Old Enough to Know Better Than to Crybaby Cry

Here's a list of movies ostensibly okay for grown men to cry at:

Male friendship and camaraderie is not an unusual subject for filmmakers to tackle. (See: countless buddy comedies and bromances.) But rarely do movies explore the less lighthearted side of such relationships. Is there such a thing as a Steel Magnolias for men? What makes tough guys cry? And if there’s such a thing as a “male weepie” — a term first coined by British critic Raymond Durgnat — how can you define it? The very nature of the male weepie is elastic. Rather than love and romance, such movies evoke tears through male camaraderie and brotherhood — unsurprising, then, that war and sports films rate high on the list, at least if my boomer dad is anything to go by.

"But Xmastime", you say in the voice of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward from those soap commercials (RIP), “didn't you point this phenomenon out about men being okay to cry during sports events all the way back in 2005?"

Sigh. Yes I did, faithful readers, YES I did:

- Jimmy V's speech: amazing quotes, you're watching knowing he's dying, has to get carried off. You can hear him speaking faster and faster as the speech goes on, like he's trying to outrun his fate. AND, in true Jimmy V fashion, is funny throughout. One of the funniest characters in the history of coaching. Except, ironically, for his cameo on "The Cosby Show"... READ MORE