Hutchins, Hutchins & Sons: Movie Watchers I Know

Part III of this four-part series about the diversity of movie watchers will focus on several traits people have when watching movies at home. In Part I and Part II, we spoke of those that have certain qualities when watching movies in the theatre, be it during the previews or the features presentation. This section will look at those who have movie evenings at home on TV.

Again, if you belong to any of these groups, don’t be shy and proudly admit to it. Also feel free to add any other types of movie watchers you yourself know. Let us continue now with Part III: At Home.

At Home

The Partial Movie Watcher

Some people aren’t built for sitting 90 minutes in silence, let alone capable of getting through a 3-hour movie at home. It’s a shame for those who can, but are watching with a Partial Watcher. Just when the plot is thickening, The Partial Movie Watcher is either tired or starting to lose interest, even if they find the movie completely riveting. “How about we stop now and finish it another time?” What a bad idea, but what can a full-movie watcher do? We can’t recommend that they watch the rest of it on their own later while we finish the movie, nor can we recommend they start up some other solitary task to pass the remaining hours left in the movie. If they ever do decide to watch their self-imposed Part II (or Part III) of the movie, they have likely forgotten key plot lines or characters and quickly lose interest. Heaven forbid one has started watching multiple movies with a Partial Movie Watcher and are still trying to catch up on all of them while being recommended other movies to see (in segments, likely).

The Plot Rewinder

Especially annoying during thriller or action movies, some people can’t help but rewind cool action scenes.

“What an amazing chase scene! Let’s rewind and watch that again!”

Yes, or we can watch the rest of the movie without having to break it up.

Sometimes the temptation to rewind is great when one didn’t quite make out what the actors said.

“Wait. Stop for second. What did she say about her boss? Rewind. K. Now play. (Clip runs again). Okay, that’s what I thought she said, but I just wanted to make sure.”

It’s as though one missed word will make the ending completely incomprehensible to them without that one sentence. And this rewinding transpires multiple times throughout a movie, most notably towards the endings when all the twists are being revealed.

The Pause for a Snack-er

Be it in theatres or at home, snacks are still necessities for people watching movies. The Pause/Snacker’s flaw is that he or she is fully aware of upcoming movie on DVD, but doesn’t prepare any snacks beforehand. Instead, about one-third through the movie they realize “why aren’t I eating something.” So, everyone is forced to wait a several minute pause for the microwave popcorn and pouring of drinks. And then when the snacks are all gone, it’s time for another pause, sometimes for refills or even for washing up the dishes. For these folks at home, the event of watching a movie is made to complement the food, whereas for the majority it is the other way around. Food should be made as a complement to movie watching.

Note: The Bathroom Runner belongs to the same category as the Snacker, though typically they are one and the same, one evolving into the other throughout the course of the movie.

The Ending-Guesser

The cardinal sinner of movie watching is the one who makes it his or her goal to guess the ending as early as possible into the movie. Despite the fact that those around may just want to be immersed in the film and let the ending happen the way the story is told, Ending Guessers feel it is their duty to ruin the twist endings for them. Some are even known to pause the movie to let everyone know their predictions, as though the earliest correct guesser wins the grand prize. Others are even multiple guessers, changing their predictions several times throughout the movie with every changing plot twist. Come the end of the movie, The Ending-Guesser may have come up with five or six completely different scenarios they have hypothesized throughout the movie. And wouldn’t you know it, often times one of those six predictions might actually turn out to be the way the movie ends.