Going to Movies Alone is a True Introvert's Delight
Before I headed out to a late night screening of Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, which I reviewed for my Substack newsletter Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas, my wife asked me if I was going to be lonely going to the movies by myself.
The short answer was “no.” The longer answer would be, “Jesus, of course not! Are you fucking kidding me? I LOVE going to movies by myself. It’s literally one of my favorite things to do in the world.”
One of the main reasons I was excited to start reviewing new movies for my Substack newsletter, Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas, after a five or six year absence was because I wanted to experience the wonderful feeling of being in a movie theater by myself all over again.
Don’t get me wrong: I love watching movies with my family. More specifically I love going to movies with my nine year old son Declan-Haven. I’d rather go to a movie with Declan than see something by myself because my son is so wonderfully curious about the world and excited by its myriad wonders.
Declan’s big old brain is a sponge that soaks up everything that he experiences so we try to expose him to as much art and entertainment as possible. I love experiencing movies vicariously through Declan.
But there are a lot of movies that I am professionally obligated to write about for my Substack newsletter Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas that I wouldn’t think of showing Declan-Haven.
Thanksgiving, for example, would give him nightmares and prove at least moderately traumatizing. And while I think it is a masterpiece I don’t think Declan-Haven would enjoy Killers of the Flower Moon. He’s not quite ready for it yet.
I also like going to movies with my wife but she works a million hours and because we have multiple children, we generally both can’t be out of the house at the same time.
One of the reasons that I go to movies by myself is because I do not have a lot of friends now and have never been particularly popular. But it’s more than sour grapes. There’s just something about going to the movies by myself that feels weirdly liberating.
If you go to a movie by yourself you have total control over the experience. You can see whatever the hell you want, even if it sucks, when you want, and where you want.
I just like being in a movie theater after all these years. When I sit down to see a movie all by my lonesome I’m reconnecting with my younger self, the 14 and 24 and 34 year old me who found his Happy Place in adorably rundown movie theaters throughout the Midwest. I’m doing something that makes me feel like I belong in a world that increasingly doesn’t seem to have a place for me, personally and professionally.
Also, the memories! So, so many wonderful memories!
When I was institutionalized at fourteen my dreams all revolved around seeing a movie—specifically the Steven Seagal vehicle Marked for Death—in a movie theater. When I day-dreamed about Marked For Death I fantasized about seeing it by myself the way I experienced everything as a child.
Going to movies by yourself is a true introvert’s delight. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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