X-Men Wolverine Movie with a Hint of Crying Baby

I went to see the movie X-Men Origins Wolverine today at the local Forney Starplex theater. I chose to ignore the early critics of the movie and decide for myself if I liked it, which I did. I was not overly impressed, but I wasn't disappointed either. Well, I was disappointed, but not with the movie.

I purposely chose to see the 230 P.M. showing because I knew that kids would still be in school and most people would be at work, thus leaving me a smaller, quieter crowd. I succeeded with that part of the plan because the crowd was in fact light and quiet, except for one tiny audience member. She was cute, and maybe 3-4 months old, but she really had no interest in the Wolverine movie, and she didn't have a choice but to be where she was. The choice to bring the baby to the theater was up to the young woman she was with, presumably her mother.

As soon as I saw them sit down, I knew this would be another experience to try my patience. Now don't get me wrong, I love babies just as much as the next person, but babies and very young children that are not able to sit still and be quiet for at least 2 hours, have no business ever being at a movie theater. It's bad enough dealing with peoples cell phones going off (because obviously they paid no attention to the pre movie advertisement that says please turn off your cell phone), but a crying baby is just downright painful.

I was surprised that we got through the first 30 minutes of the movie without a peep from the little one and for a moment I thought she might sleep through the whole thing. I was wrong. The baby girl woke up and apparently was not a Marvel Comics fan like her mother. She started out with the tiny baby cry that is kind of cute, but it didn't stay cute for long. Eventually the baby started full throat crying and I watched her mom rocking her and putting a bottle in her mouth which quieted the child temporarily. I could feel the mood of the small movie crowd shifting, grumbling about exactly what I was thinking, "Why do people bring babies to a movie?" I tried to enjoy the silence that eventually fell again and got back into watching and understanding what was going on with Wolverine and his love/ hate relationship with his brother. I was enjoying myself, sipping my diet coke and snacking on some popcorn, until I heard "Whaahhh Whaaahhh" and my attention was once again brought away from the movie and onto the child. This time the mom couldn't get her child to stop crying and I figured she would use common sense and courtesy and take the child from the theater until she was quiet again. Once again, I was wrong. Common sense truly isn't common anymore.

The baby went on bawling for a good 10 minutes and I was at the point of asking a theater employee to escort them out before my fellow audience members started rioting against the mother. Just then, mom stood up and took the child out with her. I heard a man say, "Thank you!" which by his tone meant, "It's about dang time!" The mother was just teasing us because she stood in the hallway where she could still watch the movie, and though we couldn't see the baby, we could hear her. A few minutes later she finally took her out and by the time they came back, the movie was 3/4 over and the baby was back to sleep.

I want to say that I know it's hard for parents to get babysitters sometimes and I feel for them, I do. However, it is just rude and inconsiderate to your child and your fellow movie goers to bring a baby to any movie. If you can't find a sitter, wait for the movie to come out on DVD. I would personally like to see movie theaters ban children under the age of 4, but that would be common sense, and we have established that it does not exist anymore. My niece and nephew are about to turn 5. I adore them and I have been waiting for them to be old enough to take them to things like movies, and hockey games and other events that require sitting still for long periods of time. All I'm asking is for parents to show the same consideration and keep the babies at home. If Wolverine were here, he would probably suggest the same thing.