Kips Bay Screwed Me

posted on may 18, 2003, tag: entertainment

We were supposed to see The Matrix Reloaded at 7:30PM on Thursday at the Loew's Kips Bay Theater on 2nd Avenue between 30th and 31st. I left work at 5:15PM that day and got the theater at 5:30. There weren't very many people there, to my surprise, and I began to feel like a jackass for getting there so early.

Just to be sure, I asked someone at the customer service kiosk when they would start a line for the 7:30 show. She told me no earlier than 7:00PM. So I waited, playing Time Crisis 3 (you can switch weapons now!) until Shawn and Katia met up with me at 6:30. We decided, since there was no line yet, to go grab some food at a pizza place around the corner. We got back to the theater at 7:00, and there was a very short line of people to get in. I was confused, and when we got up to the ticket collection guy, we saw a huge crowd of people waiting for the 8:00 show, but none for ours, which, sadly, meant that they had already let everyone in.

We walked into the theater and it was already nearly full. There were, however, about 35 seats near the center/center of the room that weren't taken, but they were roped off 'reserved.' Apparently, Loew's decided it was acceptable to sell a group of tickets to some small company, give them all the best seats, and then literally tell all the complaining people (myself included) that we could either sit in the front row or wait for the next non-sold-out-show (11:00PM).

I almost lost it, started screaming at the manager, and then we attempted to just get in line for the 8:00 show (which we did, but then got our tickets checked at the door and kicked out). We got our money back and decided to find somewhere else.

That somewhere else ended up being the Battery Park Stadium 16, which is actually a much better theater anyway, all the way downtown. We had to wait in line for an hour and a half outside, but we were nearly at the front of the line and ended up getting the best seats in the house. And finally, after many hours, plenty of rage, tons of cigarettes, and walking later, we saw the movie.