Pop Culture Happy Hour - Mailbag: The Movies We Walked Out Of

Episode Date: December 14, 2025

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Hey, it's Stephen Thompson. Just a quick thing before we start. This is a special bonus episode of pop culture happy hour. Usually these mailbag episodes are just for our very special pop culture happy hour plus supporters. But in the spirit of the season, we thought we'd give everyone a sneak peek into the fun we're having with these every month. If you're already a plus supporter, thank you so much. It means a lot to us. But if you're not yet, we hope you'll consider joining. It's a great way to support NPR. and public media, go to plus.npr.org slash happy to join now. Okay, here's the episode. What's a movie we hated so much that we walked out on it? We've got another question from a listener in our mailback today. I'm Aisha Harris. And I'm Stephen Thompson. We are here to talk about the things that make us give up on a movie in this bonus

episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. All right. Well, we are, of course, back with another episode just for you, our special Plus supporters. Thank you for being supporters. You've been sending in all your questions for Us Core 4, and today Stephen and I are going to tackle another one. Are you ready, Stephen?

Aisha, I am so ready. Yes, this is a, I think it's a fun question. Today's question is from Kelly E. And Kelly asked, have you ever walked out on a movie? And if so, what was it? Okay, Stephen, I need to know what was it? So, Ayesha, I am a dead ender. I

first of all totally like putting this out there up front I've been doing pop culture happy hour for more than 15 years and certainly

have never come close to walking out of a movie that I was seeing for work if I'm seeing something for work I'm a dead ender maybe like once the credits start rolling I'm like I'm not staying to see

if there's a closing scene that is the extent of my of it's not the extent of my spite. Nothing can contain my spite. But it takes an emergency for me to even get up and go to the bathroom during a movie that I'm seeing for work. I really, I really don't like to miss anything. So the list of movies that I've walked out on, it's extremely short and it's kind of embarrassing because the only reason that I've ever walked out or seriously considered walking out is more based on the traumatic nature of the content than the quality of the film.

I would love to be able to say, I walked out of cats. That movie stunk. But I stayed arms folded and didn't miss a thing. Even if I had been seeing it for pleasure, I wouldn't have walked out. There's one movie I almost walked out on and one movie I did walk out on. And they're both classics. Okay. Let's hear it.

I need to hear. So the one I almost walked out on was Slumdog Millionaire. Oh, interesting. Slumdog Millionaire, Oscar winner, Best Picture, had been billed to the world. I was not seeing it for work. Had been billed to the world as a colorful, dynamic romp, full of magical dance routines and bright joy. And the first 45 minutes are children being tortured. Okay, yes, I vaguely remember that aspect of it.

Yeah, not my favorite, not my favorite thing to sit through. I was like, did I walk into the wrong? movie? What are people talking about? And eventually it kind of pivots to the game show and then it's fun and fine. But like there is so much scene setting of children being exploited and tortured. And the person I was with at the theater and I were like, should we leave? This is excruciating. And I, you know, we stuck it out, stayed, ultimately was like, okay, I see what people are talking about. But boy, those first 45 minutes are pretty rough. The movie I did, walk out on, and I will say I was like 18 or 19 at the time. I was on a date. The movie I walked

out on was a clockwork orange. It was a campus screening of a clockwork orange at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in like 1990 or 91. Like the campus film society was showing it. I'm like, oh, I've heard good things about this. A clockwork orange. Didn't know anything about it. You never had to read the book in school? No. Oh, Ayesha. If I could get out of reading a book, I will find a way. And so I was like, well, you know, there were posters of it up in people's dorm rooms. It was like a cool thing. And I was like kind of trying to catch up on stuff I'd missed. And what I, what I didn't know and didn't realize was, of course, very early in that movie, there is a giant crime spree, which includes a brutal sexual assault. And my date and I

did not want to watch that and walked out on the movie. And, you know, I feel like, a very, very bad cinephile for admitting that, you know, because obviously, not only is it a classic movie, but it's a classic movie that is endlessly referenced in other culture. It is, it's an embarrassing

movie to say you walked out on, and I wouldn't admit it if I weren't specifically tasked with the assignment of telling our pop culture Happy Hour Plus subscribers what movie I've walked out on, but that is and remains the only movie I've ever walked out on.

Wow. Okay. So Slumdog Millionaire, I have not seen since it came out. I do remember liking it, although the soundtrack slaps. It's great. Totally slapsed. I've listened to that many times. And a Clockwork Orange, I feel like you have a good reason for that because it is a difficult watch. I love that movie. I actually recently rewatch it again when I was in Amsterdam and a local theater was showing. And I was like, oh, I haven't seen this in forever. I want to go see it. And I think it still holds up. I think you should give it another chance. Steven. I'm not sitting here like folding my arms like, that movie's bad. No, I know, but like, I don't know. It just feels very relevant.

I mean, even then it did. But it's so good. And anyway, I am with you, Stephen, on the whole, I'm a dead ender. I'm the same exact way about bathroom breaks. If it's the first time I'm seeing a movie, I will, no matter how bad my stomach might be kicking me, I will sit there.

The one exception I had most recently was when I saw the Mission Impossible. Who knows? I assume there are like 20 words and six colons. Basically, that movie's like so, so long, and I knew it was going to be long. And I had to go. And I was like, you know what? Nothing is happening in this movie. So I'm probably not going to miss anything by going to five seconds.

The one time I've walked out was Avatar the Way of Water. Wow. Okay. So I hated the first Avatar. You never learned the way of water. Well, no. Hold on there. I did. I have to. Ah, yes, you did. And I didn't go to a press screening beforehand.

And it was Christmas Day. My partner and I were just like, so why don't we just go to a movie? There's not much to do. Let's just go to the movie. Oh, and they're showing it in 40X near us. I was like, if I'm going to see this movie, at least it'll be an experience. Go there, had our drinks, sitting in the seat. and did not realize this is my first 40X experience. Did not think about the consequences of having a drink while sitting in seats that move. And it was like the most miserable experience.

Plus the movie was boring. And about an hour in, I was like, this is not fun. Let's go. I want to spend my Christmas doing anything but this. So we left. And it was great. We got some Indian food afterward. It was lovely.

Of course, I did wind up having to see it later because as a momented for best picture. and it's the Pop Culture Happy Hour law. Yes, yes. So our law here at Pop Culture Happy Hour is if it's nominated for Best Picture, we do have to watch it. And so I wound up watching it at home. I got a press screener of it later on. I mean, it had a lot to do with not actually like in the movie,

but it also had to do with all these other factors. And I think that's like where I come down to, which is why the two that I came so close to walking out of, they really kind of prove my point of like, I will sit through pretty much anything no matter what. And I will also do this at home, too. Like, once I started a movie at home, I also, for the most part, will not stop it. Mother, exclamation points.

Oh, man. I saw that in a theater. Yes. I saw that in 2017. This is, of course, the Darren Aronofsky movie, Aronovsky doing his, like, take on Rosemary's baby with Jennifer Lawrence. I couldn't quite spot the metaphor in that moment. Yeah, I will never forget, though. My partner and I were visiting London at the time, staying in an Airbnb that was right.

across the street from this historic movie theater in Brixton. It's called the Ritzie Picture House. And I was like, anytime I'm traveling outside the country, I try to go to a movie theater to just like get that experience. And so mother was playing. I went into it, you know, here having heard about it, I was, I think 45 minutes in, we both looked at each other and we're like, oh my God, what are we doing? But we stayed for the whole thing. Also, Terence Malix, the Tree of Life, I almost walked out of, I hate that movie. I have such a hard time with late era Malik. Honestly, you could replace Tree of Life with also Night of Cups, song to Song.

Like, I've almost walked out of all of them in a theater. I mean, the Tree of Life is not speed of a little bit. Well, once we got to the dinosaurs, I was like, oh my God, what is happening? And again, it comes down to both of those movies are kind of experimental. They're, well, in Terence Malick's case, they're very slow. And in Mother's case, it's just like. That movie's not slow. It's just like chaos, chaos, chaos, violence, violence, violence, and just a lot of screaming and awful things happening.

And that's not a pleasant experience for me. But at the same time, I kind of want to see what's going to happen, like, where this is going to lead. And I am a completest. And so I will finish, I will finish those movies. And I don't know how you feel about this, Stephen, but like, I'm less, I'm absolutely less dogmatic about this when it comes to TV shows. Like, I will. Oh. Oh, Aisha.

It's different. I will drop out of a TV show at the slightest provocation. Unless we're covering for work. And never go back. Again, unless we're covering it for work. But very often, a show that I will watch super diligently right up to when we tape the episode, the frequency with which I have never gone back is really, really high. I do think it's interesting, Ayesha, that when we're talking about movies we walked out on or came very close to walking out on,

We're talking about films by some enormously acclaimed and accomplished filmmakers. I walked out on Kubrick and almost walked out on Danny Boyle. You walked out on James Cameron and almost walked out on Darren Aronofsky and Terrence Malick. I just think it's just interesting that it's like you sat there arms folded through the entirety of baby geniuses. But, you know. Well, I think I just have a lower tolerance for, like, directors who are quote-unquote autos, who film bros especially love to salivate over and who, to me, make things that are either completely inscrutable and or are just really kind of boring and slow.

And I hate to, like, be that person. But, like, also these movies, especially Avatar and from what I remember of Tree of Life, they are two plus hours long. So it's like you are asking. Both Avatar entry of life are very long. Right. So you're demanding a lot of my attention. And I see them because I feel like I have to,

because they are the quote-unquote our tours. But I really should have known going into Mother, at least that like that was just not going to be my joke. Because I have never been an Aronovsky person. Like Black Swan is fine. That is what I do think I need to revisit. But like everything else he's done has just not been for me. and Terence Malick post, I don't know, really post the 80s I've just kind of struggled with.

So I'm curious if other people have the same sort of measurement or if they have standards. Because you and I don't really have any like rules about how we do it. Well, it's just like it just feels like you, if you pay the money or if like in our case. There's an element of sunk costs. Absolutely sunk cost theory. Yeah. Yeah, with movies where it's like if I. got up and, like, parked and, like, cleared the time in my schedule, I think the factors that

would be the likeliest to cause me to walk out of a movie that thankfully have never happened, at least so far as of this taping, are things like if I got a text with a family emergency, if I suddenly had some sort of medical crisis. Right, right. You know, if I somehow very foolishly, I have pretty strict rules about not going into movies, having had drinks, and certainly anything I'm seeing. for work I'm going to go into with a clear head. Right.

But if I, yeah, if I had a few drinks and the seat was shaking the way that it sounds like it was for Avatar, I could see situations where I felt I had to walk out. Yeah. But I think I'm pretty big into the whole sunk-cost thing. And the last thing I'll say about this is, is for me, can I judge something if I haven't seen the whole thing of it? And if I want to say that this movie is bad for whatever reason, then I feel like I have to have seen it all the way through and seeing how it ends and how the director carried it through.

Well, if it's a bad movie, I want to be able to talk smack about it. Yeah, exactly. I don't want somebody to be like, the last 10 minutes of cats are amazing. Like, if that's, you know, I don't want to miss a thing. Yeah. In the words of Aerosmith, you don't want to miss a thing. Well, those are the movies we walked out on and almost walked out on. And if you have any more questions for us, you can bring us your best cultural debate or ask us something you've always wanted to know about the show.

Write us at PCH at npr.org and we may answer your question in a future bonus episode. Again, our email is pchh at npr.org that brings us to the end of our show. Stephen, thanks so much for being here. Thank you. And thank you again for being a plus supporter. It truly absolutely does make a difference for us. This episode is produced by Chow Too and edited by our showrunner Jessica Reedy. Hello, come in, provides our theme music.

Thanks so much for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Ayesha Harris and we'll be back with another bonus episode next month.