Utah Theater Wins Right to Liquor Up ‘Deadpool’ Attendees
The Utah legislature fancies their state a pretty upstanding place. Those godless heathens on either coast may enjoy guzzling their alcoholic beverages during a night out at the movies, but residents of the Beehive State adhere to a somewhat stricter moral code. They’re still free to be served booze at the movies, just not during any film containing “simulated sex or full-frontal nudity.” This is real! There is a real law in place that prohibits theaters from getting audiences liquored up, but only if they’re running the risk of getting their attendees too hot and bothered. In a tone-perfect quote, a representative from the Utah attorney general has called the combination of alcohol and sexual content an “explosive combination,” an assessment with which I heartily agree! (They, however, mean that like it’s a bad thing.)
This is the law that a Utah movie theater called Brewvies — a name we’re just gonna let slide, because there are more important matters at hand — bumped up against during a recent screening of Deadpool, The Hollywood Reporter notes. When the state caught wind that the brave patriots of Brewvies were coupling the effects of light inebriation with the frankly displayed pegging of the Ryan Reynolds superhero vehicle, they threatened to fine the theater $25,000 for violating the statute above. But a ruling just yesterday sided with the theater, citing First Amendment rights against a law with wording so vague it could apply to Michelangelo’s David. Ever the mensch, Reynolds also donated $5000 to the cineplex to help them along with their legal bills. The good people of Utah may now drink to their heart’s content (or at least until their server cuts them off) during any film of their choosing.
But this odd little story kind of glosses over one major detail. It’s September 2017 — what are theaters doing still showing Deadpool? Are there pockets of the country where it’s treated like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with obsessive crowds turning out every weekend at midnight? Do people yell at the screen about chimichangas? I have never been to Utah, but I think I should like to visit such a place.