When the Audience is More Violent than the Movie

Here is another reason you should buy a big-screen TV for home:  you'll get shot at the theater.  Of course, when people pay half their day's wage to see Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett on the silver screen but instead are forced to deal with your disruption, then you shouldn't be surprised if someone pulls a gun on you.

This is what happened to a father watching a movie with his family on Christmas night in Philly.  They thought they were in their own living room and junior must have bellyached about little Cindy taking his Jujubees.  And then dad probably tried to settle the argument with a barrage of verbal threats.  Meanwhile two rows down James Joseph Cialella had a hard time enjoying The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with all this disruption and so he stood, approached them, pulled a 38 caliber from his waist band and shot dad in the arm, a friendly reminder to not ruin the movie for others.

Of course, the degree of assault depends on several factors:  If the cast of the movie comprises unknown actors then you might get a "ssshh."  Fair enough.  If the movie features an actor or two whom you've seen before but can't quite remember from which previous picture, then you'll have popcorn thrown at you, in addition to a demeaning "ssshh."  If it's an actor that you know well, but not the kind seen in big-screen blockbusters, then you might receive verbal assault, but nothing more than meaningless rhetoric or name calling.  If big stars, like Brad Pitt, Tom Cruze, Reese Witherspoon and Angelina Jolie, then we're talking assault with a deadly weapon.  Even if your kids are with you and the movie is rated PG.  

I'm not advocating violence at the theaters or suggesting incivility between strangers, but I'm not delusional to what kind of world we live in.  This is why my wife and I, having for years held off buying a bigger flat-screen TV, are finally researching a 47-inch flat-screen to build up our home entertainment system.  We want to go the netflix route and watch all of our movies at home, because we really don't care to take a stray bullet while watching Mission Impossible 6.