Don’t you just hate those moments on film where you think to yourself “Oh man, why did they have to include that?” A cringe-worthy scene in a movie has the ability to throw you off enjoying a flick for a while, make a mental note to see what others think of the scene online or even make you press the stop button.
There are plenty of movies with casino scenes in them. There are even entire movies dedicated to casino gambling - some of them better than others. However, these three casino scenes rate as the top cringe-worthy. You can be sure that none had a chance of becoming Oscar free spins slot machines!
Beware if you haven’t watched these as yet: Spoilers ahead!
3. Austin Powers Blackjack Scene
The Austin Powers set of movies is a treasure trove of silly and hilarious jokes as well as a fair few of them that just fall flat. The movies are spoofs of the James Bond movies, and are still quotable now although it’s died out a bit over the past 20ish years - yeah, baby!
The first movie, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery starts off in 1967 (the Summer of Love) and introduces us to Powers and Dr. Evil as arch nemeses, who then cryo-freeze to 1997 - with Powers and his sidekick agent Vanessa Kensington (as played by Elizabeth Hurley) tracking Dr. Evil’s 2IC (Number Two) to Vegas.
The blackjack scene at hand involves Powers and Number Two at the blackjack table, alongside their lady friends. Number Two gets dealt a 17 and chooses to hit, and when the dealer gasps and says “But Sir, it’s 17,” he replies “I like to live dangerously.” When Powers gets dealt a 5 (with the dealer already having a King), he chooses to stay, commenting “I also like to live dangerously.”
Maybe it’s funny to some, plus in line with the movie’s humor, but on rewatch, you probably won’t get a giggle - more a cringe.
2. Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief Casino Scene
The Percy Jackson movies are another hit franchise, this time based on a series of books. The movies follow teenager Percy Jackson, a demi-god (half-mortal, half-god). The first movie, Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief traces Percy discovering his demi-god status, on a quest to retrieve a lightning bolt from Hades. It’s more simple and more complex at the same time than that quick explanation details.
But onto the casino scene.
The Lotus Casino is a magical casino, designed to trap entrants and have them never leave. In the scene, Percy and his friends eat Lotus flowers, which seem to give a drug-like effect (ummmm… children doing drugs?) which then causes them to get drawn into a hedonistic sequence involving strutting about with models, more lotus flowers, indulgent spa treatments, a particularly cringy nightclub dance scene, with the whole thing set to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. The situation is quite common for those who are regular visitors at $4 deposit casino and can spend hours playing slots or card games.
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi Canto Bight scene
Star Wars. If it’s necessary to go into a back story for these movies, then it would probably take forever. Just watch the movies. And the TV show. Quite a few of the movies have been panned by Star Wars fans, and The Phantom Menace even included one of the cringiest characters ever in film - Jar Jar Binks - a character, perhaps, who only small children and George Lucas could love. But on to The Last Jedi, the eighth episode (so far) in the movie series.
The Last Jedi was fairly well-received but had a few cringe moments throughout.
The casino scene on Canto Bight, the casino planet, starts off well, with a cool pan through the glamorous casino, until we get to Finn. While he is supposed to be on a mission to find the master codebreaker, we’re made to believe Finn is so enthralled by the games and decadence - his eyes light up like it’s the most awesome thing he’s ever seen, as Rose’s roll in response.
This is the cringiest part of the scene - that Finn could be so spellbound and lose mission focus that his eyes are like saucers. The overall atmosphere of the scene - we have to admit - is pretty cool.