If you’re with a group, everyone gets that you’re with a group. But don’t think that being one of 4 or 6 or even more gives you the right to take away from everyone else’s movie experience. It doesn’t. So learn the whisper, hardly use it, and then talk your heads off when the movie is done.

Let me get movie-professorish: There is something very special about letting the film take you over, pull you into its images and noises and themes and colors, and take you on its ride. You can’t have that experience if you’re still trying to be a part of a small group of friends. Let yourself become a member of the audience for a couple of hours. Then you’ll really have something worth talking about.

Like driving, the movie experience is actually bigger than you are. That’s a good thing. Become a part of it. Then go home and pop in a DVD and talk as much as you want. At home (most of the time, and depending on the folks present), that’s OK. In fact, that’s a whole other experience.