The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Lenny Cantrow (Charles Grodin) is a newlywed, who’s just married Lila (Jeannie Berlin) and set off with her on his honeymoon in Miami Beach. But while there, he meets Kelly (Cybill Shepherd), the “woman of his dreams”. And despite his recent nuptials, he decides to pursue Kelly. ….Yeah, so this is a black comedy. But I think it’s also an early example of what we call cringe comedy today, where the humor comes from watching someone doing something socially awkward – or carrying through with a perfectly terrible idea, while being oblivious to the affect they’re having on everyone else in the room. The scene mid-film where Lenny is trying to break it to Lila that he’s had second thoughts about their marriage is definitely an example of that genre. Unluckily, it’s also the scene that crystalized for me that I really, really don’t like cringe comedy – to the point that I literally had trouble watching that scene; I was very tempted to leave the movie running and read a book while listening…