I had an exit row seat and fairly full flight from LAX to SAL. I was eyeing the empty seats ahead of me. My conversation with the flight attendant:

FA: Are you comfortable with sitting in the exit row?
ME: I'd be more comfortable sitting in that row of 3 empty seats a few aisles ahead.

Then she let me move and got a volunteer to replace my seat. I'd rather stretch out over 3 seats than have leg room. For some reason, they were restricting other passengers from moving to empty seats towards the front (which were still just economy seats).