Audience burst out laughing at a screening of 2001 A Space Odyssey

Saw the 70mm screening of my favourite film at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, a week or two ago. Never seen 2001 on the big screen, also my first time at the PCC, so was doubly excited.

What I didn't expect, was the audience bursting out laughing at some scenes, and I mean real belly laughs too. Most were scenes involving HAL 9000, from him blaming the failure of the AE35 thingy to "human error", childishly refusing to open the pod bay doors, to advising Bowman to take a "sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over".

I ended up laughing along too. When seeing the film at home, I hadn't realised the deadpan delivery and short pauses in the conversations between Bowman and HAL, to be actually quite funny, even though I assume it wasn't Stanley Kubrick's intention. Based on some conversations with other attendees beforehand, and overhearing a few conversations, I assume the majority of the audience were already fans of the movie.

My question is, when you saw 2001:ASO recently, did the audience react in the same way to some scenes? Or perhaps there was a similar instance where you were surprised at the reaction from a modern audience, to another classic being shown on the big screen?

Submitted November 01, 2018 at 10:02PM by D-Rez https://ift.tt/2P2KW6Z