Going to the Movies Alone Is the Best Treat in Town (Here’s How to Do It)

A two o’clock movie on a Tuesday afternoon is the most luxurious thing you can do for about twelve dollars, and I will not be taking questions at this time.

The theater is practically empty, popcorn counts as lunch, and you can prop your feet on the seat in front of you because there’s nobody sitting there to mind. Then, when it’s over, you walk out blinking into the afternoon light like you just got away with something (and you absolutely did).

Why weekday matinees feel like magic

Part of the magic is the price, since matinees are often cheaper than evening shows and plenty of theaters run discount days on top of that, but mostly it’s the feeling. Going to the movies in the middle of a weekday feels like skipping school as a grown woman, and since I work for myself, it’s one of my favorite perks of setting my own schedule. While the rest of the world is answering emails, I’m sitting in the dark watching a story on a screen the size of a building, holding a soda the size of a toddler.

It also feels wonderfully private, because an almost-empty theater turns a public place into your very own screening room, so you can laugh as loudly as you want, cry openly at the trailer for a movie you haven’t even seen yet, and whisper commentary to yourself. (I do this, I’m sorry, and yes, it’s a problem.)

The case for going to the movies alone

So many people have never seen a movie by themselves, and I really think they’re missing out, because some of my favorite dates have been solo movie dates. You get to pick the movie without negotiating, choose your own seat and buy whatever snacks you want without sharing a single kernel. Nobody talks during the good part, nobody leans over forty minutes in to ask, “Wait, who’s that?” and you get to sit inside a story without managing anyone’s experience but your own.

If going alone feels awkward at first, start with a weekday matinee. There will be about four other people in the room, and I promise every one of them is also alone and thrilled about it.

The weekday matinee is a small rebellion against the idea that joy has to wait for the weekend.

How I make it happen

I put it on the calendar. If I wait for a free afternoon to appear on its own, it never will, so I block off the time like an appointment, which, to be fair, it is. It’s an appointment with myself and a bucket of popcorn.

I pick the movie I wouldn’t drag anyone else to. Matinees are made for the quiet foreign film, the three-hour period drama and the romance the critics hated that I already know I’m going to love.

I choose the old theater when I can. Independent and historic theaters often have afternoon screenings, beautiful old seats and staff who genuinely love film, and supporting them matters. Also, their popcorn is usually better (I don’t make the rules).

I leave my phone in my bag. I mean during the movie, obviously, but also before it starts, because the trailers are part of the whole experience and I refuse to miss them.

What to watch at a weekday matinee

I love seeing the big, sweeping movies that need a giant screen and the slow, quiet ones that ask for my full attention. Old classics on re-release feel like time travel, and comedies are oddly wonderful in an empty theater, because you get to laugh with your whole chest and nobody turns around to stare.

A few matinee manners

Even in an empty theater, a few rules still apply. Please don’t sit directly in front of the only other person in the room, because it’s unsettling for everyone. Bring a sweater, since theaters are kept at roughly the temperature of a meat locker, and silence your phone before the trailers rather than halfway through the opening scene. And if the woman three rows over laughs loudly at something nobody else found funny, just let her enjoy herself. That was probably me.

After the movie

The walk out might be my favorite part of all. The light always seems too bright, and the world looks slightly different, as if the film color-corrected it on my way out the door. Sometimes I sit in a café afterward and write down what I thought, and sometimes I call a friend to tell her she absolutely has to see it. Every now and then I bring a friend along, and an afternoon movie with one good friend, followed by a late lunch and a long argument about the ending, might be the best afternoon there is.

Then I go back to my regular life a little more awake than I was before. If you need ideas for what to watch, start with these six movies set in Europe, or my ranking of the best hotels in Black movies. Popcorn for lunch is strongly encouraged!