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September 13, 2021 5:05 am  #1


How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

I generally do not enjoy male crying in the context of comedy. In almost every instance I've seen where a man is crying in a comedy, it's played like his crying is itself funny, which personally makes me cringe. Like Gus on Psych was a 'sympathetic crier' so he cries when he sees anyone crying. (I love Psych but it had its problems, and honestly crying-as-comedy was one of its lesser faults.) Or Zac Efron and that other dude exaggeratedly-ugly-crying in Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Or honestly, the famous Tobey Maguire cryface from Spiderman. This is sort of related, because it's a meme now, often used in a comedic context and so it makes me criiiinge. But honestly I never liked it to begin with, and I don't know why. It's not because it's ugly. I love a good ugly cryface; in fact, I tend to prefer ugly crying to pretty crying. That scene in Spiderman never gave me the like butterflies that practically every other crying scene gave me, just made me uncomfortable. Do y'all know what I mean? How do you feel about it?

(One notable exception is Chris Pine in Horrible Bosses 2, where his character cries in a supply closet because his dad doesn't care about him. Chris plays the crying mostly straight (it's a little exaggerated), and the comedy seems to primarily come not from 'haha a man is crying' but from two of his kidnappers' bungling attempts to console him, and the annoyance of the third kidnapper with the other two.)


Don't mind me, I'm just here to fill my Lachrymatory of Holding.
 

September 13, 2021 4:24 pm  #2


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

In general I'm not a fan of comedic male crying.

Although this moment in Archer was a hilarious exception. It's a little less funny out of context but still.
archer - grilled cheese - YouTube

 

September 13, 2021 6:40 pm  #3


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

I find some comedic crying pretty genuine at times but others fail to impress me. For example Jeremy Piven is always convincing when he tears up or cries in Entourage, a lot of these scenes are rather fun  or offbeat  but his crying  is genuine and it conveys some uncanny dramatic effect when he displays it. Both in comedies and dramas.
On the other hand Charlie Sheen is not that good in 2 Men and a Half even if he is quite able to cry on cue in other films and looks convincing in them.
Tobey Maguire crying face is not that good though, there was even a critique of that particular scene in a youtube video that focused on crying actors and actresses.It was said that it looked forced and out of place and it did. And i saw him in other films too and his crying didn't impress me much in those ones as well.

Kevin Bacon has quite a few very good crying scenes in comedic context too , mostly in Queens Logic and He Said, She Said. The crying looks so good that it's almost unbelievable he's in a comedy. The part where he's bawling his eyes out in Queens Logic it's quite long too, it's not even that dramatic as it's just a plain discussion between 2 characters who get a bit nostalgic about their youth and then he's shown shedding quite a lot of tears and yet it doesn't seem out of place.

Last edited by psychic_girl (September 13, 2021 6:43 pm)


''I like crying. And now I not only wanna cry and show my crying to other people, I wanna just split myself down the middle and open my guts and just throw everything out!''
Woody Harrelson
 

September 14, 2021 9:58 am  #4


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

Comedic crying does nothing for me at all. It's too clearly not natural. In fact, *any* sort of clearly forced or acted crying leaves me cold -- I spend more time critiquing the performance than I do enjoying it. However, a well-acted natural crying scene in a comedy will inspire the feels I'm looking for.


"We have our stalking memories, and they will demand their rightful tears."
Anonymous
 

September 14, 2021 10:59 pm  #5


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

Oh is that part of it? That in comedy it's usually forced? That makes so much sense. 
What comedies are you watching that you see well acted crying scene?


Don't mind me, I'm just here to fill my Lachrymatory of Holding.
     Thread Starter
 

September 15, 2021 1:42 pm  #6


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

One that comes immediately to mind is "The Big Bang Theory". The character of Raj has a quirk in that he literally can't talk to women unless he's drunk. In the show, he had found a girlfriend who had extreme social anxiety disorder, so they talked by texting, even when they were in the same room. He asked her to meet his friends, but that was too much for her, so she broke up with him. In the scene, his friend Penny stops by to see how he's doing. 

It's actually an interesting scene, because he cries twice -- the first time more realistically, and the second time at the end is pure comedic crying.

(22) Raj Talks To Penny Without Alcohol! - YouTube


"We have our stalking memories, and they will demand their rightful tears."
Anonymous
 

September 15, 2021 8:27 pm  #7


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

This one is the best there is in my opinion. I could have never pictured Balki crying like that and it's actual crying, at some point there are tears dripping from his nose.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZkI7R7azt8


''I like crying. And now I not only wanna cry and show my crying to other people, I wanna just split myself down the middle and open my guts and just throw everything out!''
Woody Harrelson
 

September 16, 2021 5:27 am  #8


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

I may have mentioned this before, but I remember when this episode aired, there was an interview (I think in TV Guide) where Bronson Pinchot said the reason he was able to be so emotional was that Mark Linn-Baker's father had passed away only a few days before. He knew Mark couldn't show the grief he was feeling, and Bronson said seeing the pain in Mark's eyes made him cry every time. (Note: I've long suspected the line "I'm so glad you're here" was an ad-lib, it just seems too natural to be "acted".)


"We have our stalking memories, and they will demand their rightful tears."
Anonymous
 

September 16, 2021 5:40 pm  #9


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

caircair wrote:

I may have mentioned this before, but I remember when this episode aired, there was an interview (I think in TV Guide) where Bronson Pinchot said the reason he was able to be so emotional was that Mark Linn-Baker's father had passed away only a few days before. He knew Mark couldn't show the grief he was feeling, and Bronson said seeing the pain in Mark's eyes made him cry every time. (Note: I've long suspected the line "I'm so glad you're here" was an ad-lib, it just seems too natural to be "acted".)

I remembered the story behind this scene as you mentioned it. It's lovely that Bronson Pinchot can be compassionate to that extent that he'll be the one who's crying more than Mark. There's such a nice progression and build up of emotion in this scene that it looks so natural and beautiful in terms of crying, i find it flawless..
 


''I like crying. And now I not only wanna cry and show my crying to other people, I wanna just split myself down the middle and open my guts and just throw everything out!''
Woody Harrelson
 

September 16, 2021 7:33 pm  #10


Re: How does 'funny' male crying or Tobey Maguire's cryface make you feel?

One of my most favorite scenes when I was growing up. I had such a crush on Bronson - and I actually got to tell him that when I spoke to him on the phone years ago. I was working at the Actors' Equity building as a part-time receptionist in NY while I was auditioning during the day, and Bronson was in a Broadway musical at the time. He called up looking for my boss, and she was on the phone. He said he would hold, and before I put him on hold - I told him I admired his work, was watching everything he did since I was younger, and that I thought he was very talented and I enjoyed watching him. He was sooooo sweet and grateful and was like, "awwww, thank you so much. I love hearing that." I asked him to hold now and he said to have a great day and good luck with the auditions. I will NEVER forget that encounter! 

There IS something I have ben looking for for AGES and simply CANNOT find. Perhaps you guys can help me? Years ago, I think it was a celebrity house or one of those reality shows, and he was on it. He went to comfort a woman who used to be a porn star - I forgot her name, who got into a fight with Omarosa. Pepa (from Salt n' Pepa) was with him. When the star told him of her abusive childhood, he broke down beyond anything I ever saw, and Pepa was comforting him. What the other woman said hit a nerve, and those were REAL sobs and tears. It was something I have been trying to find for years and cannot. If any of you know the show I am talking about and can find that episode, I think it was called "the one with the knife" - I would love you forever! 

 

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