20 Movies So Good, Theater Audiences Actually Applauded

Humans have a lot of stupid instincts leftover from ancient times that just aren’t useful in the modern era: cravings for sweet and fatty foods that were once valuable and scarce but now kill us, attraction to partners with good baby-making qualities even if kids are the opposite of the desired outcome, a feeling of alarm induced by the color red even if it now just means there’s a McDonald’s nearby.

One of the more embarrassing of these instincts is applause. Until very recently, an entertainer had to be in the room with you to show their stuff, so it was appropriate to show your appreciation physically, even if flapping your grabby bits together is a pretty weird way of doing it. Now, when you, for example, see a movie, those people aren’t even there. There’s zero reason to applaud. But if a movie’s good enough, we feel like we have to do something, even something incredibly stupid.

As such, when user SirKronik asked r/AskReddit, “Have you ever been in a movie (theater) where the audience starts a round of applause when the movie ends? If so, what movie was it?,” people had plenty of memories of cinematic experiences so good that it left moviegoers at the mercy of their stupid instincts.