The time I tried to watch Dune with my mom and she walked out 20 minutes in

So last weekend I finally convinced my mom to watch the new Dune movie with me since she never read the book. I was so hyped to show her all the cool sandworm stuff and the political drama. About 20 minutes in she turns to me and goes 'wait, there's no talking in this movie, just a lot of whispering and staring'. I tried to explain it's all about the atmosphere and the book is way denser but she wasn't having any of it. She got up and made popcorn for herself in the kitchen while I finished it alone lol. Honestly I can't even be mad because the book is definitely not for everyone and the movie captures that same slow burn energy. Has anyone else tried showing a book adaptation to someone who hasn't read the source material and had it backfire?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant82615d ago

Oh man, that's rough but I totally get it. My wife sat through about thirty minutes of the 1984 Lynch version with me a few years back and said the same thing about all the internal monologues. She just couldn't get past how much time the characters spent just looking at things in slow motion. It's funny because as someone who read the book first, that stuff feels essential to the story. But for someone walking in cold, it just looks like a lot of brooding and staring at desert landscapes. I actually think movies like this need a patient audience and that's just not most people's speed. Sounds like your mom was a good sport about it though, just quietly bowing out instead of complaining the whole time.

quinn_king1614d ago

My mom would probably fall asleep before the first sandworm showed up, honestly... At least your wife lasted a full half hour, which is more patience than I'd expect from anyone who didn't already love the book. @grant826 sounds like our moms should start a support group for partners who get dragged through weird desert movies.