Disclosure upfront, I got some preview tickets to see the above (than you Contagious), and expectations were a little so-so, but truth is, this is a good and really enjoyable movie.
Taking a highly clichéd theme (USA high school teen comedies) and managing to do something different with it, is hard, as this is one milked dry genre.Or so I thought. However, credit where due, director Will Gluck does a good job, along with a strong cast of the excellent Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Thomas Haden Church and others.
Where things fell apart for me, was not with the film, but with the, I'm guessing distributor of the film, Sony.
Before the movie, and as we went to the preview, some nearly four hundred people had to queue and hand over laptops and mobile devices. WTF? So hold up... you've invited me as a guest, and your assuming I may well film this on my mobile? Really? Customer experience nil in my mind.(Tiny text on the ticket asked us to leave all mobile phones at home-yes really)
Four staff had to number each device, and deal with some very unhappy people, and place the devices in freezer lock bags, which let me tell you ended up being a veritable mobile and electronic mountain. (You should have seen the queue on the way out to get them back!) This was described as asking us to "be prepared to cloak devices with security before entering". Yep, leaving it in a bucket in a zip lock bag is pretty much 'cloaking' I guess...
We refused to hand over devices, and the poor staff just did not know what to do but let us in. In my case my phone is my employers property and I cant have been the only one. I'm responsible for it, and not mine to give away without a signature or guarantee I'll get it back. It wasn't just me, but we still found it appalling some of Sony's guests blindly handed over devices and laptops with no issues at all. Had there been a fire or theft I wonder if Sony would have dug deep and came across with liability for the devices? I'm guessing...possibly not, and would not like to try to sort that mess out.
Look my point is...don't piss off your customers, and certainly not BEFORE they get in to your event.
If one idiot wants to A) film a movie on a mobile and B) other idiots want to watch or download a low quality filmed on a mobile-movie that was pirated by idiot A, you can only do one thing. Hire some more staff to be present at the cinema and ensure devices aren't used. Can't see it happening though.
Treating customers like pirates, and assuming guilt is wrong, ultra shitty customer experience, and causing me to write more about this experience than the flippin' movie!
Most wont care I know, and I doubt Sony will either, but it reminds me of this video, which still looks like it's the way movie studios honestly think of us...
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