The ideal viewing time for giving an unseen film "a fair go"?

[Whirlybird fan]

OK so you're about to watch a film you haven't seen before; what would you say is a reasonable amount of time of viewing to say you've given it a shot?

Personally, I would say 20 to 30 minutes of viewing is enough for anyone to decide whether they like a film or not.

Your thoughts?

[Warm Gun]

Two minutes. Maybe less. I watch pretty much every movie I rent or buy. But if one that I just found somewhere didn't appeal to me at a glance, a skim, at all, then I wouldn't hesitate. I don't get the psychology of people who have to give everything a fair shot. How did they survive watching television? Did they just stay on every channel for twenty minutes before deciding they had given whatever was on a fair go and moving on to the next of seventy channels?

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Whirlybird fan

OK so you're about to watch a film you haven't seen before; what would you say is a reasonable amount of time of viewing to say you've given it a shot?

Personally, I would say 20 to 30 minutes of viewing is enough for anyone to decide whether they like a film or not.

Your thoughts?

The whole thing.

It's fine for other people to turn something off after 20-30 minutes if they're not digging what they're seeing but IMO, they are not qualified to critique the movie at all because they haven't actually seen it.

[dvining]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

The whole thing.

It's fine for other people to turn something off after 20-30 minutes if they're not digging what they're seeing but IMO, they are not qualified to critique the movie at all because they haven't actually seen it.

I feel exactly the same way.

I've never really seen anything where a terrible first 90 minutes was completely saved by the final 30, but I have seen movies where the final act did interesting things that the first two didn't really point to. Sure, it may not be good, but that third act left an impression.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by dvining

I feel exactly the same way.

I've never really seen anything where a terrible first 90 minutes was completely saved by the final 30, but I have seen movies where the final act did interesting things that the first two didn't really point to. Sure, it may not be good, but that third act left an impression.

Well, and even if that didn't happen at least you are qualified to say you didn't like the movie.

Certainly, 20 minutes is nowhere near close to getting a true assessment of how a film will turn out. For some James Bond movies, that would mean turning it off just as the credit sequence has finished!

[dvining]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Well, and even if that didn't happen at least you are qualified to say you didn't like the movie.

Certainly, 20 minutes is nowhere near close to getting a true assessment of how a film will turn out. For some James Bond movies, that would mean turning it off just as the credit sequence has finished!

That part too. I haven't turned off a movie I haven't seen before in over a decade, and I've sat through a fair amount of crap that I've disliked.

I view it as lessons in a nascent storyteller. What not to do is as important as what to do.

[drush9999]

If it's via a streaming service, I give it maybe 20 minutes. Finding gems on say Netflix is hard IMO, there's a lot of badly made crap on there.
Something I've bought like a BD, I'll watch the whole thing anyway. I'll keep it as well

[crutzulee]

My favourite movies are often ones where the 3rd act makes you rethink every thing you've seen in the first 2. In many of these cases, these first 2 acts are confusing and frustrating.

I will always continue watching a movie that I'm not enjoying hoping for that payoff. I watch a lot of crap....but when the payoff actually pays off....magic

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by dvining

That part too. I haven't turned off a movie I haven't seen before in over a decade, and I've sat through a fair amount of crap that I've disliked.

I view it as lessons in a nascent storyteller. What not to do is as important as what to do.

For me, being boring is a greater sin than being bad.

I've seen lots of terrible movies from wrong-headed studio misfires to deliberately trashy drive-in films and will usually get something out of them, but sitting through a movie that I objectively acknowledge is good from a film-making standpoint but has me watching the clock constantly wondering when it'll be over, that's the worst.

[Monterey Jack]

If you bail out on a movie before it's finished, you have no right to criticize it as a whole.

[steel_breeze]

I don't have any hard-n-fast rule, but the pattern I've found to be true for myself is, roughly:

--For a new-to-me movie made before 1990, I will almost always give the whole thing a chance, and will finish the film 99% of the time

--For a new-to-me movie made after 2010 -- especially productions shot digitally -- I have no patience whatsoever and will turn off something after 10-20 minutes if I'm not feeling it. This results in me NOT finishing a modern movie probably 75% of the time.

--For new-to-me movies made between those two dates (1990-2010) all bets are off. Depends on genre and execution how much of a chance I'll give it.

[Aclea]

Generally a film has to be Robbie Moffat level bad for me to give up on it. It may take me a few days to come back and finish a film, but unless you're talking boring staggering incompetence on the level of something like The Winter Warrior - a film the entire audience walked out of in the first fve minutes at its only public screening - I'll usually soldier on to the end credits.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

For me, being boring is a greater sin than being bad.

This times infinity.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by Whirlybird fan

OK so you're about to watch a film you haven't seen before; what would you say is a reasonable amount of time of viewing to say you've given it a shot?

Personally, I would say 20 to 30 minutes of viewing is enough for anyone to decide whether they like a film or not.

Your thoughts?

30 minutes is pretty much accurate. There are exceptions to the rule, but if I'm not interested in any part of the movie after 30 minutes, I watch something else.