# Do embarrassing moments in films make you squirm? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919 "2002-11-26T17:55:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/1 "2002-11-26T17:55:42Z")
Last night, the missus and I was enjoying [The Party](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0063415) with Peter Sellers. The film is his typical goofy slapstick, with lots of situations where he makes a complete ass of himself. Am I the only one who can’t bear to sit through scenes like that? It seems like I feel sympathetic embarrassment for the actor/actress. I think the worst ones are when a clumsy guy is bungling an attempt to ask for a date; I’m quite capable of fast-forwarding over the dialog until such scenes finish. Anyone else have this problem? What scenes make you squirm? ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/2 "2002-11-26T18:10:27Z")
I’m glad I’m not the only one… Wait, you’re just kidding aren’t you! This was an attempt to make me agree to soemthing so silly so everyone can just laugh at me!! AAAUUGGHHH!! I hate you all! :door slam: Inside my head is not a pretty place … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Vanyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@Vanyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vanyel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/3 "2002-11-26T18:12:47Z")
Yes, I do squirm at embarassing moments in movies. No further comments. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/4 "2002-11-26T18:13:36Z")
There was an episode of Star Trek Voyager, called Bride of Chaotica or something. Janeway ended up stuck in one of Paris’ 50s tv serials, and ended up being the bride of the villian. To watch her vamping and rolling her eyes while trying to shut down the holodeck, I just wanted to run up and hug her. I got the horrible feeling she hated the episode and was just doing it because she was under contract. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/5 "2002-11-26T18:17:46Z")
I thought it was just me! I _hated_ _Meet the Parents_ for this very reason. ---
**Author:** ![firagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/13edae/32.png) [@firagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firagon)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/6 "2002-11-26T18:19:38Z")
I squirmed my way through the love scenes in Star Wars Episode 2. ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/7 "2002-11-26T18:23:57Z")
Yes! This is why I can’t watch Seinfeld reruns even though I enjoyed the show–watching George or Elaine do incredibly embarassing things revealing a complete lack of social graces is just too cringeworthy to be able to endure again. ---
**Author:** ![Lenny\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9dc877/32.png) [@Lenny\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lenny_Carl)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/8 "2002-11-26T18:24:07Z")
The telephone call Mike makes to Nikki in **Swingers**. If you’ve seen it (and if you’re a guy), you know what I mean. I CAN NOT watch it. No matter how many times I’ve seen it. It’s just too painful. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/9 "2002-11-26T18:30:44Z")
Not so much squirm as lunge for the remote/volume control. Specifically, an situation where a character is trying to adlib his or her way out of a situation in which the truth would be an infinitely better idea. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/10 "2002-11-26T18:34:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \* > \*\*I thought it was just me! I _hated_ _Meet the Parents_ for this very reason. \*\* Me too! To this day I can’t watch that movie, it just really, REALLY makes me uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/11 "2002-11-26T18:38:32Z")
I don’t think it’s eveer happened to me in a movie, but I’m quite certain that there were episodes of _I Love Lucy_ that I couldn’t sit through, for this reason. Don’t get me wrong, I like the show, but… ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/12 "2002-11-26T18:39:08Z")
All of the angel-wing scenes in “Angels in the Outfield” did it for me, although it is rightly arguable that the whole film is worthy of inducing a squirm attack. And, any movie with scenes of botched, pathetic social interactions will send me involuntarily writhing a la a seizure. ---
**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/13 "2002-11-26T18:40:17Z")
Only if the characters are somewhat sympathetic. If I feel bad for the characters, yes. If, however, the character is irritating or poorly played or something, I derive a sort of perverse pleasure from watching them embarrass themselves. ---
**Author:** ![vertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3ec8ea/32.png) [@vertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertigo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/14 "2002-11-26T18:44:23Z")
I got that in spades watching **Punch Drunk Love**. But I have to concur on the **Swingers** reference. Man that was hard to watch. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/15 "2002-11-26T18:46:08Z")
How strange, I thought I was the only one. I can’t watch \Seinfeld\ at all, it’s too painful. \Meet the Parents\ was likewise one long descent into agony. This squirminess is tenfold for reality shows. At least in a fictional show or movie, I suppose someone is getting paid to do such terrible things. But the reality shows! My gawd! These are actual people who are behaving so ineptly! Oh, the humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/16 "2002-11-26T19:06:01Z")
I get it too. I also get it when the premise is all based on lies and/or deceit. I know that “Bad Boys” wasn’t exactly a pinnacle of cinematic brilliance, but we rented it a couple of years ago. I ranted to the hubman, “There wouldn’t have been any PROBLEM if he’d just told her the TRUTH.” Hubman: “If he just told her the TRUTH, there wouldn’t have been enough plot for an entire MOVIE.” So…any “comedy” which uses a lie as its basis (with the exception of movies like “Liar Liar,” which OBVIOUSLY use it as the entire PLOT) is, in my opinion, nothing but a writer with a sit-com script and a personal assistant who gives AMAZING head. But yeah…watching any character make a painful ass of him/herself makes me want to go to the bathroom and pray that I time it right to miss the devastation. I hate that so very much. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/17 "2002-11-26T19:16:45Z")
And that makes four of us who went into convulsions watching _Meet the Parents_. I have empathy problems, I absolutely cannot stand to see someone humiliated. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/18 "2002-11-26T19:26:25Z")
I squirm, not so much because I am embarrassed for the character, but because the situation is so _predictable_ that I know _exactly_ what is going to happen next. It’s that combination of embarrassment and predictability that makes me uncomfortable. I was like this even as a child. I’d watch a show with my family, get uncomfortable, and, since I couldn’t change the channel because other people were watching, I’d go off into my room to find something else to do. My parents thought that I just didn’t like to watch TV. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/19 "2002-11-26T19:35:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Opus1 \* > \*\*Yes! > > This is why I can’t watch Seinfeld reruns even though I enjoyed the show–watching George or Elaine do incredibly embarassing things revealing a complete lack of social graces is just too cringeworthy to be able to endure again. \*\* Embaressing scenes make me squirm too, but I liked Sienfield. They’d always have the set up, but never show the payoff. You’d always know George is about to be really embaressed but it would always cut to a scene of him telling someone else about it. Viewers could have their cake and eat it too since we were being spared the cringe scenes. I think that was the reason it was so popular. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919/20 "2002-11-26T19:38:26Z")
Funny, I don’t have those problems with _Seinfeld_. It’s different because the characters on that show were despicable people and deserved what they got (for the most part). In fact, that’s what made the show so great, in my opinion. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-embarrassing-moments-in-films-make-you-squirm/138919.md?page=2)