Listen to this crazy moviegoing story:
This past week, the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles held a Stanley Kubrick retrospective. It was during a Friday-night screening of Kubrick’s classic, mind-warping sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odysseythat a man named “Robert” had a very public meltdown. Apparently, during the climax of the movie when astronaut Dave Bowman confronts his own death and undergoes a transformation into a mysterious celestial being, “Robert” started yelling. Multiple cellphone cameras caught this guy shrieking hysterically. In the video, you can see him stumbling, and pleading with audience members to “Get rid of your drugs!” He is then seen screaming the existential question “Is life a comedy?”
Eventually, he’s dragged out of the theater by cops. The movie was replayed from the moment “Roberts” tantrum started. So it’s a happy ending for everyone, except “Robert.”
I’ve never been so misfortunate (or perhaps fortunate) enough to see that kind of behavior at a movie. Back in Random Factoid #252, I listed my rowdiest movie behavior, which was actually somewhat appropriate given the circumstances.
I’ve really only been in one movie where an individual made the moviegoing experience entirely different. Going to see “Paranormal Activity” a year ago was made much more interesting by the audience around me screaming commands at the actors on screen. “Don’t go there!!” they would yell. “Oh my gosh!!” they screamed when something popped up out of nowhere.
But during a tense, suspenseful moment, a teenage girl audibly and visibly fell down a set of stairs in the theater. Half the audience burst out in laughter, changing the mood and aura in the room significantly.
Anybody else found that they can have their experience changed by one person?
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