Thursday, September 15, 2011

Awkward sex scenes

Okay, I'm totally drained of inspiration, so I'll fall back on the topic that always generates conversation here: sex.

What's your pick for most awkward sex scene in a film? Off the top of my head, I'd have to give the trophy to a scene in Enemy at the Gates where Jude Law and Rachel Weisz have sex in a military camp while trying not to wake up the sleeping soldiers RIGHT NEXT TO LAW!

I'm willing to be few of you made it through the entire scene before closing your browser window in embarrassment.

I'm sure the director thought this would be incredibly tense, beautiful and hot but for me the scene is such a mix of pretension and awkwardness that I can't help but think it sinks the entire film right there. My take on the film has always been that the real story was the cat-and-mouse game between the two snipers, but the story's love triangle takes up an inordinate amount of time. It's so out of tone with the rest of the film that it ruins some really cool stuff.

Your selections?

12 comments:

  1. The sex scene in Watchmen between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre was awkward as hell to sit through. In the theater I was in, it drew a good deal of unintentional laughter.

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  2. In the Intentionally Awkward category, Nina Hartley's three adulterous scenes in Boogie Nights.

    Each time, her husband, William Macy, catches her in the act... and she keeps on going like the Energizer bunny.

    Of course, on the third time, he shoots her and her lover and then blows his brains out at the New Year's Eve party.

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  3. Ric - Yeah that Watchman scene definitely ranks #2. Completely ruined Halleluiah forever for me.

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  4. The Midnight Meat Train - when Bradly cooper throws Leslie bibb over the counter- just made a bad movie worse

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  5. The Bay Boy. http://youtu.be/OPTxY6itAsU?t=4m34s It's awkward, but probably accurate.

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  6. All sex scenes are awkward far as I'm concerned. But for me I guess Pretty Woman. At least for me. She's a PROSTITUTE! Hasn't he heard of things like syphilis or AIDS?!

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  7. Awkward considering all the gunfire and crying baby, but otherwise, best sex scene ever, Shoot 'Em Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT_AnNk56wE

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  8. Wow. Haven't seen Enemy at the Gates, and now I never will. That scene is a nightmare.

    Horrifying because it's

    a. so rude (to everyone around) and
    b. she looks like she is being murdered instead of f-----.

    It would be funny if it wasn't so disturbing.

    I think you win.

    The only thing I think rivals it is the Emma Thompson/Jeff Goldblum sex scene in THE TALL GUY. Brilliant, awkward and hilarious. And that's clearly the intention (unlike so many awkward sex scenes)!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4bIE-BW00w

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  9. the ending of Munich was ruined by that cathartic sex scene.

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  10. Intentionally awkward? Keaton and Pfeiffer each trying not to blow their cover as they dodge around the injuries they inflicted on each other as Batman and Catwoman. OK, so they don't get very far... but I'm still claiming it.

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  11. I had forgotten Enemy at the Gates entirely, but happening upon this article as I read through your archives reminded me. Even though the video no longer links, I have the image of Weisz's face where, as my colleague above puts it, "she looks like she is being murdered instead of f-----" burned into my brain. I don't remember anything about that movie except that scene made me laugh and laugh at the awkwardness. Wow. Awful, awful!

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