On Saturday night, my daughter, who will be 18 in December, and I went to the Rowland in Philipsburg to see New Moon. Because of the historic nature and restoration that was done at this movie theatre, we do try to see movies here whenever we can and always have a very enjoyable movie experience here.
Whenever we climbed up the steps to the balcony, there was a sign that no one under 18 was allowed unless accompanied by a responsible adult. My daughter and I continued up and took our seats. Because of the extremely large crowd, the movie started 40 minutes late. During this time, the tween set was in perpetual motion, running all over the balcony, up and down the steps, etc. When the movie did start, the younger kids were so high on candy and soda, that their behavior did not or could not stop. I applaud the gentleman in the right section who stood up and told the kids to sit down and be quiet.
Through out the entire movie, the kids and adults as well continued to talk loudly about every detail. Some woman several rows behind us brought a small toddler aged child to this 2 hour movie. The couple directly behind us wondered loudly early on in the movie if Bella was a good witch, and by their loud conversation, had no clue how the story line to this film went.
The tween set, which occupied the entire front row of the balcony whipped out their cell phones at the start of the movie and continued to take pictures and make movies of the movie for the entire 2 hours. Their “responsible” parents were seated in the row behind them, and were completely oblivious to the industry’s copy right laws. The lights from these phones were quite bright and distracting.
I would like to make a suggestion to the management of this fine movie theatre – keep the kids out of the balcony, period, no exceptions. Obviously, the parents can’t/won’t control their behavior, and all the time, money, and energy that has gone into the restoration and preservation of your beautiful theatre will be ruined by these unsupervised and undisciplined children.
Sincerely
Jennifer Kolbe
Woodland