12 Classic Movies That Got Away With Problematic Scenes

Miss Congeniality is chock full of eating disorder jokes, with the whole thing becoming quite unpleasant by the end.

It has a very dated charm to it, certainly, and while it’s cute in places (the technology looks hideously dated now), it definitely damages the movie on a rewatch in others.

Models with drug addiction, bulimia and anorexia used to be a safe topic for jokes, but more recently as we’ve gained a deeper understanding of mental health struggles, portrayal has become much more tragic and sympathetic.

Given the lighthearted nature of Miss Congeniality, it would certainly be more delicate around these issues (or more likely would avoid them entirely) if it were to come out today. While Sandra Bullock’s Gracie offers the girls pizza, they tell her they can’t eat it because of the calories, but Gracie jokes they’re ‘gonna throw it up anyway’.

This is supposed to be a sweet, team bonding type scene, but the quite heavy joke only serves to make viewers uncomfortable on a rewatch. Similarly, while Heathers leans dark, the joke about bulimia being ‘so ‘87’ is said quite matter of factly, while Seinfeld and Family Guy have plumbed this cheap we’ll before too.