Nightmare Date at ‘The Hunger Games’- Why Watching Movies on DVD is Better!

I had tried to prepare my husband for what was about to happen.  We were going on a "date-night" and part of it involved watching ‘The Hunger Games.’

I told him days in advance there would be teenagers there and those almost teenagers.  I told him most of them would be girls.  I told him they would all be really excited about the movie and most of them would not have the benefit of parental intervention if they got too loud, too crazy, too annoying.

I told him all of this and still he decided to go with me!

Friday night we got to the theater about 30 minutes early so we could get good seats.  We got some of the LAST good seats and within the next ten minutes, the place was packed.

What can you expect from the highest-grossing opening weekend of any non-sequel movie?

The first trailer started and girls squealed with delight.

The lights went out and girls squealed with delight.

The movie started and I thought we might have to revive several of them.

The main character had a close up and girls squealed with delight.

Either of the main ‘heart-throbs’ appeared on the screen and there were ooooh's and aaaaah's.

Well, you can see where this is going.  When the bad guys got it, there was large applause and girls around us everywhere kept saying, "I can't believe I'm really here."

When the heroine and hero kissed for the first time, I thought they might take the place down.

And then there were a few guys sprinkled in the audience, dragged there by girlfriends and some wives, like mine.  They did their best to pretend they were not in the audience.

My husband left the theater twice saying he was ill.  I didn't believe him and thought he was just trying to escape. Turns out he really didn’t feel good because he was sick for the next 24 hours. Oops!

I have always believed good movies are good movies, no matter what audience they are meant for.  This was probably the exception.  While I believe almost anyone could enjoy the book, the movie was meant for the young.  The screen jerked back and forth so many times I thought I might lose MY dinner, too.  The lone exception to this seemed to be the 25 year old guy that sat next to my husband.

Darin thought he was getting some male solidarity, but not so.  This guy was more excited than his girlfriend to see the movie.  While the little girls would screech in their high-pitched pre-teen voices, this guy would yell in a deep baritone things like, "Yes!", "Get 'Em," "Go Catniss," and more.

After the movie, my husband was so sick I drove home.  I did enjoy the movie.  Enjoyed seeing the books I really liked come to life on the screen in a pretty accurate portrayal.

I did find, though, I need more calm in my movie-going experience.  Thank God for the DVD.

One huge positive:  Only once did a cell phone ring in the movie. . .and that was the crow of a rooster, which happened at a point in the movie where a rooster would have been appropriate.  So, no harm done there.