Sex, nudity cause many to abandon ‘Watchmen’

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — “Watchmen,” the No. 1 flick in the country, pulled in $56.7 million last weekend, and while no one familiar with Alan Moore’s graphic novel would expect another family-friendly “Fantastic Four” — Whoa, whoa, wait, you mean, you were expecting a superhero picture as broadly accessible as, oh, “Iron Man”?

Didn’t anyone warn you about the superhero-on-superhero sex, the forearms chain-sawed in two, the Richard Nixon imitations, the extended meditations on solitude? Judging by the number of people who walked out of the Saturday showing I attended, I suppose not.

The couple behind me argued for 45 minutes about who was who and was this scene happening now or in the past and why are we now on Mars?

Eventually, they gave up and laughed their way through the exit doors.

A father accompanied by antsy young boys shifted uncomfortably with every splatter of brain, sank lower into his seat at the arrival of a nude Dr. Manhattan’s fully exposed Little Dr. Manhattan, and finally bolted with the kids during the fairly explicit sex between Night Owl and Silk Spectre. (This movie is rated R, people.)

It’s hard to say when the trickle became an exodus, but maybe a quarter of the theater walked out.

Apparently, this has not been uncommon: An extensive report on Popten.net described the “mass walkouts” at a New York City screening; and corey3rd on hollywood-elsewhere.com claims that one-third of his audience bolted too.