Doug Benson’s guide to watching movies on planes
Robyn Von Swank
As a comedian who spends most of his weekends traveling to comedy clubs around the country, Doug Benson spends a lot of time on planes, so much so that flights are one of his main ways to see movies. The experience heavily informs his hilarious weekly podcast, Doug Loves Movies, where he routinely asks the comedians and actors who come on the show if they’ve seen any good movies on planes lately. Before his upcoming live recording of Doug Loves Movies at Zanies on Monday, Benson shared a few of his insights for the lowering of standards required for watching a movie on a plane.
Weigh the options
“My standard for airplane movies is this: Is it more entertaining than sleeping, reading, or watching some other movie or TV show on my computer? When the movie was The Back-Up Plan, I went to my back-up plan. But, surprisingly, The Joneses with David Duchovny and Demi Moore was totally sit-through-able.”
What works and what doesn’t
“Anything with Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Queen, The Damned United) is a good plane movie—good acting, good story, no visual effects to speak of. I hate that every movie aimed at kids plays on planes—I slept through Shrek Forever After and look forward to sleeping through Ramona & Beezus.”
When in doubt, opt for TV
“The screens are so small and shitty, I don’t think any movie is enhanced by watching it that way. My favorite part of in-flight entertainment is when they show [episodes] of The Office or 30 Rock, because I’m used to seeing those on the small screen.”
