‹

The Free Screening Crowd

› Tags: Screenings, Watching Movies, People

I like free movies; who doesn’t? But until the glorious day when I obtain a press pass and the gates to the free press screenings are whooshed open for my sake, I have to figure out different ways to get my free flick fix in the meantime.

I frequent certain message boards as well as websites of local magazines and radio stations in an attempt to win as many free giveaways as I can. For the past few years I’ve received a fair number of passes to free pre-release screenings. Because of commitments and driving distances, I don’t attend the majority of them, but lately, I’ve been on a hot streak, getting passes to films I’m relatively interested in, playing at venues that won’t kill my car with the commute. The last four weeks, I’ve attended screenings of Leatherheads, Smart People, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while opting not to use passes to 88 Minutes or Baby Mama.

Because most passes for screenings in the DFW area can be found in the same few places, the group that ends up watching most of these films tend to consist of some of the same faces. Always good to know that there are other people besides me who have no lives.

So now that I’m starting to become a free screener expert, some observations:

Grumpy Old People

I’ve noticed that there are an unusual amount of people over 50 years old (some much older) at these screenings. It’s just something that strikes me every time, and to add to it, they’re usually attending films that you really wouldn’t expect to see people their ages at (Forgetting Sarah Marshall is my latest example). And for some reason, a lot of them tend to be very grouchy and argumentative. Seems like almost every screening I go to there’s and older gentleman getting into some sort of argument with a stranger. Calm down, friends, we’re all here to have a good time!

There’s also a sense of entitlement with a lot of the screener crowd. This is tied into the “argumentative” part a little bit, but you’d be surprised how many “rights” they feel they have. If things aren’t just right at the right time, the whining and moaning starts. Essentially, I think it breaks down to being cheap; people will go very long distances, figuratively and literally, for something that’s free. Which brings me to….

You Gotta Spend Money to Not Spend Money

The funny part about these free screeners is the amount of money that attendees will spend in order to go to one. Take me for example: I’ll drive 40 minutes to the mall where the screening is happening. Because we have to get there early to secure a place in line, I pretty much have to leave right after I pick up my girlfriend from work. As a result, dinner ends up being eaten at the mall—always expensive. Or if the screening’s at the Studio Movie Grill—well, we have to order food there! Otherwise we wouldn’t be taking advantage of the experience!

People end up spending more on these outings than they would have if the film was playing at a more local venue. Sure, I save money on the ticket, but I pay for gas and for more mall and theater food than I would have spent on a normal trip, which basically brings the price back up to, if not over the original amount. All for what? So that I can see a movie a day earlier.

Not Too Bright

I hate to sound judgmental, but the people who attend these screenings with us…most of them don’t seem to be the academic type. Some act stupid. Some say stupid things. And some don’t “get” movies that don’t really have anything to “get.” As the credits rolled on Smart People (a movie that, as some have said, is too smart for dumb people and not smart enough for smart people), we heard many comments, including, “That was the most pretentious movie I’ve ever seen”—which it was not—“but I liked it!” Another woman said, “That movie was just too cerebral for me!” Good use of the word “cerebral,” but if Smart People is “too cerebral” for you…well, see that parenthetical above.

I suppose this is all to be expected from non-paying customers, right? But, it’s obviously not enough to make me stop attending.

Yet.

Sidenote: This part isn’t exclusive to the free screening crowd, but it did happen to me while at one. I sat in line and a cluster of older adults stood next to me, discussing anything and everything, eventually touching upon the topic of 88 Minutes, a film that a few of them had see the previous evening; one of them hadn’t. The others tell her that it’s so good, that she must see it, and they then proceed to discuss the plot, the twists, and everything else about the film right there in front of her—and in front of me.

Why suggest that someone should see a film and then spoil the film for them right in their face? And perhaps I’m in self-righteous mode, but would it kill them to not discuss (in very loud voices) revealing plot details of films that haven’t even been released? At this point in time, I hadn’t heard that 88 Minutes was a horrid film, so I was kind of interested in it. My solution was to sit there, in line, jabbing my fingers in my ears and humming for several minutes straight. Am I the only one annoyed by this?

↑