Yes, we check for Id's at the movie theatre!

[solidmetalgear19]

This one gets me every time.

Teenagers in this day and age are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.

Case in point, whenever an R rated movie rears its head, it is with the utmost certainty that kids will try to gain addmintance into these shows.

The thing that most are not aware of is that there is a little thing called the MPAA rating board. This along with the laws of the state that i live in (as well as most of all of America), state the following.

1. Anyone under 17 years of age can not gain admittance to an R rated film without a guardian or parent.

2. One must be over 21 years of age in order to get a minor into an R rated film.

These laws are put into place to avoid the scenario of an angry parent coming in and bitching at us about how we let their sweet inoccent child into 'Gore and Porn fest extravaganza', as well as to avoid being fined for the whole minor in an R rated movie thing.

But man, I'll tell you the list of complaints and ways to scam the system are never ending;

Me: Can I see an Id?

Kids: You're kidding right?

We left it in our car

Our parents bought them for us

we don't have one

The just let us buy them up there (box office)

They didn't card us up there (box office)


Fun facts:

A parent has to be present with the kids at all times as they watch the movie, they can't just drop them off or buy the tickets for the kids and then not supervise them. It's cool for kids to see an R rated movie as long as a parent is with them.

Or even in rare occasions, a complete stranger will claim responsibility for a group of kids. While unorthodox, I let this slide if the stranger confronts me about it and claims that they are not his/her kids but that he'll watch them so that they can still have a good time. We like to call this the Good samaritan practice.

regardless of whether the box office cards you or not, i'll still card you.

Then when i tell them that they can't see their movie they get all pissy.

Kids: That's Bullshit

or any other endless stream of expletives. you get the idea.

A note to parents: We are not a babysitting service. Do your jobs as parents and watch what you're kids are doing.

[TWOLF]

You know it really burns me that people will do that type of garbage. You guys have a job to do and so do parents. And I don't think people in a movie theater are there to watch kids, heck if that was the case arround here they would have to charge extra for it. I don't like the whole rating thing, but then again if parents don't know what the kids are doing, that's their fault. Raise your own kids. Of course I love the fact that they get strangers or someone elses parents to take them to see movies.

[Jester]

I took my niece to see 1408. She is 13.

Is 1408 appropriate for all 13 year olds? Absolutely not.
Is it appropriate for MY 13 year old niece? Absolutely.
Despite my persnal opinion of my niece, did I get her mom's approval to take her to 1408? Absolutely. I like to have continued use of all my limbs.
My niece knows the deal. I have no problem taking her to R rated movies as long as her mom approves it. If I think the movie is NOT appropriate for her, but her mom approves it, I will make a point of talking to Mom before we head to the cinema.

This is called good parenting. I am not, nor do I want to be, a parent. I like being an uncle. And as such, sadly, I am still a better parent than many parents out there.

Not surprisingly, my nieces are basically good kids who listen to me (and to their mom) for the most part. They are, after all, teenagers, so they don't listen to everything we say.

I will say they tend to listen to me a bit more, but I also don't have to lay down the law as much to them, not being their dad or anything. That and they know that pissing me off is a worse idea than pissing their mom off. They try not to piss off the man with the very large sword.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I don't understand why the box office wouldn't card...they shouldn't even be able to buy the ticket in the first place.

Amusing story: When I went to see Borat, there was a kid of maybe 15ish there with his mom. They were next to me at the ticket counter, and they were seeing Borat. The cashier mentioned to the mom the nature of the film, and she said she was aware, so they got their tickets and went on their merry way. As I watched the movie with my friends, there were numerous times I cringed thinking of this teenage boy watching this insanely raunchy movie with his MOM.

[TWOLF]

I really am not that big on how old a kid is as long as they can tolerate it. Most kids today can tell the differnce between fantasy and reality. My nephew was 3 and watching horror flicks.

[TWOLF]

You reminded me of something when talking about carding. I love going into places like Walmart and Target that card you for movies. the only problem with this is that I hate having to stand their waiting for the cashier to check my id.
Yeah on one hand it stops parents from letting their kids see things they don't want them to, but on the other they can go up the street to best buy where they don't card.

[huckster]

This is a prime example of why anyone that looks questionable should be carded.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/542124...efight.article


There was later story about how everything started at the mall next door and than bled to the theatre.

[Jester]

Would love to read that later story.....

[Broomjockey]

As I watched the movie with my friends, there were numerous times I cringed thinking of this teenage boy watching this insanely raunchy movie with his MOM.

Scary Movie. Me, and both my parents. Thought it was a semi-intelligent spoof like Mel Brooks' films. Ouch.

[Bright_Star]

Teenagers in ANY day and age have NEVER been the sharpest tools in the shed.

[auntiem]

I used to always get the Dads (it was always the Dads for some reason) yelling at me in the lobby because I wouldn't let him be the guardian for his daughter's friends and just drop them all off.
The one that made me the maddest was the guy who wanted to drop his 13 yr old daughter and friends off to see Indecent Proposal. When I pulled him aside to explain the plot he wheeled on the girls and dragged them out - he had been yelling at me to let them see a movie he had no idea about.

[Seshat]

I took my niece to see 1408. She is 13.

Is 1408 appropriate for all 13 year olds? Absolutely not.
Is it appropriate for MY 13 year old niece? Absolutely.
Despite my persnal opinion of my niece, did I get her mom's approval to take her to 1408? Absolutely. I like to have continued use of all my limbs.

This is called good parenting. I am not, nor do I want to be, a parent. I like being an uncle. And as such, sadly, I am still a better parent than many parents out there.

Seems that you're the same sort of uncle as I am an aunt. I approve of this sort of thing so much it's what I'll do once my two (one niece, one nephew) are old enough to want to see rated movies.

(They're still at museum/kid's museum age, not yet at mature-movies age.)

[Anakah]

I see both sides now. A buncha years ago I was like 16 and I remember being upset that they wouldn't let me see American Pie. I was with my 18 year old sister and boyfriend. Now I understand.

I guess once they grow up and haveta get a job with rules and certain policies they'll understand why things are the way they are.

[blas]

Pass that word around to the theater employees around HERE. They don't card anyone.

Hell, when I saw The Hills Have Eyes 2 and Grindhouse, all 3 movies (because Grindhouse was 2 movies hehe) it looked like high schoolers were out late on a school night!

I know appearances can be deceiving, but a lot of these kids looked 13-16 years old. Hills was rated R and Grindhouse was basically X (considering before the movie a blurb popped up saying NO ADMITTANCE TO UNDER 18!).

They don't give a shit around here. But when I was the underager, they did!

So when I was 15 years old and wanted to see Jackass, I got carded and was told NO, but NOWADAYS any 13 year old can get into an R rated movie easily.

Not fair.

[Imogene]

Scary Movie.

I was trying to take my brother to see Moulin Rouge in the theater, apparently, we had missed it by a day. So, we were there, we decided to stay for something else... we chose Scary Movie 2, not even thinking about how bad the first had been. Got home, the parents asked us if we'd liked what we saw, said no. However, three was actually interesting from what I saw of it. Leslie Nielson's writers usually do a good job.