The new Avengers movie is at least 2 hours, 29 minutes long. And that's a long time to hold it, especially after you've consumed most of a ginormous Coke. But for every problem, technology offers a solution. And in this case, it's an app called RunPee. And it's a brilliant idea.
Dan Florio actually created the app several years ago, inspired by a.... situation he experienced while watching King Kong back in 2004:
"It was opening night. I had to pee desperately, but I didn’t want to miss any of the movie, so I didn’t go. I couldn’t enjoy the movie."
We've all been there. At the last movie I went to, I couldn't find the right moment to leave. And by the end of the movie, it was almost painful to hold it any longer. So before seeing Avengers: Infinity War, I'm going to download this app.
The app gives you 2-3 places where it would be convenient to take a bathroom break during the movie, and it even describes what happens while you're out -- so you really aren't missing anything. But the real payoff is the timer. You set it at the start of the movie and your phone will vibrate when there's a 3-5 minute window to take a break.
I can see potential issues here, because even vibrating phones can be disruptive to other movie goers; and of course, setting the timer when a movie starts requires you to actually use your phone. But the app has been around for ten years already, and I haven't heard complaints. (Of course, I'd also never heard of the app).
The RunPee slogan is: Because movie theaters don't have pause buttons.
No, they don't. Intermissions are clearly a thing of the past. The last intermission I remember might be the Oscar-winning Best Picture from 1988, The Last Emperor. Since then, zero! The intermission isn't likely to come back, so RunPee may be the next best thing.
Wish I'd known about it earlier.