger I did not hesitate to walk out of a bad movie. Now that I am older I am usually pretty picky about what I pay to go see so I usually get what I expect. Although I have sat through many bad husband chosen movies where I had to grin (or grumble) and bear it because he liked it.
I’ve never been to a movie I didn’t like (what does THAT mean?), but if I were bored or truly offended, I think I’d leave. If I thought it was so-so? I think I’d stay.
I am a pain in the butt fence-rider.
When I was younger I’d stay. I’d think it would get better.
Now, time is a premium. I’m out.
Wow, that one is nard. I have left movies before for being bad, but I have suffered through many that were bad also. More and more as I get older I leave. I will say I leave.
I totally get my money’s worth. Then I can complain until nobody listens anymore about how bad it is. You gotta have reasons to complain, right?
I leave if I’m alone, but if the people I’m with like it I stay for them.
I go to movies so rarely (like twice a year?) that I never, ever leave partway through. I think it’s not so much “getting my money’s worth” as “getting my babysitting time’s worth” . . . although, really, if the movie’s bad, wouldn’t it be better if I left and did something fun with my babysitting time? Hmmm. . . .
I don’t like excess or waste, so I guess I’d probably stay. I mean, I THINK I remember what a movie theater is like…
I’m outta there. I have a lot to do–I’m not going to waste time sitting in some crappy movie. I might wait til I’m finished my candy, though.
I’ve only once walked out of a movie… but really I appreciate truly bad movies. I sat through Ultraviolet…. it was so amazingly bad that I just sat there open mouthed and watched it through.
I stay- but not to get my money’s worth. But for the fun and heckling.
I stay through the end. Maybe the end will tie it all together. Sometimes it does and so, I think, it’s worth it to stay.
Id stay
I probably wouldn’t leave a theater unless the movie was REALLY bad, but if it were on at home I wouldn’t hesitate to turn it off. But if the movie is bad enough I will leave, even at the theater.
It has never occurred to me to leave a movie in the middle. I’m not sitting there debating it: should I stay or should I go?
I will quit reading a book, though, if I’m not enjoying it. If it doesn’t grab me within the first few chapters (or before a more enticing book comes along), I probably won’t go back. If only I’d felt that way in high school it would have saved me several agonizing weeks of plowing through Portrait of a Lady.
I stay to the end…there have actually been SEVERAL movies that I thought were awful in the theater but later have become some of my favorites!
I’ve turned off more than a few movies at home, but I’ve never walked out on one at the theater.
Not only can I not leave the theater, I usually can’t go to sleep until any movie is over.
Ummm. I get my money’s worth. In fact I recall seeing a movie in college and shouting “I WANT MY TWO HOURS BACK” as I left the theater. But I stayed.
I leave. I’ve already wasted the money, I don’t need to lose the time too.
I don’t go to movies.
(However, on the RARE [like the last one I saw was three years ago] occasion I do, I’m not a movie critic, so I hardly notice if it’s bad or not, so I guess I don’t leave.)
I think i’ve only left in the middle one time and i can’t remember the film. Otherwise, I suffer through it.
what does it mean that I’ll willingly go to sleep in the theater if the movie is no good? I’m BOTH?
I stay for the movie…not that I’m trying to get my monies worth… but because if I leave and then find out later that I missed something really good at the end.. I’d be bummed…
If it was a really, really, really bad movie and I couldn’t possibly stand it then I would probably leave, but if it was a movie that just wasn’t interesting to me then I’d sit through it, hoping it would get better by the end.
I tend to like most movies, so this probably isn’t a good question for me. I’ve never walked out of the theater, but I have turned a rented movie off on occasion if I find I’m just not into it at all. But I think of that more as a time decision than a money decision.
I always leave if I’m not enjoying it, unless I am with someone who IS enjoying it. (That is frustrating, and it is part of my dislike of movies.) Not leaving when I don’t like it seems like a colossal waste of time. Why sit and waste two hours of my life, hating something that I am not forced to watch? Life’s too short for that.
Sometimes if I dislike the movie and I am with people who do, I will leave and hang around in the hallway for a while. I look at the posters or the carpet, or sit on a bench for a bit and do some vague people watching. Usually ten minutes of that helps.
I normally stick it out at the theater, but I have been known to leave if it is over the top gratuitous language or gory.
I would never be able to get myself to waste the ticket price by leaving a movie theater early. Worse yet, I dislike so many movies that I almost always WANT to leave a movie before it’s over. I’ve solved this by never going to theaters — never! Does that put me in the happy and successful camp? Or have I just created an even more anal and unhappy camp?!