4. "Leaving On A Jet Plane" - Armageddon
Armageddon tells the story of a last-ditch attempt to save humanity from a coming asteroid (and I mean last-ditch) when NASA decides that it's better to send a team of drillers into space than qualified astronauts. Whatever. Michael Bay. Before shipping off to the oncoming rock, though, driller Ben Affleck must bid farewell to his lover, Liv Tyler, and he sings her "Leaving On A Jet Plane" to her in a sort of annoying way. But I can let that pass. When they get to the spaceport (I don't work at NASA), though, he reprises the song, and then all of his buddies join in, until all the drillers (including Steve Buscemi) are singing "Leaving On A Jet Plane" in unison. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure this was supposed to be super cute or whatever, but the end result was the complete opposite of that: it was anti-cute. Annoying, even. And I'm not some hardened jerk who can't appreciate a nice sentimental moment (the ending of Homeward Bound still makes me cry), but the way director Michael Bay implemented this scene was horrid. It's cringe of the highest order, and could have easily been cut out without affecting the movie in any way: the fact that it's there, looking at me with all its cuteness... well, it gets me really mad. So why's it pointless? Well, we just had a scene featuring somebody singing this song... did we seriously need another?