You can tell when an actor is giving 110% on screen.
Just sometimes the scene may not always be there to meet them. Maybe it's the dialogue, or maybe that quivering lip doesn't match the mood of the scene, or maybe their crying is just a little off. After that, it's just awkward for the entire audience.
Reddit user, u/SingLikeTinaTurner, wanted to hear which scenes we should look up where the cringe is real when they asked:
What scene in a TV series or movie was so cringeworthy it gave you second hand embarrassment?
Let's start with the basics, those moments when you wish you could turn off the television or leave the movie theater...and then you most likely do.
Happy Birthday, Mr. President
"Breaking Bad, Season 2 episode 11. The "Happy Birthday" scene."
"I can't make it past the first note of her singing, I skip it every time. I love Anna Gunn she's awesome, but...no. Just no."
Drive That Funky Soul
"In Spider-Man 3 when Peter is doing that weird strut/dancing sh-t on the street"
Very Nice
"Sasha Baron Cohen almost all his work. It's brilliant, I do get it. But I can't."
"That bit where Borat is singing the "Kazakhstan national anthem" at the baseball game and all the Americans are taking it deadly seriously was embarrassing to watch."
Not So Marvelous
"I forget the episode but the one where Midge bombed in Mrs. Maisel. I had to watch it in 30 second increments and take a walk in between because it was so bad. My friend told me they had to watch it with the volume off, which was genius and I wish I'd thought of it."
You wonder how some scenes in films get greenlit. Imagine how many eyes must have been on this feature production before it hit cinema screens. Nobody caught any of these and said, "Maybe we should change it?"
#ReleaseTheButtholeCut
"I think the weirdest part of the movie Cats was how far it diverged from the fun outlandish costumes that went with the stage productions. With the film, they took the realism in the cat-human hybrids really seriously, down to some exquisitely detailed digital fur that rippled and glistened with every tiny muscle movement by the dancers. It was just......."
"Something something cat buttholes"
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Meow
"Seems like a while lot of people here haven't watched the basketball scene from Catwoman..."
"Something like 137 shots in that ~2min scene."
"I'm 99% sure it's because Halle Berry can't dribble a basketball, so they had to cut every time she touches it. Then they realised they had to put a million cuts across the rest of the scene to balance it out."
I Must Protest
"This is going back 50 years, but In the otherwise good film Breakfast at Tiffany's Mickey Rooney laid a terrible cringey egg: here. It's so bad I can't rewatch it, but have always wondered who left that completely skippable scene in the movie?"
"The director has since expressed immense regret in casting Rooney in that role."
And then there's these, the kings of the awkward acting crop, the scenes (or entire episodes) you wish you could skip over but you just find yourself coming back to them, again and again, to feel that cringe rise from deep in your soul.
They Got The Incest Just Right...?
"When Deb admitted she had romantic feelings for Dexter."
"Why... Why did that have to be part of the series? What made anyone think that was a necessary part of the story?"
"The fact that the writers wrote this and went through with it, knowing the entire time that the actors were literally going through a real life divorce is just sadistic."
Really This Whole List Could Just Be Michael Scott Moments
"American Office, Seaon 1, Episode 1, Michael fake fires Pam for stealing paper clips"
"I raise you The Office, Season 6 Episode 12, Scott's Tot's. Michael promised kids a scholarship..."
"everyone says scott's tots, and they're right, but also the scene in andy's play where everything goes to sh-t, andys phone starts ringing, he spoils the play, the wine bottle starts falling down the stairs, then the balloons pop. 0/10 can't watch."
Undercooked...Disgusting...Turkey...
"Peep Show. When Jez accidentally kills a dog belonging to the girl he's trying to get with. Backs the car over it then claims it ran away. Tries to cremate the dog and cuts it up. Somehow it ends up in this bag and Jez says it's food. Girl asks for a taste, tries grabbing the food, Jez grabs it back and takes a giant bite out of it. Eventually girl looks in bag - finds her dogs collar and goes hysterical. Jez and Mark awkwardly leaves as fast as possible. So so so hard to watch unfold!"
"Mark, if I can just get rid of the dog corpse, there's a chance I still might get laid here."
Schitts Creek Pain GIF by CBC
Excuse Me What GIF by Bounce
Will Smith Smh GIF by The Academy Awards