I don't quite trust my opinion of Jackie Brown, because watching Jackie Brown was without question the single worst viewing experience I've endured in a movie theater to date. How did the projectionist fuck up? Let me count the ways:

(1) I don't remember at what time the screening was scheduled to begin, but let's say it was 10:00. At 9:55, I was still standing in line in the parking lot. At 9:57, with only perhaps 15% of the audience comfortably seated (myself included), the lights dimmed and the projector began to whir. There was one very brief trailer, and then the film proper began -- with about half of the audience still milling around attempting to find a seat. I saw the opening credits through a sea of bobbing silhouetted heads. This didn't exactly put me in a terrific mood, and my foul demeanor was exacerbated by the fact that...

(2) The film was incorrectly framed from beginning to end. I sensed this almost immediately, as there appeared to be way too much head-room, but my theory was confirmed when the boom mics began to swing into view. In all likelihood, I was the only person in the room who knew that it was a projection error, but I never walk out of a movie theater while the projector is still running unless I don't intend to return. Had I been seeing it alone, or with one or more movie-buff friends, I would have motored to the manager for a re-ad and come back the next day; unfortunately, I was there with my dad and my sisters, which effectively meant that I was trapped, unless I wanted to go sulk in the lobby for two hours. Which in retrospect I wish I'd opted to do, because...

(3) Near the end of the film, at one of the reel changes, all hell broke loose. Suddenly, the print was reversed left to right; at first I could only tell that something looked Not Quite Correct, but eventually I consciously noticed that the letters on a sign visible on the wall of the interrogation room were backwards. At the same time, the sound went out -- not completely, but to such an extent that it was impossible to make out anything that Pam Grier and Michael Keaton were saying; it sounded as if they were speaking underwater through large mouthfuls of Bubble Yum. The muted sound may have posed no difficulty for any offbeat savants in the audience, however, as the soundtrack was now visible, a vibrating vertical line as depicted early in Fantasia. Needless to say, I was not the only person in the room who knew that this was a projection error (though I may have been the only one wondering how the hell it could possibly have happened during the last screening of the day; I can only surmise that the film broke at the end of that reel during the previous screening, which would also explain why we were seated at the last minute), and roughly a third of the folks assembled immediately made a beeline for the lobby. A mere 25 minutes later -- it's now almost 1 a.m., incidentally -- management started the reel again, and what remained of the audience dutifully watched what remained of the movie.

So I feel as though I ought to see Jackie Brown again, to give it a fair shake. But I can't quite bring myself to pay full price to see it again, and I didn't want to withhold my rating for several months while I waited for it to hit the discount chains. So check back later to see if I amend my opinion (if I don't amend it, I'll note that as well).