Over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeff Wells goes off on an eHarmony article about movies that make guys cry, specifically for including Love Actually, which Wells calls "repulsive." Leaving aside for the moment the more pressing question of why Wells happened upon an article on eHarmony to begin with, the list actually does include a few films that are definite tearjerkers, but some of them are over-the-top obvious -- Brian's Song, The Natural, Rudy, The Pride of the Yankees, Rocky (Seriously? Who cries at Rocky?) and Old Yeller, the most stereotypical "it's okay for guys to cry over this one" film ever. The list loses some credibility points with me for including sapfests like Love Actually and Terms of Endearment, but overlooking Once -- when they play "Falling Slowly" for the first time, I bawl my eyes out -- but moderately redeems itself with the inclusion of Schindler's List, To Kill a Mockingbird, and my all-time fave cry-your-eyeballs-out flick, The Iron Giant. I guess it's true (however much it may be a stereotype) that guys and chicks are moved to tears over different things.
For me, a baby being born gets me just about every time. I guess it must just push some emotional memory of my own kids being born, because no matter how often I say to myself I won't get sucked into crying by those scenes, they still get to me. The end of Juno, when Vanessa holds the baby for the first time, nails me every time I watch it, as does the end of Waitress (both the first time she holds the baby and falls in love with her, and the end scene when she's singing "Baby Dontcha Cry" while holding her daughter.) Heck, I cried watching The Business of Being Born, and that's a documentary.
Other films that have moved me to tears are Innocent Voices, the end of Life is Beautiful, and my all-time-favorite, guaranteed-to-get-the-tears-flowing scene at the end of Imitation of Life (damn you, Douglas Sirk!). Which of the films on eHarmony's list make you cry? And what other tearjerkers did they miss?
1. I love the Iron Giant! I was watching with a friend and she saw the ending and she couldn't control her tears. She said, "That's so said. They can't end it like that." I was a big fan of "Bridge to Terebithia" recently because I thought it to be a ver accurate representation of the book I read as a child. It made me cry. "Empire of the Sun" made me cry. My first girlfriend made me cry. And onions, they make me cry.
Posted at 4:01PM on Feb 18th 2008 by Philpott