Crying at the Movies

I’m a movie-crier. At least I’m upfront about it. But don’t get me wrong; I sob at movies. I’m more likely to cry in the actual theater, but I’ve been known to also jerk a tear or two on my living room sofa. (Just the other day, “Love Actually” had me crying into my coffee. That damn scene where Liam Neeson plays the Bay City Rollers at his late-movie-wife’s request. But here's a scene that doesn't make me cry.)

Here are some movies that are sure to bring the tears:

1.      UP--The life montage in “Up” just about ended me. I’d read about it, I braced myself, and still sobbed. I tried to hide behind my 3D glasses, but my boyfriend knew. But it was so sad…

2.      Atonement—not to wreck a surprise or anything, but there’s a plot-twist and a death at the end of Atonement, the adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel.  I loved the book, but completely forgot about the ending. The death caught me off guard. Cried buckets.

3.      Marley and Me—Oh my god, the dog died. The dog died. The dog died and they had the six year old mourning the dog’s death. There are no words.

4.      Finding Neverland—I don’t even remember what’s so sad about the end of this movie, but I remember vividly weeping with my mom when we went to see it. (Maybe it’s genetic, the movie-crying.)

5.      The Notebook—this is a solid good-cry standby. I know exactly the scene at the end which makes me cry.

So yes, I cry. I cry like the characters are my best friends and family members. And it’s okay. It’s okay because it means I can suspend that disbelief enough—even as a hardened Media Studies grad student—to really put myself into the film. After the hundreds of films I’ve seen over my life, I can still and react like it’s reality.