Mailbag: The Movies We Walked Out Of

Summary

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

Episode Date: December 14, 2025
Hosts: Aisha Harris & Stephen Thompson

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Overview

In this special bonus mailbag episode, hosts Aisha Harris and Stephen Thompson respond to a listener question: Have you ever walked out on a movie? They candidly share their personal philosophies about abandoning movies, their rare walk-out stories, and reflections on what drives them to stick with—or give up on—a film. Along the way, they contrast their tolerance for questionable cinema, ponder auteur fatigue, and poke gentle fun at themselves for being completists.

Tone: Conversational, confessional, and laced with affectionate pop-culture snark.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining the "Dead-Ender" Mentality

[01:49 - 03:11]

• Stephen declares he is a "dead ender" – someone who almost never leaves a movie, especially for work.
  • Quote: “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.” – Stephen, [01:49]
• He admits even in non-work scenarios, he’s generally unlikely to leave early: “It takes an emergency for me to even get up and go to the bathroom…” ([02:18])

2. The Movies Stephen (Almost) Walked Out Of

Slumdog Millionaire (Almost)

[03:13 - 03:42]

• Stephen and his companion debated leaving due to unexpectedly traumatic content, specifically, the child exploitation scenes in the first 45 minutes.
  • Quote: “And the person I was with at the theater and I were like, should we leave? This is excruciating.” – Stephen, [03:39]
• He stuck it out, ultimately understanding the movie’s acclaim, but those initial scenes nearly drove him away.

A Clockwork Orange (Walked Out)

[03:43 - 05:48]

• At age 18 or 19, attending a campus screening, Stephen walked out during the early crime spree and sexual assault.
  • Quote: “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.” – Stephen, [04:47]
• He feels some cinephile guilt, noting its enduring influence, but insists he wouldn't admit it were it not for transparency with listeners.

3. Aisha’s Stories: Endurance, Exceptions, and the “4DX Mistake”

Dead-Ender Vibes, Too

[08:21 - 08:53]

• Aisha mirrors the dead-ender philosophy: “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.”

Avatar: The Way of Water (Walked Out)

[09:15 - 10:14]

• On a whim, Aisha and her partner attended a 4DX screening on Christmas Day, drinks in hand—without realizing 4DX meant shaking seats.
• The viewing was physically uncomfortable and the movie boring; about an hour in, they left. “I wanna spend my Christmas doing anything but this. So we left, and it was great. We got some Indian food afterward. It was lovely.” – Aisha, [09:39]
• She later finished the movie for work, due to Pop Culture Happy Hour’s “Best Picture” policy.

At-Home Endurance and “Near Misses”

[10:14 - 12:39]

• Even at home, Aisha makes a point of finishing movies.
• Came close to walking out of:
  • mother! (2017, Aronofsky): “45 minutes in, we both looked at each other, and we're like, oh, my God, what are we doing? But we stayed through the whole thing.” – Aisha, [11:07]
  • Tree of Life (2011, Malick): “I almost walked out of. I hate that movie.” — Aisha, [11:53]
• Both films are cited for either being chaotic (mother!) or glacially slow (Tree of Life/Malick era).

4. Auteur Fatigue & Sunk Cost Fallacy

[13:34 - 14:57]

• Both hosts notice their walk-out/near-walk-out movies are from lauded “auteur” directors (Kubrick, Boyle, Cameron, Aronofsky, Malick).
• Aisha critiques these often “inscrutable, boring, and slow” movies hyped by film bros, especially when they run over two hours.
  • Quote: “I just have a lower tolerance for, like, directors who are...auteurs, 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.” – Aisha, [13:34]
• Both mention the “sunk cost” factor: having invested time and money, it feels wasteful to leave.
  • Quote: “With movies...if I got up and, like, parked and, like, cleared the time in my schedule...I think I'm pretty big into the whole sunk cost thing.” – Stephen, [14:57]

5. Movies vs. TV: Different Rules

[12:11 - 12:46]

• Aisha is more forgiving with TV—quicker to give up a show that drags; Stephen agrees: “I will drop out of a TV show at the slightest provocation.” ([12:39])
• They both distinguish professional obligations from personal watching.

6. The Power of Finishing: “Can I Judge If I Didn’t Finish?”

[14:53 - 16:07]

• Aisha feels finishing a movie is necessary to legitimately critique it: “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 seen how it ends.” – Aisha, [15:44]
• Stephen agrees, humorously referencing Cats: “I don't want somebody to be like, ‘the last 10 minutes of Cats are amazing.'” ([16:08])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the trauma of acclaimed movies:

  • “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.” – Stephen, [02:49]

• On 4DX and beverage choices:

  • “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.” – Aisha, [09:18]

• On auteur fatigue:

  • “I really should have known going into Mother at least that that was just not gonna be my... joke. Cause I have never been an Aronofsky person. Like, Black Swan is fine.” – Aisha, [14:05]

• On sunk costs:

  • “There's an element of sunk costs... if I got up and, like, parked and, like, cleared the time in my schedule...” – Stephen, [14:53]

• On judging movies:

  • “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 seen how it ends and how the director carried it through.” – Aisha, [15:44]
  • “If it's a bad movie, I want to be able to talk smack about it.” – Stephen, [16:04]

• On finishing movies:

  • “In the words of Aerosmith, you don't want to miss a thing.” – Aisha, [16:15]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:49] Stephen on his "dead ender" philosophy
• [03:13] Stephen almost walks out of Slumdog Millionaire
• [03:43] Stephen walks out of A Clockwork Orange
• [08:21] Aisha on bathroom breaks and endurance
• [09:15] Aisha walks out of Avatar: The Way of Water (4DX mishap)
• [10:51] Aisha’s at-home “almost” walkouts (mother!, Tree of Life, other Malick films)
• [12:39] Movies vs. TV: Different rules for bailing
• [13:34] Discussion of “auteur” fatigue and movie length
• [14:53] Sunk cost theory and why they rarely leave
• [15:44] Needing to finish movies to judge them fairly
• [16:15] “Don’t want to miss a thing”—ending reflections

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Final Thoughts

Stephen and Aisha’s confessions reveal that, contrary to the “critic as quitter” stereotype, many critics see it through to the end unless the experience is truly intolerable—physically, emotionally, or otherwise. Their willingness to air embarrassing exits and critique storied directors results in a candid, funny, and deeply relatable conversation for any film lover who’s ever faced the sinking feeling of wanting to bolt—but stuck it out just for the right to talk smack later.

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Contact: Got burning questions for the team? Email: [e-mail]

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Transcript

[A]

Support for NPR and the following message come from Warby Parker, the One Stop Shop for all your vision needs. They offer expertly crafted prescription eyewear, plus contacts, eye exams and more. For everything you need to see. Visit your nearest Warby Parker store or head to warbyparker.com hey, it's Stephen Thompson.

[B]

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 scout 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 Happy to join. Now. Okay, here's the episode.

[C]

What's a movie we hated so much that we walked out on it? We've got another question from a listener in our mailbag today. I'm Aisha Harris.

[B]

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.

[C]

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 U.S. core 4. And today Stephen and I are going to tackle another one. Are you ready, Steven?

[B]

Aisha, I am so ready.

[C]

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?

[B]

So, Aisha, I am a dead ender, 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.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

That is the extent of my, 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 are both classics.

[C]

Okay, let's hear it. I need to hear it.

[B]

So the one I almost walked out on was Slumdog Millionaire.

[C]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

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.

[C]

Okay, yes, I vaguely remember that aspect of it.

[B]

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 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 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 mov 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, 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.

[C]

You never had to read the book in school?

[A]

No.

[B]

Oh, Aisha, 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 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 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.

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[C]

Wow. Okay. So Slumdog Millionaire I have not seen since it came out. I do remember liking it, although the soundtrack slaps.

[B]

Love the soundtrack soundtrack. It's great. Totally slaps.

[C]

Have 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 rewatched 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, Stephen.

[B]

I'm not sitting here folding my arms like that movie's bad.

[C]

No, I know, but, like, I don't know, it just feels very relevant. I mean, even then it did, but it's. It's so good. Anyway, I am with you, Steven, 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.

[B]

Which episode knows, I assume there are, like, 20 words and six colons.

[C]

Basically, that movie's, like, so, so long. And I knew it was gonna 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 gonna miss anything by going for five seconds. The one time I've walked out. Was Avatar the Way of Water.

[E]

Yes.

[C]

Wow. Okay, So I hated the first Avatar.

[B]

You never learned the way of Water.

[C]

Well, no, hold on there. I did. I have to Avatar the Way of Water. And. 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. Like, let's just go to the movie. Oh, and they're showing it in 40x near us. I was like, if I'm gonna 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 wanna 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 listeners.

[B]

Were nominated for Best Picture. And it's the Pop Culture Happy Hour law.

[C]

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 liking 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 proved 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 start a movie at home, I also, for the most part, will not stop it, Mother. Exclamation point.

[B]

Oh, man. I saw that in a theater.

[C]

Yes. I saw that in 2017. This is, of course, the Darren Aronofsky movie. Aronofsky doing his, like, take on Rosemary's Baby with Jennifer Lawrence.

[B]

I couldn't quite spot the metaphor in that movie.

[C]

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 Ritzy 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, 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 through the whole thing. Also, Terrence Malick's the Tree of Life. I almost walked out of. I hate that movie. I have such a hard time with Le Era Malick. Honestly, you could replace Tree of Life with also Knight of Cups song to song. Like, I almost walked out of all of them in a theater.

[B]

I mean, the Tree of Life is not speedily.

[C]

No. 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 Terrence Malick's case, they're very slow. And in Mother's case, it's just like.

[B]

That movie's not so.

[C]

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 gonna happen, like, where this is gonna lead. And I am a completist, 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.

[B]

Oh, Aisha, it's different. I will drop out of a TV show at the slightest provocation.

[C]

Unless recovering from work.

[B]

That's the exception again, unless we're covering it for work. But very often a show that I will watch, you know, 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, Aisha, 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. And 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.

[C]

Well, I think I just have a lower tolerance for, like, directors who are quote unquote, auteurs, 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.

[B]

Oh, yeah, Both Avatar and Tree of Life are very long. Right.

[C]

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 auteurs. But I really should have known going into Mother at least that that was just not gonna be my joke. Cause I have never been an Aronofsky 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 Terrence 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. Cause you and I don't really have any, like, standards rules about how we do it. Well, it's just like. It just feels like you. If you pay the money or if, like.

[B]

Yeah, there's an element of sunk costs.

[C]

Absolutely. Sunk cost theory. Yeah.

[B]

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 crisis, you know, if I somehow, very foolishly. I have pretty strict rules about not going into movies, having had drinks. Certainly anything I'm seeing for work, I'm gonna go into with a clear head. Right. But if I. Yeah, if I'd 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. But I think I'm pretty big into the whole sunk cost thing.

[C]

Sun cause. And the last thing I'll say about this 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 seen how it ends and how the director carried it through.

[B]

Well, if it's a bad movie, I want to be able to talk smack about it.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

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.

[C]

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 [e-mail] and we may answer your question in a future bonus episode. Again, our email is pch. That brings us to the end of our show. Stephen, thanks so much for being here.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

And thank you again for being A plus supporter. It truly, absolutely does make a difference for us. This episode is produced by Chow2 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 Aisha Harris, and we'll be back with another bonus episode next month.

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