We never think it’ll happen to us. Then we think it was just that one time. Eventually we accept the fact that sometimes, we fall asleep while watching movies. And it’s not always the ones you expect....

· The Pink Panther (1963). There was a time, dear readers, when film nuts would actually stay up really late to watch a favourite movie on television. Not on video — an actual network broadcast with commercials and everything. I was probably about 11 or 12 years old when I decided that re-watching the original Pink Panther until 2:30 a.m. would be a good idea. Having never fallen asleep in front of the TV before, I had no reason to think it would happen now.

The thing that everyone forgets about the first Pink Panther is that Insp. Clouseau (the inimitable Peter Sellers) isn’t really in it that much. It’s kind of a rambling caper story, occasionally enlivened with some Clouseau buffoonery, the sort that later became a staple of the sequels. So my young mind wasn’t quite as stimulated as I anticipated, but the film was still fun.

The last thing I remember was the sexy Fran Jeffries singing “Meglio Stasera.” After the song came a commercial break, and I fell asleep. With my contact lenses on.

This was another new experience — waking up with eyes that felt as dried out as a pair of raisins. Removing my contact lenses was awful: Instead of popping out neatly like usual, they peeled off like stickers. Ew.

· Last Year at Marienbad (1961). I’m doubtlessly not the first person to nod off during a screening of Alain Resnais’s plotless art film, but I really don’t resent it for its longueurs or its generally inconsequential tone. In fact, I really enjoyed what I saw, and made a particular effort to snap out of my snooze whenever the Marienbad card game appeared. The screening was part of a film studies class I was taking at university, and as much as I enjoyed the films being shown, it was quickly becoming clear that Thursday afternoons were kind of a low point on my biorhythm chart. A couple of worthy films turned into sleepy time.

What’s particularly amazing about Marienbad is that it actually managed to lull me into a gentle, dreamless sleep after watching the first film of the afternoon — the absolutely wrenching Holocaust documentary Night and Fog (1955) from the same director. Thank you, Marienbad, for being a peaceful sandman after the most emotionally devastating movie experience of my life.

· Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (1993). Calm down. I did not fall asleep in front of The Wrong Trousers. How could I? It’s only a half-hour long and it’s a masterpiece. Suspense, heartbreak, dramatic plot twists, daffy inventions, daring heists, white-knuckle action scenes and the funniest sight gags in the history of clay animation. No sir, I did not fall asleep during The Wrong Trousers.

But my parents did. I still have no idea how they managed it.

· Hulk (2003). My friends warned me not to see Ang Lee’s version of the Hulk. They all hated it. When they found out that I watched it anyway, they were furious. All I could do was look ashamed and say “Well... I fell asleep near the end. Twice. Um... does that make it OK?”

I really did fall asleep, too. And not during the agonizing first half, either — this was near the climax when the Hulk was jumping across Nevada, throwing tanks around and snarling at a CGI Nick Nolte. (At least, I think that’s what happened. Right?) No wonder they rebooted the franchise five years later.