Cue the Waterworks!

During a recent online chat at washingtonpost.com, readers were asked to submit their memories of movies that moved them to tears. More than 50 responded; here is a selection of their comments.

American Beauty

"I saw this three times and, every single time, had to stay in my seat several minutes because I was not just crying, I was bawling. Even now, just imagining Kevin Spacey saying, 'I can't help but feel grateful for every minute of my stupid little life,' and 'You don't understand, but you will' chokes me up. How much have I not noticed, how much am I not appreciating because I'm blind and angry and upset about the other things? Why do I only get it in brief glimpses here and there?"

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Renee Roberts, 43, Fort Collins, Colo.

Big Fish

"My brother and I (neither of us ever cry at movies) were literally sobbing in our seats at the end when Albert Finney tells [his son] Billy Crudup to finish his story and that it 'begins right now.' . . . Our father is an oversized personality, prone to storytelling, and we both agonized over what it would feel like to be estranged from such a man (and sit next to his deathbed knowing he was about to die)."

Craig Weaver, 35, Seattle

Carousel

"I was about 12. I was with my dad and sisters and was very embarrassed that it happened."

Anne Lind, 63, Goshen, Ind.

Click

"The notion of fast-forwarding through life and missing some wonderful, everyday moments can hit home to any busy mother of a teenager. I tell you, I was sobbing. And so were many other people in the theater! Never thought I would cry at an Adam Sandler movie -- I usually don't even admit to even going to one."

Anne Fletcher, 44, Oakton