AMC Stonybrook 20 — Attraction in Jeffersontown

Endgame. Yes.

I feel a headache coming on and need to get to bed, but some stuff you do in life just on general principle. It's seemed like, for years, that movie theaters have been slowly taunting me to not come back - with increasing ticket prices, mediocre way-overpriced food, and diminishing customer service. Today, all three of the aforementioned came together for me - and it feels like the final dare, issued by the industry, for me to never return again. Endgame indeed. The final fleecing. Maybe it's my age and common sense intersecting the financial realities (the death grip) that streaming entertainment has on the classic-and-about-to-go-the-way-of-drive-ins-bricks-and-mortar-movie-theaters.

Let's establish some groundwork here, before you and I invest far too much time with this review: I have no ax to grind with AMC, Stonybrook, the industry or any employee/owner related to this review. I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble, nor do I know anyone who works there. I won’t even identify the time/day I visited - even though these details may be relevant to my experience in some ways, it seems secondary to the bigger picture. I, probably like you, have been watching movies, at theaters, since I was a fetus. It's Americana. It's entertainment. It's amazing and wonderful quite often, and a privilege to get to enjoy at all. In high school, I worked at a small, old, privately-owned, and barely-duct-taped-together old movie theater in Southern Illinois, on the Wabash river. I did every non-owner type task at this theater, over two summers, including projectionist. Loved it. For most of my adult life (I'm 53 years old, male, proud & grateful American) I've made my living, self-employed, providing technology services to small businesses. I pay close attention to what's going on around me. Sometimes I speak out. Finally, I may reach some conclusions or speak of other theaters in the area. I have no financial or family connection with any of these businesses. My motivation, to spend this much time, and to go into this much detail, is just the unbelievable sensation of “...you’ve absolutely gotta be kidding me…” feeling I had at this theater, seemingly begging me to not take it anymore and voice the disbelief, simply as a consumer, at the disregard for my hard-earned money.

I've posted pictures. It’s the first thing I did when starting this review - eight pictures in all. The pictures tell their own story. They don’t tell the whole story, but an important representative one I think.

My girlfriend and I came to see Endgame. Two tickets, for a regular screen, a bucket of popcorn and a drink was $40.67.

We approached the kiosks/screens to the right to purchase our tickets there. There were no employees there, and it seemed like that whole side of the building had been raptured of AMC employees. There were some patrons milling around, but it appeared that all workers in that side of the front had abandoned their posts or possibly that Thanos had completed the Gauntlet a few hours prior to our arrival and had disintegrated at least half of the staff.

The ticket kiosks incorrectly reported movie times, and would not allow us to pay for tickets there for our desired showtime. As we crossed the lobby, an employee, who seemed to be wearing normal street clothes, but I identified as staff due to a name tag, explained to us that the ticket kiosks are often wrong.

OK, so, first impressions: abandoned, unkempt posts, and faulty technology. Having not walked into this theater for several months, it’s not a good way to start. In fact, I’m not sure if my last visit was an AMC one, or the previous operators. I don’t really know, and don’t really care. I came to relax, watch a great movie with the girlfriend and to throw some popcorn down my neck.

We approached the Tickets and Refreshments side of the building. The neon signs above that area read something to that effect. There were employees who hadn’t been raptured or banished to an unknown dimension or realm...

My wife and I tried to see "The Boy and the Heron" on 12/30/23 @1pm.

As we entered the movie theater, we didn't see a self serving kiosk and the ticket line was the same as the snack line (in which you're given empty containers to fill up elsewhere). After taking a picture (included in this review) on my phone of the tiny register screen of asigned seating and showing it back to the cashier for where we wanted to sit, we finally bought our (2) tickets. We were only handed a paper receipt, no actual tickets.

The self serving drink and butter stations were unkept (as well as the bathrooms) and was inconvenient going to one location for popcorn and one for drinks.

After we took our seats, "The Boys in the Boat" started playing. Wrong movie... Thinking that we were just directed to the wrong theater because the title was similar, we walked out to try to find the "The Boy and the Heron". The signs above the theater doors did not display the movie being shown, so I had to venture back to the lobby for directions. The ticket/snack line was too long for obvious reasons, but I was able to flag down a worker and was told the correct theater number.

After we took our seats in the correct theater, we were soon asked to move as another group was assigned to our seats. After looking at our receipt, it turned out we're in fact sold tickets to "The Boys in the Boat" instead (easy mistake because of the name, I know).

Since the movie already started playing, we changed seats to the opposite end of the theater but soon enough we're asked a second time to move as people were coming in late from the long ticket/snack line wait. At that point I had enough. I just wanted a refund and call the day a loss, but AMC had other plans for me...

We again get back in the now longer ticket/snack line, and were greeted by what I was expecting: confusion and lack of customer service. After declining free movie passes, we were only refunded (in cash) one of our tickets. Apparently they just changed the receipt paper roll and only printed out one of "something" in which they could only scan once. It was obvious that the staff lacked management and the knowledge to refund the full amount so I cut our losses yet again and walked out with only one refunded ticket.

Other than being totally disappointed that I didn't get to see the film, this would have been only my second movie since COVID and will probably never venture into a theater again because of this experience.

I work in the service industry as well and understand staffing shortages are a major problem, but this went above and beyond my level tolerance. This theater is a prime example of how the movie industry is failing and I guess time will tell on its longevity.

I would give this a lower rating if possible since I wasn't able to see a movie AND lost money coming here. I highly recommend avoiding...

Terminally understaffed. Lines moved quickly (almost no waiting) and the three people we encountered in the whole building were very nice. However, not enough staff means the place is, frankly, a dump. All digital signs were turned off so you don’t know what’s showing in any room and have no direction as to where to go to find your theater. Ours had several broken chairs covered with sheets marked out of order. The lobby and theater were filthy. Popcorn and trash everywhere in the lobby, blobs of ICEE left on the floor and counters around the self service machine. The popcorn (which I think we all know is seldom popped fresh) was brittle and broken, like the kind you get in a metal tin at Christmastime. The aisles and floor in front of our seats were sticky and covered with various colors of dried substances, some with foot prints tracking through them (I was horrified to recognize the shape of a bare foot.) Then the bathrooms. There is a men’s room and a women’s room on either side of the theater. On our side (which we found by chance, because again the theaters aren’t marked) the restrooms were out of order. I have a guess as to why. After a hike to the opposite side of the building, I found the other should have been out of order, but I don’t think they could legally mark it as such. Out of 8 stalls, four were filled to overflowing with feces and toilet paper. The smell was literally nauseating- I heard another customer gag after she walked in. Another small child was crying as her mom told her to hurry so they could get out. So that leaves four stalls. Two were occupied. The first unoccupied stall, the accessible one, had a broken lock and door. As I was alone, I didn’t feel comfortable using that one. So that leaves one option. The locking open stall with probably 8 feet of toilet paper on the floor. I kicked it out of the way and used the facilities as quickly as I could. On the way out I felt sick looking at the sinks. The first faucet I tried didn’t work. The one next to it was filled with bluish scum, dirt, and what looked like hair. It was as if it hadn’t been cleaned in months. I scrubbed quickly and used a lot of hand sanitizer when I got out. We usually go to a different theater, but attended this one because it was close to where we would be during our preferred showtimes. We absolutely will...