Posted by bednigo at aragorn.dhcp.fnal.gov on March 28, 2004 at 13:24:01:
In Reply to: Theater Reports, please posted by Kevin on March 28, 2004 at 09:54:40:
I hit up the 7:30 show at the uber-huge 30 screen megaplex, the kind of place where you bring
supplies in case you get lost and need to wait a week or two to be rescued. JG was playing in
one of the larger screens (easily over 500 seats) right up near the front. That kind of placement
makes me think the theater was on board with the picture.
Anyways, the show seemed about half full or more, with a great variety in the crowd. I had a
whole family in front of me, a young couple on one side and some middle aged people on the
other side. It seemed to play REALLY well with the whole crowd. There was very loud laughter
(to the point where it drowned out the film a couple times), sobs and sniffles, and of course
several collectives "awww"s. The amazing part was when 2 of those would happen together
(bravo, getting a crowd to feel one emotion is tough let alone 2 at once). There were also several
times that much of the audience broke into clapping, a movie phenomenom that I will never
understand, but I guess it means they like it more than just laughing will show.
A decent number of people stayed through the credits and it was during these that I heard one of
the oddest post movie quips I've ever come across. After the movie ends, the first thing one of
the people behind me has to say is, "Wow, I never realized Ben Affleck was such a good crier. I
mean he's REALLY good at it." I guess that means his preformance was believable ;).
All in all, decent crowd, played well, and apparently at least one person was impressed by the
Affleck tears. I know I loved the whole thing.