This week’s 3x3 begins at the 54-minute mark of our Toy Story 3 podcast. The topic is restroom scenes – presumably great, good, or at least memorable – that aren’t gross.
Our picks:
Kelly
3. The Party
2. Unfaithful
Dingus
3. Shoot 'Em Up
2. King of the Hill
Tom
3. Reservoir Dogs
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
Not gross? What’s the bloody point, then.
Well there goes the surreal Trainspotting swim scene…
3. The Naked Gun 2 1/2
The best comedic subversion of the thriller bathroom scene ever. Priscilla Presley is taking a shower, and a hired goon sneaks into the bathroom to kill her. But he gets caught up in her rendition of “The Way We Were”, and starts to sing along. He sings a whole verse before she realizes he’s there. And then when she screams, he and Leslie Nielsen get in a fight in which they use bathroom items but act as though they are deadly weapons (a blow dryer, a towel, etc). My description just drained all the funny out of the scene didn’t it? Trust me, it’s hilarious.
2. American History X
Like Royal Tenenbaums, this one borders on the gross because of the blood involved, but I think it isn’t played for grossness. It’s a shocking and tragic ending to a pretty brutal movie, and one of those instances where black and white actually makes the blood starker, somehow.
1. A Christmas Story
“Be…sure…to…drink…your…ovaltine.” Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch!
The bathroom scenes in Can’t Hardly Wait. Teen romantic comedy nominally about Ethan Embry chasing after Jennifer Love Hewitt, but the best part of the film is actually Lauren Ambrose and Seth Green locked in a bathroom figuring out there’s something going on behind his relentless wigger bluster and her exasperated loathing.
Fight Club
“Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not… fuck with us.”
Trainspotting Ewan McGregor drops his works into a nasty toilet bowl and ends up diving head long into the drink. What an inventive way of showing how disgusting he is without getting all disgusting in the process.
I thought of Mr Orange’s “qualification” story from Reservoir Dogs last week when this was first mentioned. I still have to check out the podcast.
Ha, ha! Good pick. It certainly wasn’t gross.
Austin Powers - To me it is the epitome of what the Austin Powers movies are all about, good bad and ugly.
Are we supposed to link the scene if it’s available on the youtubes?
The first thing I thought of when I saw the topic was the scene from Silver Streak where Pryor teaches Gene Wilder how to be black. I don’t even really recall the movie, but that scene stuck with me. Despite its rather dated representation of both pop culture and race relations, its certainly a memorable scene.
To my mind, its also one of the quintessential “black people walk like this, white people walk like this” bits.
I still think of that scene as being “gross-out” humour, even though it doesn’t show anything gross. Weird, huh. It must be the presence of Tom Arnold.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Life’s the same, I’m moving in stereo…
Are we supposed to link the scene if it’s available on the youtubes?
Ohh, ouch. On second thought, the Trainspotting sceneis pretty damn gross.
Does the wholesale slaughter of the invasion force in The Rock count? It takes place in some prison shower area so I assume the restrooms are just off camera. But perhaps my ignorance of prison hygenie facilities is showing.
It is a great scene though.
edit: And Sir Ben Kingsley alone in the restroom in Sexy Beast is definately in. While unsanitary, it’s not Duece Bigelo gross and another facet of dude’s primal aggressive outlook.
Thanks for mentioning Shoot 'Em Up, Dingus. That was my first thought when I saw this list.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
This was probably the best fight scene in the film, and it took place in the bathroom of all places.
We just re-watched The Warriors last night. Union Square bathroom fight scene.
Casino Royale–the black and white opening where Bond brutalizes his target in a restroom is very effective.