The Love Scene In Her That Took Fans To The Edge Of Cringe
A love story between a man and a phone is bound to come with at least a few quirky moments — but little would anyone suspect a scene that breaks the cringe barrier. Battling for domination during the 2013 movie awards season was Spike Jonze's science fiction romance "Her." The film focuses on writer Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely man who strikes up a romance with Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), his artificial intelligence assistant.
In a year chock full of acclaimed films from Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" to Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity," "Her" was a standout offering that delivered its themes of love, loneliness, humanity, and our relationship with technology with an off-kilter sensibility that moviegoers latched onto. It received critical acclaim, with a 94% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, and got five Oscar nominations, including for best picture, and won for best original screenplay.
While the film's offbeat charm helped it become one of 2013's most beloved movies, it's also arguably responsible for moments in the film that didn't work as well for audiences. One especially wince-worthy moment has become infamous for confusing moviegoers and making them sink into their seats like a pile of pudding.
The vulgar sex scene that no one saw coming
When Theodore Twombly's longing for love and attachment to the virtual world combine, let's just say it makes for something even more bizarre than you can imagine.
A Reddit thread started by u/soul_seller asking what is the most cringe-worthy movie scene saw u/Scottyflamingo comment, "I've never felt an audience get more uncomfortable than the sex scene in 'Her.'" The scene sees Twombly engage in a sex call from an unseen user named Sexy Kitten (voiced by Kristen Wiig), whose name has more explicit meaning to it than you'd think. Even with only a select few images shown, the interaction between the actors' voices alone makes the scene stand out — and not in a fun way.
Redditor u/torxirose replied to the thread, thankful that " ... I did not see that in theaters. I watched it alone with my long-term boyfriend and we still both got incredibly uncomfortable." Another thread from u/Nova_Jake also asking about awkward movie scenes saw an even more painful experience be shared by u/cheeeeeeeeezits, who comments that they "Made the mistake of seeing it with my parents. Wasn't expecting that." Yikes.
Regardless of how audiences felt about the admittedly awkward scene, it shows director Spike Jonze's willingness to challenge his audience. As one user points out in the thread, "That was brave ... for Spike Jonze to actually go ahead and put that scene in there. I applaud him for that."