When I was younger, I heard about the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I knew that I’d never get a chance to see it in the theater.
So when the big “release on VHS” came out, it somehow got rented.
Mom saw most of it with me. Mom is very Catholic. Uncomfortable! She was kind of scandalized, but not as badly as you might think.
Mom now loves the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and even enjoyed “The Rocky Horror Show” (a live theater version - she even yelled some stuff) when I took her to it a few years ago, in Seattle. (She actually used to hide the VHS she bought of the movie, in case my Dad was uncomfortable - Dad’s not Catholic.)
I don’t know if she’s ever been to a movie theater version (I’ve been a few times) but it was great to see how she accepted it. And my gay friends. And my sister’s boyfriends who like makeup. (She just wants to feed people. And have them watch some TV for a while. I love my mom. And she grew up in a little town in SW Pennsylvania, so things could have been much different.)
(I’m kind of drunk. But my mom kicks ass. And the Rocky Horror Picture Show kind of encapsulates the reasons why.)
My then-gf’s mother died tragically of cancer. We got the call and headed over to her Dad’s house. That night, I suggested we put the TV on, so we could all relax a bit and try and get some sleep. The Fast Show came on - which is a kind of sketch show.
So, two of the characters on the show are Ted and Ralph. Ralph is a wealthy but shy landowner, and Ted is his worker.
The scene starts with Ralph walking into a pub, where Ted and his friends are sitting. They’re playing a drinking game in which you have to name a vegetable before each word. Now at this point I remember the scene, and know what the punchline is. I also know it is very funny - but not in the current context. However, I didn’t know how to say not to watch it without getting into awkward explanations. Given that time again, I would have got up and just turned it off in an instant!
So anyway, Ralph walks into the pub and starts to try and speak to Ted. Ted keeps telling him he can only talk if he plays the game, and peer pressure takes over but he keeps getting it wrong and getting shouted down by Ted and his mates until he tries again. This goes on for a couple of minutes. Finally, having mastered it, Ralph says hesitantly: “Tomato - Ted - aubergine - your - potato - wife’s - turnip - dead.”
Silence ensued! I cringe now, even thinking about it.
Not embarrassing, but uncomfortable, certainly. My boyfriend and I rented Garden State, expecting a light-hearted romp about the travails of being a 20-something and finding your way in the world. Instead we got an angst-ridden horror story about the emptiness of life and how hard it is to really connect with anyone in any meaningful way. Maybe it wasn’t really that bad, but it happened to perfectly mirror feelings and experiences we were both struggling with at the time, and we were both darn near on suicide watch that night when all we had wanted to do was snuggle. Good times.
No embarassing/uncomfortable moments in theatres? Only me?
I was watching The Graduate in a now-closed rep theatre. It was across the street from a porn theatre. I think one of the patrons got the addresses mixed up.
Every time Elaine came on screen, the man seated directly behind me made noises that sounded like grunts and sighs and quiet slapping sounds, noises that grew with intensity as the movie progressed.
Fortunately the climax of the movie was not accompanied by … er … any other climaxes.
When Scary Movie first came out, my dad and I went to see it, expecting a silly but fun parody movie. I don’t think either of us were prepared for the sheer number of sexual jokes. We mutually, silently, agreed to pretend the last two hours hadn’t happened the moment we walked out of the theater.
I was watching *History of Sex * on History Channel last week.
Or, shall I say, I attempted to watch it. 14 year old Ivygirl was in the room, and after one too many old paintings of an Hindu woman with her ankles over her head I decided to switch the channel. That, plus she was screaming “EWWWWW!” the whole time (my daughter, not the Hindu woman.)
When Titanic was out in theaters, I was about 12 (1997?). I wanted to go see it, but as time passed pretty much all of my friends had already been to see it and I had not. So one day not long before it went out of theatres my mom took pity on me and we went to see it together.
When we got to the scene where Leonardo draws Kate Winslet - in explicit detail - I remember just being paralyzed with the awkwardness of the moment. Probably wouldn’t be that bad to watch it now as an adult, but at the time, the larger-than-life nudity was just excruciating. Funny, I didn’t feel so wierd about the vigorous-sex-in-steamy-car scene.
These aren’t really answers to the OP but I find them amusing. When **Life of Brian ** came out our family went and I was, as a good Catholic nine-year-old, appropriately scandalized. Our school announced that it was not acceptable to go to this film, so mom worried that I would blurt out where I had been over the weekend!
Also, my late-70s Grandma and her friend went to see **Good Will Hunting ** when it came out, thinking it would be an uplifting drama. Instead, they were repulsed by the bad language. So they wanted to leave, but were afraid of tripping and falling in the dark theater. I picture these poor old ladies, petrified and caught between a “cock” and hard place.
Anyhoo, I was embarrassed one time watching movies with my Pop, who rents any sort of B-movie that might feature sci-fi, action, or boobies. So this one blonde takes off her top and her boobs are so fake! It was the first time I’d seen big fake boobs, though, and I just wondered what my Pop sees in that.
Eons ago when *All That Jazz * came out, my mom and I went to see it together. We figured it was a singing and dancing movie. Well, when it started off with the f-word being uttered during the opening credits and wandered along with nudity, language, and generally unsavory behaviour, with my mother tsk-ing next to me the entire time, well, it wasn’t a whole lot of fun for me. I’ve watched it many times since then, but without Mom present, and I really did enjoy it.
And my very first date with my husband was to see The Big Chill. I knew nothing about the movie and very little about him, and there were a few uncomfortable moments for me. But it all worked out OK for us.
Took my sweet old Southern Baptist Grandma to the first Robocop movie and more recently took my Mom and Sis to There’s Something About Mary. Both films contained embarrassing or uncomfortable moments in those contexts, still both were entertaining. Grandma sat through Cop but never said a word about it afterward, whereas Mom walked out of Mary about the time Stiller answered the door in his hair gel. Ahhh, good times.
Hijack
I met him! Christopher Atkins, I mean. His son was in my dorm building for a quarter. Only time I talked to him, he called his son a “rat bastard” for failing his classes.
I’ve never seen that movie, but I doubt that I could now, since I actually met the guy.
/hijack
When I was 12 or 13, my mother took me to see Eyes Wide Shut based solely on the knowledge that it had Tom Cruise in it. We sat down in the front row.
That goes down in history as one of the most awkward moments ever between my mother and I. I just kept thinking, Ewww. I hope she doesn’t think I’m enjoying this.
Afterward she just muttered, ‘‘I thought it was going to have a moral or something.’’
I saw Chasing Amy with my parents. I’m an adult, and I’m glad my parents have a healthy sex life. Good for them. But here I am watching a movie wherein the characters compare stories of injuries received during oral sex.
At the end of the scene, my mom turns to my dad and says, “I don’t think I’ve ever had worse than a sore jaw, have I?”
I went to a little girls night out movies/drinks thing with a couple of friends. One of the friends was going through a really hard time; she was freshly separated and having a terrible, terrible time with her husband. What did we see?
The Story of Us.
95 minutes of pretty much the story of her god awful marriage, right down to similar fights. Holy crap, we were all just sort of frozen in our seats. Needless to say, we had some serious drinks after. Wow, it was just emotionally draining to watch knowing she was just sitting there squirming and reliving her terrible separation.
Watching The House of Yes with a young man I fancied at the time. I thought it was hilarious and laughed hysterically. He was a nice boy from Mississippi, and I think he was completely shocked by the incest. He never said a word about the movie - ever - not even right after it finished. It would have been even more awkward, but I loved the movie so much I just didn’t feel that bad that he was so uncomfortable.
Good for them. There is nothing we like better to do than to gross out our now adult kids with the implication that we have a sex life.