Bailing on Bad Movies

Every since I started watching movies as a kid, I would stick with the movie no matter how bad it got. There was something about not quitting. I needed to stick through the movie just to give me permission to trash the film. A few months ago I ended this policy.

Now as soon as I find myself not enjoying a movie and I lose hope it is going to get better, I will stop the DVD. And because I’m not finishing the movie, I don’t believe it is fair for me to review it. However there needs to be a way to distinguish between movies you review, movies you never saw and movies you bailed on. What we need is a new review symbol. Perhaps just the letter “B”. The “B” would indicate the reviewer bailed on the movie.

Here are the movies that I bailed on in the last two months.

• No Country For Old Men (2007) – After 20 minutes of disgusting violence, I bailed. I know it is a great movie, but I found the first 20 minutes so disturbing I rewatched Amelie just to cleanse my movie palate.
• In Bruges (2008) – Another movie that was supposed to be good. Was bored out of my skull after 30 minutes.
• Cat Ballou (1965) – This Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda Western was listed as a comedy. After 22 minutes without a single laugh, I paused the movie and went to IMDB to confirm it was supposed to be a comedy. Sure enough it was listed as a comedy. Stopped the DVD.
• Happiness (1998) – Characters were uncomfortably creepy. Stopped movie after 20 minutes.
• Dan In Real Life (2007) – I didn’t even make it through the opening credits. Teenage daughters yelling at their father. It was like a bad episode of Gimme A Break. After 8 minutes, I bailed on the movie and then went into a quiet room to make the pain go away.