20 People Share the Movie They Didn’t Ever Care to Finish

Sometimes a movie just loses you. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the worst thing you’ve ever watched, either. Maybe the jokes aren’t landing, the characters aren’t giving you anyone to root for, or you suddenly realize you’ve spent the last 20 minutes thinking about what you’re going to have for dinner. At that point, another hour can feel like a serious commitment. People on Reddit shared the movies that finally made them do something many film fans hate doing: give up before the credits. Some barely made it through the opening scenes, while others held on surprisingly long before admitting defeat. From disappointing sequels to adaptations that immediately annoyed longtime fans, these were the movies they simply didn’t care enough to finish.

Mean Girls 2

For one Redditor, pretending the sequel never existed was preferable to actually watching it. Another viewer said a particularly forced “not like other girls” moment was enough to make them switch it off. The original apparently set a bar this follow-up wasn’t clearing.

Fifty Shades of Grey

One viewer knew remarkably early that this romance wasn’t going to work for them. Anastasia stumbling as she entered Christian’s office was apparently enough to convince them that the movie’s version of her awkward personality wasn’t something they wanted to sit through.

The Emoji Movie

The premise alone wasn’t winning everyone over, and one commenter thought the movie felt almost like a parody of CGI children’s films. Another parent had a very different problem: their child loved it so much that they ended up watching it repeatedly for months.

Downsizing

The idea of Matt Damon getting miniaturized apparently gave one viewer very different expectations. They went in hoping for something goofy along the lines of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and quickly discovered that Downsizing was absolutely not interested in being that movie.

Scary Movie 5

One Redditor had happily watched plenty of low-effort parody movies over the years, but Scary Movie 5 finally broke the streak. They felt its jokes depended too heavily on references to then-current horror movies and eventually returned the rental without finishing it.

Cats

This one inspired more than one early exit. One person said they made it around 30 minutes before actually leaving the theater, while another commenter didn’t even reach the 20-minute mark. Apparently curiosity about those digital cats only carries you so far.

Robin Hood

The 2018 Robin Hood takes some very modern stylistic liberties with its medieval setting. One viewer was particularly baffled by its warfare, including rapid-fire crossbows and combat staged like a contemporary action movie, and eventually decided they couldn’t be bothered seeing where it went.

Holmes & Watson

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly weren’t enough to keep everyone in their seats. One commenter recalled watching an entire group of teenage boys leave the theater within the first 20 minutes, which is a fairly brutal review all by itself.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

A fan of the earlier Mummy movies said this became the only film they’d ever walked out of at a theater. Another commenter checked out emotionally even earlier when they realized Rachel Weisz wasn’t returning as Evelyn.

The Last Airbender

Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender have had plenty to say about this adaptation over the years. One Redditor simply named it as the movie they couldn’t finish, while another argued that even ignoring how it handled the source material didn’t make the experience any better.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Being a huge fan of the books made this one harder rather than easier. One commenter said they couldn’t make it half an hour into the adaptation and literally walked out of the theater.

Gigli

Sometimes a notoriously bad movie can at least be fun to make fun of. That wasn’t the experience for one Gigli viewer, who made it roughly 35 minutes before realizing they’d mentally checked out and were thinking about other things instead.

A Wrinkle in Time

There wasn’t even a detailed explanation attached to this choice. One Redditor simply named A Wrinkle in Time, offered a one-word assessment, and left it there. Sometimes you don’t need the remaining runtime to know something isn’t for you.

Eragon

Another adaptation that didn’t make it very far with at least one viewer. A Redditor nominated Eragon with little more than a “‘Nuff said,” while discussion around it included book fans unhappy with how little the movie resembled what they’d loved on the page.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

This viewer didn’t need an entire act to make a decision. According to their comment, they couldn’t get past the first 10 minutes of Dark Phoenix. Considering how long most people spend deciding what to watch in the first place, that’s an impressively quick rejection.

The Mummy

Not Brendan Fraser’s Mummy, as the commenter was quick to clarify. They specifically nominated the 2017 Tom Cruise reboot, while using the opportunity to praise Fraser’s version instead. At least one Mummy survived the review.

Suicide Squad

The trailers had apparently created some expectations that the finished movie didn’t meet for these viewers. One Redditor made it about 30 minutes before giving up, while another said their disappointment was worse because they’d expected to enjoy it.

Replicas

Keanu Reeves usually buys a movie some goodwill, but not enough in this case. One viewer, who said they normally always finish movies, reached a plot development involving cloning and altered memories about 20 minutes in and finally decided this would be the exception.

Battlefield Earth

One commenter hoped Battlefield Earth might at least reach entertainingly bad territory. Instead, they found watching the entire thing such a chore that doing their taxes sounded preferable. That’s probably the point where finishing a movie stops being worth the achievement.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

This group actually gave Valerian a solid hour before surrendering. The commenter liked the visual concept but couldn’t get past the dialogue and lack of chemistry between the leads. Eventually, all the friends watching agreed there was no reason to keep going.