We've all been there: Sitting on the couch with our parents, watching the latest blockbuster, when all of a sudden a sex scene plays out on screen. Regardless of how old you are, you can't help but feel embarrassed as your cheeks get red and you start feeling hot. You don't dare look at your parents while the characters are going at it on screen. In fact, you just resort to pretending you have no idea what sex is.
But those days are about to be far behind you, thanks to a new website called Cringe Movie Database (aka CringeMDb).
The site, which was inspired by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), lets users know if a film they want to watch is safe to watch with their parents (because looking at ratings is too hard). Essentially, the site certifies movies as either "parent-safe" or "cringeworthy." All you have to do to get results is type in the name of the movie -- as long as it was made between 1995 and 2015 -- and voila! You get a yes or no answer in a matter of seconds.
We decided to give the site a shot, and here's what we learned: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is "parent-safe" while "Eyes Wide Shut" is not (but that one was obvious). According to CringeMDb, though, high school classic "Mean Girls" is also certified "cringeworthy," as is "Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1," which plenty of parents probably brought their 12-year-olds to see. The first "Twilight" film was OK, though.
So while it's clearly not perfect yet, users can agree or disagree with the answers they receive, which will likely just make the algorithm that runs the app better at certifying films down the line. There will always be a margin of error, though, as different people have different opinions on what they would and wouldn't watch with their parents.
Regardless, this app sure would have come in handy that time we agreed to watch "Black Swan" with our parents.
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