Why Laughing at the Movies Isn't Always Funny

At London's Prince Charles Cinema, a message played before every screening now includes an unusual request: audiences are asked not to laugh inappropriately at moments in a film that were never meant to be funny, according to the Guardian.

The plea, voiced by actor Timothée Chalamet after a guest appearance at the cinema, references the character Max Cady to describe the kind of derisive laughter that can undercut a film's intended tone. Alongside the more familiar request to switch off phones, it addresses what the cinema calls a growing 'disconnect' between older films and modern audiences.

Because the Prince Charles Cinema specialises in screening older films, scenes involving outdated language, technology or attitudes toward sex and violence can strike contemporary viewers as unintentionally comedic, prompting what one Substack film writer has termed 'performative laughter'.

The phenomenon is not confined to a single venue. Online discussion threads document similar complaints at repertory screenings of classic films, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to the work of David Lynch, where audience laughter has been described as undermining the intended atmosphere.

For other filmgoers, the disruption can be significant: laughter at the wrong moment can defuse tension in horror and thriller films, or drain the emotional weight from serious dramas, altering the collective experience of watching a film in a cinema.