Cover your eyes

Last weekend, I went to see Mission Impossible III but the audience was more memorable than the movie. To my right was a middle-aged couple who thought they were watching the movie at home. During the loud parts of the movie, their voices carried as they yelled to be heard over the onscreen explosions.

I might have been able to make out what they were saying if the family on my left hadn't been talking at the exact same time. Despite the 9 pm start time of the movie, this man and woman had brought their young son (I'm guessing he was 9) and one set of parents (I'm guessing they were in their 70s. They sat in the row in front of mine and it's questionable whether they even spoke English). The 9-year-old had great difficulty sitting through the movie; he was bouncing around in his seat and chattering to his parents and grandparents. Personally, I wouldn't take my son to a 9 pm showing of a violent movie but that's just me. Neither of these factors seemed to bother the family, though. What did bother them was when Tom Cruise and Michelle Monaghan started getting hot and heavy in a hospital supply closet. "Cover your eyes," the mother told her son. He obeyed. Less than five seconds later, the scene ended and the child was allowed to watch the people onscreen get tortured and shot.

And now on to the group of twentysomething-year-old guys behind me. Their phones rang multiple times and, at a pivotal moment in the plot, one guy actually answered his phone. Unbelievable!

What are these people thinking? Does theater etiquette no longer exist? I went to Mission Impossible III for some escapism but it's hard to get lost in a movie with so much distraction. After a week, I can hardly remember the plot of the movie but the audience's behavior is still stuck in my head.