In the summer of 2004, I caught a late show of the Denzel Washington remake of The Manchurian Candidate (pictured). The trailers had begun when a woman and her toddler walked in. The child proceeded to cry intermittently throughout the entire film, which was rated R for violence (I believe Denzel bites a piece out of Liev Schreiber’s back at one point).
That same summer, my father and I were sitting in an Upper West Side theater on a Sunday afternoon, watching the abysmal Exorcist: The Beginning. Several rows in front of us and to the left was an entire family—mother, father, two kids and a baby in a stroller. The baby whined, the kids ran throughout the aisles. At one point, on screen, a child gets ripped apart by hyenas.
I think you see where I’m going with this. This Christian Science Monitor article, about taking children to R-rated movies, makes me wonder: who are these parents? First of all, who knows what permanent damage all that sex and violence is inflicting upon that poor child? (The article focuses on how some proposed changes meant to make theratings system more transparent could help parents who may not realizejust how much inappropriate content a particular movie might display,but really, do you need a more explicitly detailed "R" to know not totake kids to an Exorcist film?) Second, a theater full of grownups just paid ten dollars to see a movie—rent Cars and keep your dang kids at home. Third, if you’re not sure what adult content a movie has in store, check out this site, which minutely details in almost a comic way instances of sex/nudity, violence, profanity, etc. (it also summarizes what a film’s lesson may be, if for some reason you find that important).
What are your experiences with kids in R-rated movies (or even violent PG-13 rated movies)? Do you bring your rugrats if you can’t find a babysitter? Have you ever been shocked at the sight of a young’n at a grown-up movie? Is it the MPAA’s responsibility to be more precise in their ratings? The theater’s responsibility to more effectively manage who is going into R-rated theaters? The parent’s responsibility to be better parents? Your responsibility to say something?
So much to ponder.
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I was a teenager when my father decided to take myself and my very small brother to Mars Attacks. Needless to say my brother did not find it funny and screamed in horror until we were forced to leave. It remains a scarring experience for me to this day…however, I don’t think my brother even remembers it and now he is a budding screenwriter and director. Take what lesson you will…
A good friend of mine remembers the time he went to see True Lies, and a dad brought his two grade school-age kids into the theater. Dad was fine with his boys seeing all sorts of violence and explosions, but the minute Jamie Leigh Curtis started that parody of a strip-tease, man, they were out the door.
I’m always shocked when this happens. This summer, I was at an R-rated film where a mother let her one year old crawl around on the floor of the theatre. The best thing to do is get an usher. They got her out of there ASAP. It’s best not to be personally involved (e.g. asking the mother yourself to take better care of her children.) You never know who you’re talking to. The theatre staff, in my opinion, is quick and eager to help make the audience majority comfortable. Still, it is unbelievable that this even needs to be done.
I’ve seen kids at clearly R-rated movies like “Hannibal” and “Phone Booth.” Seriously, what in those movies could possibly appeal to a child? I have absolutely no problem getting a manager to ask parents with disruptive children to leave. None. Everybody else paid the same $10. Just because you can’t afford or be bothered to get a babysitter, doesn’t mean I have to sacrifice my enjoyment of the movie. I consider it a badge of honor when I get dirty looks or get cursed out by said parents. It’s not the MPAA’s responsibility or even the theater’s to act as a parent. It’s the parents responbility to be the parent.
I saw a whole clan of kids when i went to see Land of the Dead and countless other horror flicks. when i was a kid i was always sneaking into r-rated movies but i was also very quiet and deeply interested. kids just have to have the right mentality to see certain things.
this summer i was at the movie theatre and COULD NOT BELIEVE it when a man walked in with his two sons under the age of 12. the movie was BORAT!!!!
Maybe if there were more movies that both parents and kids could enjoy, this wouldn’t be a problem… or if movie theatres were well-maintained to the point that children could attend their own movies at the same time as parents attending theirs…
It’s so offensive when idiot parents take their kids to movies that are not age appropriate. It’s selfish and it does a disservice both to the other adult movie-goers and their own children. I have a 4 year old that I don’t take to movies that are appropriate for his age. The reason? He hates going! He fusses, fidgets, whines and just generally does not enjoy himself. So why subject him to the unpleasant experience of going to the movies? These ignorant parents should either spend the extra money for a sitter or wait for the movie to come out on DVD.
I’ve seen parents take children under the age of 6 to see “Hostel” and “Saw II”. That just appalls me.
I remember seeing “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” at the theater. A couple rows ahead of me sat a mom, dad, and two kids under the age of 4. I was horrified. Great movie but clearly made for adults. Seeing Ike beat and rape Tina was horrible to watch as an adult. I can’t imagine what was going through the minds of the children.
It was quite funny, I went to Pan’s Labyrinth on the weekend, low and behold there was a family there with their 8ish year old son. Needless to say, they left during the White Ogre scene, but at least the kid was able to witness the “wine bottle” scene, I’m sure he’ll remember that for some time.
No one saw Phone Booth. I find it hard to believe that kids were watching that in the theater. No offense, Stacey!
When I went to see The Return of the King, there was a man behind me who fell asleep and was snoring the entire time. The ushers didn’t do ANYTHING about it. Jerks. I had to leave. I don’t know if they ever destroyed the Ring or not (i’m kidding).
I have a terribly low tolerance for people bringing their children to see inappropriate films. I’ve gotten into many a heated discussion and have had several disruptive people w/ toddlers thrown out of the theater. I’m sorry you can’t afford a babysitter, but you should just wait for the dvd. What can a 3 year old possibly get out of seeing a subtitled film such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”?
When I saw “Braveheart” in the theater, parents were there with their couple little kids, in the front row I think. I remember them seeming bored rather than scared by the violence, which is better even if it was distracting for other people in the theater.
I think it’s ultimately a parent decision, and providing some information about the content of films is useful to those parents who take an active role in their kids’ lives. If parents think some R-rated material could be suitable for their children, then maybe they should go to the movies together but be willing to leave if the movie goes farther than the parents prefer.
These people don’t care, there are probably plenty of parents who would never dream of doing this, but there are always those that a $7 child ticket is alot cheaper than two hours of babysitting. They don’t care what you think, they put up with the kid all day, they’re used to whining and someone unhappy, and they’re not even related to you…so forget you. Plus, they don’t want to sit through the crappy child movies out there, they want to see the naked hot starlet themselves. I’m not a parent, but I hope I’d NEVER do this. One more thing, with all those people who talk through a movie and leave their cell phones on, you’re suprised of parents with kids? More anoying, probably, more suprising…nope.
Working at a theater for my first job, I can tell you as a ticket-taker, I saw things you would not believe. But for the most part, the most common occurence was witnessing parents who would buy tickets for their kids to see movies like “South Park” and then leave their kids alone and go watch something else. Kids were should NOT have been old enough to know what the ‘F’ word is, let alone repeat it. As for actual movie-going, I recently had to sit through a viewing of “The Black Dahlia” with the ENTIRE ROW in front of me filled with kids from the lower branches of high school. Chit-chatter, incessant giggles and whispering, cell phone rings, etc. plagued the entire movie. And it happens all the time. I agree. Parents need to be more responsible when it comes to their children’s theater-viewing habits.
marykate – I WISH I hadn’t seen Phone Booth, but alas I did. And there was a family with three kids under the age of ten there. And yes, despite their physical presence in the movie theater, they were not watching the movie. They were crying, and talking, and climbing on the seats. And instead of taking the kids out of the theater, the mother was more intent on yelling at other patrons who were trying to get her to hush up her restless brood. I mean, do the math on this. Phone Booth was a 90 minute movie – to pay for three kids tickets, plus popcorn and soda it had to have come out to more than what it would have cost to have a babysitter for two hours.
It’s funny that this was mentioned. I just went to see Blood Diamond yesterday and someone had their little kid (3 or 4 years old) with them. As I was watching the movie, I thought “who brings their little kid to see Blood Diamond?”
I have been in the theatre and seen small children and babies with their parents in movies like Jackass 2, AVP, Attack of the Clones, and Lord of the Rings.
The most moronic thing I remember seeing? The parents who brought a 3 year old to Scream 2. It was a midnight showing, cops were making sure no one underage got in without a parent (there were a lot of those), and here I am with college buddies in a group of crazy college kids…and in walks a couple with a little kid. The child didn’t let out a peep, but several people came close to flat out telling them that movies that are labeled “horror” (no matter whether it’s true horror or not – the blood opportunity is there) aren’t kiddie movies. Plus the time was absurd. At midnight, what are the chances the kid will cry and ruin the experience for everyone else? The people who tend to bring small children to a movie are often the ones that refuse to leave when the kid gets upset, because they spent the money on the tickets, dang it!
When I went to see Team America, there was a woman there with a little boy and girl, maybe 10 and 7 respectively (in that area anyway). Obviously, she thought it was a kid’s movie because it had puppets. It should’ve become obvious to the woman quite quickly that it wasn’t for kids, but even as the cursing and sex and vulgarity mounted, she remained in her seat, unlaughing. The boy of course thought it was all hilarious (especially when anyone talked about sucking c**k). The woman finally took the girl and exited, leaving the boy alone for a good fifteen minutes. Then she returned, sans daughter (don’t know where she left her). She stayed in the theater with the boy until the film was about two-thirds done, then got him and left. The family was still hanging out in the hallway outside the theater as I left myself. I think the woman was really upset, but she’d laid down the money and wasn’t going to leave. Obviously, the rating system can’t work if people don’t pay attention.
The problem lies in that the theater has no trouble selling a ticket to a parent with small children to the r-rated film. While some theaters state they won’t allow children under a certain age to shows after a certain time they rarely enforce their own policies.
When “Kill Bill” came out, I took myself to a mid-week matinee. Figuring that this time would be a quiet time and I would be able to enjoy all the Tarantino and Uma I could handle. I was one of about 4 people in the theater when a family on NINE walked in. 2 parents and 7 children, not one of them above 7 at the most including 2 infants. I left in disgust that a parent would do such a thing. I asked for a refund and told the manager about the situation and he seemed to not be worried at all. Maybe too much violence really does wear off on us until we don’t even realize what is violent for real anymore.
Last week I saw Pan’s Labyrinth and there were two families with there kids. If I were a kid I would have been scarred for life by seeing that film. There is a freakin’ monster in it that eats babies!!! I don’t understand why parents do this either. Find a sitter or wait until the R rated movies come out on DVD and watch it after the kids are sleeping.
I wonder if it would be acceptable for the ticket-taker to say to those parents “this movie contains violence, sex and nudity and is not appropriate for children. Are you aware of this?” If the parent still decides to buy the ticket, he marks himself as an uncaring parent to the entire waiting crowd. Of course, people who do this kind of thing to their kids probably wouldn’t care what anyone else thinks, anyway.
My friend and I switch off on the “Designated Manager-Getter” each movie. Loud talkers, crying babies, constant cell-phone ringing – the DMG goes to find the person in the manager’s blazer to take care of the problem. Always go for the manager – the ushers usually don’t want to deal with it. If people don’t want to observe common courtesy on their own, then I will make sure for the two hours that I’m sitting in my $10 seat that it is militantly enforced.
I remember seeing the remake of “Shaft” with Samuel L. Jackson. A guy brought his twin daughters, both age 6. What made it even worse was that the guy chose to repeat some of the choice swear words Shaft said during the film.
And we wonder why our kids don’t seem to have any problems posting nude videos of themselves on MySpace?
Late-night (10ish) showing of “Sin City” in Philly. Parents with kids who looked like they were between 4 and 8. And it was definitely a case of parents wanted to see the movie and didn’t want to pay for a babysitter. I felt so bad for those kids.
Along the same lines, went to a Switchfoot concert in the fall, and there were parents with their INFANTS watching from the balcony. Who takes a baby to an ear-splitting rock concert? (By the way, Switchfoot rocked.)
I still have a vivid memory of the couple who brought their pre-school son to “Boogie Nights” and spent large chunks of the movie frantically covering his eyes. I don’t know if it’s ignorance or economics (a ticket is cheaper than a babysitter), but it’s a ridiculous trend. Some theater chains don’t allow young children in R-Rated films after 8PM…I’m totally in favor of this rule and hope they actually enforce it.
I was in the theater with a woman and her two under seven year old kids for “Dreamcatcher.” Really bloody film. They cried, out of fear and hid their eyes. She took phone call after phone call, talking as though she were at home. When we walked out after the movie, was she not parked in a handicap space without sticker or tag to show for it? Beyond rude!