MovieChat Forums > A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Discussion > For those who saw it in the theater, was...

For those who saw it in the theater, was the audience jeering or booing?

posted 9 years ago by muthatrucka
78 replies | jump to latest

I'm pretty shocked at how many dislike this and read several comments about how the theater audience were actively displaying their displeasure at the end, booing or making fun of it. I have to say that, when I saw it at home after it came out on VHS when I was about 19, I was engrossed the entire time and cried at the end harder than I did about ET and Terminator 2 (those I saw when I was under 10 years old).

There are different ranges of people I suppose. I recommended this to some friends and they absolutely despised it and even got mad at me for suggesting they watch it. Their reaction confused me at the time but now I see that their opinion is a popular one. I actually don't like them much any more, for other non-movie based reasons, but looking back I think that I should have been suspect because of AI. Did people really act out like this in the theater?

[–] marcorotta 9 years ago

No boos when I watched it back in the days...

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

i saw this in the theater with my sister when i was 14. we thought it was awful and that was befroe the Aliens/robots turned up . When they did turn up, we just looked at each other like 'oh my god, this movie has derailed' . After the movie she went to the bathroom. when she came out she had this look of complete disgust on her face. She said there was a woman in the bathroom crying saying how 'brilliant' AI was. She said it toook all of her will power not to start screaming at the lady. I told her she should have screamed at the lady. She said i was right. To this day we still talk about this as the worst movie we ever saw in theater.

[–] matineeidyll 9 years ago

You both sound like intolerable snobs and if I were the lady your sister had screamed at, she would've had a slap in the mouth.

Go take a step outside - see what's shaking in the real world.

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

We'll know who's been intolerable

[–] charlie-bell133 9 years ago

They were 14, calm down

[–] diane-bernaerts 9 years ago

My daughters are 10 and 14, and they absolutely loved it! They were very, very quiet and thoughtful, and a little sad, for a long time after the ending.

[–] BrianRaess_Is_FinallyGone 9 years ago

I like it when people talk about a movie derailing because they didn't understand it. There were no aliens in the movie.

I also call BS on your entire story. Who the hell dislikes a movie and still visits its message board 13 years later?

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

People can understand things and still not like them. Those things are not mutually exclusive. And ur saying my story is BS. U think I'm lying,,,,,

[–] BrianRaess_Is_FinallyGone 9 years ago

I agree with you, people can understand things and still not like them. But what you said was that you felt the movie derailed with the aliens showed up. But since there are no aliens in the movie, you clearly didn't understand it. And since that was the moment you thought the movie became derailed, your feeling was as a result of something you didn't understand.

Yep. Total BS. Notice how you didn't offer a reason as to why you're still perusing a message board to a movie you don't like 13 years later? Nobody does that except for trolls.

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

the op asked what the reaction was from people who saw it in the theater, all I did was tell him, im note sure why that makes me a troll. and as for why I am here, though I do hate this movie I always wondered what people saw in it.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] BrianRaess_Is_FinallyGone 9 years ago

And all I did was point out that the very reason you stated for not liking it ("aliens" showing up) is because you didn't understand it. And btw, I didn't call you a troll.

[–] dsfd1 9 years ago

OR maybe it was rerun on TV, or maybe somebody saw it in the listings and revisited IMDB out of interest and curiosity.
Jumping to conclusions because you don't agree with someone and calling BS is a bit trollish, too.
(Troll-like?)
IDK (and u don,t either)

[–] BrianRaess_Is_FinallyGone 9 years ago

And that's why I wrote, "Notice how you didn't offer a reason as to why you're still perusing a message board to a movie you don't like 13 years later?"

I asked him first, he chose not to answer.

[–] Mencken59 9 years ago

Touché.

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

I did answer. I said I check the message boards because I am fascinated by what people could possibly see on this movie

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mencken59 9 years ago

Bravo.

[–] lulupalooza 9 years ago

There were no aliens. However, you may be recalling the tall robotic descendants of the Earth's future. Look up The Singularity (or "Technological Singularity") online and that will help explain what was going on in the Third Act. Both Kubrick and Spielberg were exploring the potential. At 14, you likely did not have that wisdom or education to draw upon.

It is possible that humankind is headed toward a similar future, but hopefully we will preserve humans. :)

On a side note, your sister did the mature and rational thing by not slapping that woman. A self-serving reaction of that nature would reflect a sociopathy or other mental imbalance within your sister.

Along those lines: Even if someone hated the film, they may have felt empathy for the woman nonetheless. Perhaps her mother died or left her when she was very young, and the last scene opened an emotional wound. Regardless, the woman was not out to hurt or offend your sister, but was venting a strong emotion in the relative privacy of a bathroom.

"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

[–] Howard_Hand 9 years ago

when she came out she had this look of complete disgust on her face. She said there was a woman in the bathroom crying saying how 'brilliant' AI was. She said it toook all of her will power not to start screaming at the lady. I told her she should have screamed at the lady. She said i was right. To this day we still talk about this as the worst movie we ever saw in theater.

Yeah! How dare she like a movie that you and your sister didn't! Peasants. After all, who has a better grasp on film than a 14 year old?

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

exactly ! i'm glad somebody gets it .

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] GoTheDistance 8 years ago

And there's the fact that she hasn't grown since age 14.

Also, 1/4 of humans are pychopathic (no caring). (this explains why so many people didn't get this movie)

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[–] muckydog2 8 years ago

Sometimes it takes the genius of a 14 year old to clearly see the folly of two old gits making a story whose premise is ridiculous. Add annoying child actor and boos are compulsory in my view.

[–] muckydog2 8 years ago

PS Apart from the teddy, which is greatest teddy on film.

[–] lonely_goodner 9 years ago

Welcome to the world of internet message boards. There are some people who like to troll internet message boards. They will say things like "when I was movie 'x' everyone was laughing at it and booing and half of the theater walked out". Now I have been to quite a few movies in quite a few places over the years, some of the movies were pretty bad. But I have never seen any movie where people reacted in quite that way. People that say things like that are generally what I refer to as "liars".

I watched this movie in a theater. The general consensus seems to be it was "pretty good". I loved it. It made a real impression on me. Made me think about the nature of love and life. I think I liked it more than the people I was with but everyone seemed to like it.

Just a side note. A couple of weeks after I saw this movie the theater that I saw it in shut down. It was the theater me and my friends went to a lot in late high school and such and I had a fair amount of memories there. That same week 9/11 happened and it also made me reflect. In the film the towers are still standing 2000 years in the future long after the human race was gone. But that wasn't to be.

End of line

[–] huwdj 9 years ago

I didn't see this in the cinema but I didn't like it when I first saw it all those years ago. I think like a lot of people I saw it as a failed attempt at making a Stanley Kubrick film - and to be fair there was a lot of publicity stating this is what Spielberg was trying to do. I enjoyed it more watching it today for the 1st time in many years. I would have been disappointed if I'd gone to the cinema to watch it at the time.

[–] Pargeo 9 years ago

No, occasional sniffling though... Probably I was lucky.

[–] JennyShineEye 9 years ago

I watched this in the cinema, there were no boos. But it was the first film to make me cry.

[–] kaskait 9 years ago

I saw it in NYC. During the ending sequence there was nothing but laughter which turned into hysterics when the bear whipped out that lock of hair. I even laughed.

Did that happen in every theater? Don't know. I only know that people were jeering in the showing I sat through.

[–] TotheWatersandtheWild 9 years ago

Wow, that's just... incredibly bizarre. Was it an elementary school? A summer camp? I'm sorry. It's just a rather obtuse ... scenario.

~🍀
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

[–] The-Original-Pinky 9 years ago

I have always found NYC movie theater audiences to be a bit bizarre. A lot of talk during showings, very crowded, rude, and not really paying attention to what is going on. Thankfully I saw this in Ridgewood, NJ, and the film was very well received. It remains one of my favorites.

Life can be arbitrary and comes without a warranty.

[–] kaskait 9 years ago

My experiences in New York City theaters are varied. Usually I try to attend matinees or theaters in family oriented neighborhoods (Kips Bay being one).

This movie had everyone's attention until the end. People started clapping, thinking it was over, when David gets stuck at the bottom of the frozen sea. In my opinion that was the natural end. But then when the alien robots appeared everyone started groaning and grumbling. Then ending in laughter when the bear pulled out the hair.

[–] The-Original-Pinky 9 years ago

Well, to be fair, our viewings were usually after 7:00 PM, so maybe there is a difference. It always surprises me when I hear people say they hate this film, or nit-pick it's "flaws". This is the type of film that is better received if you just go along for the ride.

Life can be arbitrary and comes without a warranty.

[–] kaskait 9 years ago

Everyone did and it failed. Unless you think laughter was the intention.

If Kubrick had lived, I'm sure he would have made last minute changes. He would have realized the ending didn't work as originally planned. But since he passed, and Spielberg slavishly followed the Kubrick notes, this film is just an experiment of one man trying to perform necromancy on another artist.

[–] The-Original-Pinky 9 years ago

I guess you have to be in the appropriate state of mind to utterly and unencumberedly enjoy something for what is simply is: Entertainment.

Kurbrick, Schmoobrick . . . whatevs. I think Spielberg executed a remarkable and thoroughly enjoyable film.

Life can be arbitrary and comes without a warranty.

[–] Druff 9 years ago

I saw it in theaters twice, once on weekday afternoon at the AMC multiplex at Universal Citywalk and then on weekend at the Vista in Hollywood. There was no booing or jeering, nothing like that. But I do remember talking to people outside the Vista and there seemed to be a lot of uncertainty about whether they had just seen a great movie or a piece of s***.

[–] niels8 9 years ago

So basically your question isn't so much about the theater, it's about why popular opinion is so different than your experience. Easy, people are not ready, and not interested in the concepts this movie presented. We like to think we are the center of the universe, we are important, we matter.

This movie not only shows that one of the most human emotions, like love, can be programmed, it can also outlive us, making the human race obsolete. We are not so special as we think we are.

So of course a lot of people wont like this movie. They are not ready, busy with their ego's, their busy lives etc.

Just be happy for yourself that you have the brain capacity to enjoy movies like this. Maybe recommend the next transformers to your friends. Or if besides movies, you also cant connect on any other subject, find new ones, life is way to short.

In the mean while, feed your brain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTbIu8Zeqp0

ps: Of course I understand that people can dislike this movie, and also get the ideas it presented. I'm talking about the people that were expecting a new terminator. The people that probably wont visit this particular message board (anymore).

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

It's not about not understanding or expecting another terminator. This movie was a confused jumbled mess. Spielberg clearly was overwhelmed trying to make Kubrick movie And the film suffered as a result. While I do think Kubrick is gge greatest film maker off all time. (Paths of Glory, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita) but like all of us Kubrick wasn't perfect and he did make mistakes (Barry Lyndon) and this story was one of his mistakes. If he had lived to make this movie, it probably would have been better than this mess but I still don't think it would have been good. To me anyway, it's just not a good idea. There's no way in for the audience. Like why would sympathize with a robot.