Embarrassing scenes in otherwise decent films

Mikey Rooney's scenes in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The lesbian makeout scene in 'Birdman.'

Brad Pitt as the Great White Hope in [italic]12 Years a Slave[/italic] comes to mind.

If I'm not mistaken, that speech by Laura Linney is almost verbatim from the novel. That being sad, I thought it was ridiculous, too.

R4 did it work better in the book? The movie didn't establish her as a Lady MacBeth type. She didn't have much chemistry with Penn either. I like her but she reads as middle class or even upper class, not working class. She was miscast it the movie.

In The Devil Wears Prada, when AnnE's friends scold her at the party. It's so After School Special stupid I cringed.

R5, in the book there's a conversation (which wasn't in the film) Linney's character is having with the cop (the one played in the film by Kevin Bacon) which makes the latter scene much more in character.

IS MY OSCAR IN THERE????? IS MY OSCAR IN THERE?????

IS MY OSCAR IN THERE?????

GAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!!!!

Every scene that Keanu Reeves is in.

There's also a scene in the novel where Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) confronts Sean Penn at the funeral home regarding her husband's death. I think this is much better than her simpering and acting the fool at the parade at the end of the film.

Patty Duke wailing in the alley in Valley of the Dolls.

Barbara Stanwyck hitting on Richard Chamberlain in The Thornbirds.

The Breakfast Club, when Ally Sheedy's goth girl character sells her soul and puts on the clothes from Seventeen Magazine. The movie suddenly takes a turn towards The Stepford Wives: 90210.

Heath Ledger when he was huffing that shirt.

Every scene in Deathproof that didn't involve a car chase.

I don't blame Linney really. Her character is the book is really the most terrifying of all of them in the end. But the character is barely in the film, so that scene comes out of nowhere. I know that the film was widely praised, but I thought Eastwood - with his slow, pedantic direction - and the screenwriter blew it. Eastwood is best with very simple stories, not complex narratives with multiple, intertwined storylines (don't get me started on how he screwed up MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL).

I also thought Linney and Harden should have switched roles, but I guess Eastwood assumed - rightly - that doing so would result in the actresses cast the roles you expect them to do as opposed to mixing it up a bit. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as neither actress comes off well in the film.

Although Tim Robbins 2-note mopey performance was really the worst of all. Even Penn's over-emoting wasn't as bad.

I agree r9. Keanu in Dracula was particulary embarrassing to watch in the scene where he 'reacts' to the female vampires eating a baby. It was supposed to be horrifying but his reaction was just so bad he made it funny.

R16, I saw the film and then I read the novel. After reading the novel, I felt Sean Penn and Tim Robbins should have switched roles. THAT would have been more interesting to me.

[quote]The Breakfast Club, when Ally Sheedy's goth girl character sells her soul and puts on the clothes from Seventeen Magazine.

I don't agree that she sold her soul. Molly Ringwald's character made her up to look that way. We don't know that she stayed that way. She could have returned to goth come Monday.

"Is it raining? I hardly noticed."

I've never understood the hate for the Laura Linney scene in Mystic River; I thought it was actually one of the better moments in an otherwise overwraught film, with Penn giving one of the worst Oscar-winning performances I've ever seen.

When Glenn goes all Jason voorhes at the end of fatal attraction. She was a tortured soul not a psychopath. American audiences are so basic.

R22 Glenn hated it too. Though I have to admit, I don't like the original ending either. I don't really think there was a satisfying ending.

Trying on costumes while "Brown eyed girl" plays in "Sleeping With the Enemy."

Madonna's crying scene in A League of Their Own.

It felt like an obligatory scene in Mystic River was left on the cutting room floor. I didn't quite 'get' LL and Sean Penn's dynamic. Linney had to deliver a really unrealistic speech, and pulled it off IMO.

Can’t even remember it exactly, but the Scooby-Doo-like montage in A Few Good Men when Demi, Tom and I don’t remember who else were putting in overtime to put all the pieces together.

Schlock.

I hated Reiner as a director from that moment on.

I won’t condemn Keanu to being embarrassing in every film, but I do find something very contemporary about him, which causes him to standout awkwardly in period films. The primary example being Dangerous Liaisons, especially being surrounded by so many other excellent actors who blended seamlessly into the period.

Antonio Banderas attempting to play gay in that one scene in Femme Fatale...or Romjin saying "I'm a bad girl...real bad...rotten to the heart".

Linney was AWFUL in this movie. She must have needed the money.

Why the FUCK did I have to see this thread. I have not thought about this GARBAGE film in years.

Sean Penn gave the most horrific and over the top performance EVER. What garbage. His learning about his daughter has me HOWLING.

This entire film is an embarrassment and somehow makes me hate Boston more than I already do.

Linney was better than Penn, and that's not saying much.

Overwrought film, overwrought acting- Just garbage.

[quote]Mystic River' isn't a great film, but the scene with Laura Linney

Linney was miscast in the role and completely wrong for the role. She was the weakest link in the film.

Agree with R9, and especially in Much Ado About Nothing. It’s such a fun movie, but the casting of Keanu as Denzel Washington’s villainous brother is totally beyond baffling.

I hope he gave Kenneth Branagh the fuck of his life because otherwise, there’s absolutely no excuse for his casting.

The rape scene in Showgirls. I was laughing until then.

R6 I agree! One was a gallery owner & the bf worked for a celebrity chief - two jobs that ment they, too, would have no life.

[quote] Every scene in Deathproof that didn't involve a car chase.

Exactly. The bizarre way Tarantino fetishizes women, I’m surprised he’s not a trans.

[quote] Linney was miscast in the role and completely wrong for the role.

Really? BOTH of those things?

R11 has failed to realize that the scene he instances is in fact the culmination of everything that is delicious about Valley of the Dolls.

It isn't just bad, R11, it DEFINES the kind of bad that drama queens and bored professional critics pray for.

[quote] Really? BOTH of those things?

Give me a break. I just woke up and haven't had my morning allotment of caffeine yet.

Linney was too "matter-of-fact" for the role. It should have been played by a young version of Michelle Pfeiffer or someone who could pull off sexy and submissive. Linney is not someone you want to think about having sex with. The character is a woman who needs to use sexuality to get by in life. Had they properly cast that role, the scenes with the wife and Sean Penn would have played better.

[quote]Mystic River' isn't a great film, but the scene with Laura Linney and Sean Penn is truly terrible. ... Their daddy's a king. And a king knows what to do and does it. Even when it's hard. And their daddy will do whatever he has to for those he loves. And that's all that matters. Horrible acting, horrible writing.

So don't agree. My friend actually called me right after seeing it to rave and rant about that scene and how much he hated Linney's character because of it. We got to meet her and tell her the story of how upset he was with that scene, she was lovely.

In Outbreak during the helicopter chase scene there is a sound effect that has always bothered me. The two helicopters narrowly avoid a crash and some genius decided to add a PLUCK sound as they almost collide. Outbreak is not The Godfather but it’s not a Tom & Jerry cartoon either. A really good movie that got sloppy in the second half. Idiotic. See around 3:00.

Also, the rednecks trying to escape the town are precursors to Karens and Trumpers.

Just watched the "Is that my daughter?" scene on YouTube for the first time. Awful.

It's probably some form of gay male heresy to even think this, but I HATE this scene from "Philadelphia". Pure cringe. I wanted to crawl under the seat in the movie theater and cover my eyes and ears until somebody made it stop.

The ending of Wall Street. Daryl Hannah was the worst thing about that film

Speaking of Boston: The Town was a very good film except for an embarrassingly awful performance by Ben Affleck.

Hunching up your shoulders and yelling is not acting.

At least he was consistent, he was terrible throughout the entire movie.

[quote]Just watched the "Is that my daughter?" scene on YouTube for the first time. Awful.

It played better on the big screen.

This one is easy. All About Eve is one of the best scripts ever written, but the scene where Gary Merrill has the big monologue about "the Thea-tuh" is the most cringe-inducing couple of minutes on film. It's pretty over-the-top writing to begin with, but a more talented actor could have pulled it off. With him, it is just awful.

R47 Definitely. He was pretty awful and that scene was the nadir. I think he’s in another Davis film, “Another Man’s Poison”, where is as mannered and clunky as he was in All About Eve. On the set, Davis and Merrill were pretty miserable to be around, according to an account by Celeste Holme in Vanity Fair and a book I read called something like “All About All About Eve”.

R43 I knew which scene you meant even before I clicked on your link.

[quote]Just watched the "Is that my daughter?" scene on YouTube for the first time. Awful.

He might as well screamed

IS THAT MY OSCAR IN THERE?????????????

IS

THAT

MY

OSCAR

IN

THERRRRRRRRRRRRE!?????

Actually, I would take any of Merrill's scenes over the under-acting of Hugh Marlowe and the overwrought Anne Baxter.

I love the movie "Fargo", but that scene with Frances McDormand and the Asian man was just cringeworthy.

R50. And it was!

R48 I suspect Celeste Holm (not the spelling) was a pill to be around. She never really rose above supporting player, was not renewed as Ado Annie after her contract was up because she was difficult to work with and called out with too much frequency for someone as new to Broadway as she was and was often replaced before openings by much more talented actresses like Karen Morrow and Holland Taylor. Her final (of many) marriages was to s gay man young enough to be her grandson.

I doubt her reliability as a source.

The “GIVE US FREE!!!” or whatever scene in the courtroom in Amistad. Spielberg just can’t resist that crap. Not a huge fan of the “I could’ve done more” scene at the end of Schindler’s List either.

Clint Eastwood films are an embarrassment. Period.

[quote]I suspect Celeste Holm (not the spelling) was a pill to be around. She never really rose above supporting player, was not renewed as Ado Annie after her contract was up because she was difficult to work with and called out with too much frequency for someone as new to Broadway

That's not true. Shelley Winters says in her book that she had a run of show contract when she went into Oklahoma, but she was asked to step aside so that Celeste Holm could close the show.

Then later on in her career, she stepped in as a replacement as Anna in "The King & I" and Mame in "Mame". Additionally, she did revivals of "Anna Christie" where she played Anna and "Candida" where she payed Candida. So she did rise above supporting player.

Who are these men??!? I wanted to be a NURSE!!!!

Sally Field’s cemetery scene in Steel Magnolias. I was cringing and saying “No, no”, too, but for different reasons.

[quote] This entire film is an embarrassment and somehow makes me hate Boston more than I already do.

I don’t hate Boston as a whole but I’m kind of repulsed by stories about Boston working class white trash. Just not a milieu that I have any interest in or sympathy for. Take your big, sloppy emotions and codes of loyalty elsewhere.

I’m really not usually a snob like that but something about Southie kind of people, yuck.

[quote] Agree with [R9], and especially in Much Ado About Nothing. It’s such a fun movie, but the casting of Keanu as Denzel Washington’s villainous brother is totally beyond baffling.

I saw the film when it first came out. Early in the movie, Keanu's character says, "I am not of many words," and the audience literally laughed and applauded. I’ll never forget that.

Re Much Ado, call me shallow, but I, like Branagh, believe Keanu’s hotness in the film made up for what he may have lacked. I did buy his causal cruelty though.

Eh, I’m easy.

The scene in Showgirls....no wait.

You know R43, being stoned out of my gourd REALLY helped that scene.

I recently re-watched "Silence of the Lambs" after decades and man, Jodie Foster is absolutely RIDICULOUS in it.

Unbreakable was a steaming pile of shit so it doesn’t really belong here but it would be wrong not to mention the “put the gun down” scene.

R65 I thought she was pretty good. Which parts didn't you like?

Carey Mulligan's "singing" in this scene from Shame is unbearable. The director is trying to portray how broken she and her brother are and how they have "survived". I wanted to throw a chair at her. Being molested is no excuse for horrible singing!!!