From a variety of sources, I learn that Ontario movie theatres may soon be allowed to serve alcohol with their popcorn and other snacks.
Raphael worries that bathroom breaks will start taking their toll on people’s ability to follow the narrative of certain films.
Personally, I would answer in the affirmative if I’m at home in my pyjamas and slippers. Crack a beer, flip on the movie, zap the popcorn. Some might even make it through a two-hour movie without much difficulty. But imagine a movie like, say for instance, Batman: The Dark Knight. Imagine drinking beer while not going to the bathroom for two and a half hours. Sounds pretty tricky to me. Especially if it’s more than one beer. And let’s face it. If you’re drinking beer, it’s always “more than one beer”.
Next thing you know you have Johnny Bathroomrunner bouncing up in front of you just as the Joker does something particularly vicious and you dart your head side to side in a frantic quest to see what’s happening. Not that it matters because soon a multitude of his fellow beer connoisseurs are also doing the same thing all around you.
No? Don’t think so? Why not? Never been to a hockey game? Sure, you can miss four minutes of a hockey game and barely miss the context of the play, but try missing four minutes of plot from a good film.
Bathroom breaks are a problem for any long movie in the theatre, however. As I said on Raphael’s comment section, I remember going to see The Return of the King in the theatres. This movie is over three hours long, but being a fan I intended to see it straight through. Before the movie started, I went out to the concession stand for my requisite supply of popcorn, candy and drinks. I ordered a medium soda.
The girl on duty behind the till asked me, “so, do you want to upsize your drink?”
To which I replied, “It’s a three hour movie. Are you trying to kill me?”
She laughed.
Mind you, if anything is going to make sitting through Twilight worthwhile, drinking oneself into a stupor might just do it.
Speaking of, Cameron has been kind enough to point me in the direction of this sharable cartoon, from a fellow traveller who is not a fan of the Twilight series.
Head Trip - Twilight Sucks