Don’t you just love it when movie characters, in non-musicals, unexpectedly break out into song, dance for a brief moment and then carry on like it never happened? Well, you’re in luck! Cinema has quite a variety of great movie scenes featuring characters suddenly giving their vocal chords a good workout and memorably moving to a beat. Here are our top ten:
10. Chick-Chicky-Boom | The Mask
About halfway into this Chuck Russell-directed film (which introduced us to the beautiful Cameron Diaz) our hero Stanley Ipkiss, wearing the powerful mask of Loki the God of Mischief, is trapped by dozens of police officers for his antics and has one way out: performing 1937’s “Cuban Pete” in full exotic attire. This scene is fun and downright hilarious, as he even gets the most stoic of police to join in his song and dance routine. No one else could have pulled off the silliness of this character as well as Jim Carrey did.
9 – Stu’s Song | The Hangover
Back in 2009 Todd Phillips dropped a little comedy on us that managed to become the highest grossing R-Rated comedy of all time, raking in a whopping $US467.4 million worldwide to be exact. It follows the story of three friends who wake up after a massive bachelor party to discover they don’t remember a thing and that the bachelor is missing. Also, there is a baby in the closet, a completely trashed hotel room and a tiger in the bathroom. After a day spent retracing their steps, they discover the tiger belongs to an angry Mike Tyson. They feed the tiger raw steak, some sleeping pills and a little pepper, and wait for the drugs to take hold. Whilst waiting, Stu (played by Ed Helms) picks up a guitar and sings a little diddy about what it is a tiger might dream of when in slumber. In this moment we are privy to a surprisingly beautiful song that amusingly sums up their dire situation.
8. These Eyes | Superbad
Judd Apatow brings us this hilarious coming-of-age story of three friends on a night of drunken shenanigans and a quest to get laid. Along the way to a house party they encounter two of the most irresponsible cops, a creepy little man, a dirty bump and grind session and another big house party. While at the wrong house party one of our stars is mistaken for someone who just happens to have a beautiful signing voice, but he can’t convince these people he isn’t this other guy. What follows is some of the most awkward singing ever put to film as Michael Cera uncomfortably sings “These Eyes” by Canadian group The Guess Who. Just one hilarious moment in this 2007 raunchy comedy full of them.
7 . The Age of Aquarius | The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Judd Apatow is at it again in this sweet and yet vulgar comedy. The loveable Steve Carell plays Andy, a 40-year-old electronics store employee that happens to have never lost his virginity. At a poker night with some of his co-workers his secret is discovered and they become determined to help him. After some failed attempts, he meets a great girl who he doesn’t tell about his ‘problem’ and a romance blossoms, give or take a few awkward situations. After Andy finally ends his drought, she turns and asks him how it was. Cue fourth-wall breaking as 1967’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” plays out and the whole crew puts in hilarious dance moves. A great way to end what was a great heartfelt comedy with some edge.
6. O-o-h Child | Guardians of the Galaxy
Our sixth entry is short, but boy does it make an impression. Chris Pratt portrays Star Lord, a man who was kidnapped from Earth as a child and raised all over the galaxy with only his Walkman and a single mix tape. A tape he has clearly listened to – a lot. This James Gunn-directed and co-written film had plenty of laughs, heart and non-stop action that saw it become one of the top earning films of 2014. As the film draws to a close our hero and his team are in what is best described as an inescapable situation, when it suddenly hits him to cause a distraction as his team prepare to attack. So begins what Star Lord declares a “dance off” while singing “O-o-h Child” by the Five Stairsteps. Confused and angered, the villain gets distracted long enough for the plan to work. As stupid as the plan was, it worked.
More random singing and dancing on the next page…
