zeph’s pop culture quiz #18

Why are the two gentlemen looking a bit off-balance, what is embarrassing in the scene depicted?
    Just leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next ones won’t be held, but published immediately by the system.]

UPDATE and solution (05 March 2012):

↑Kueperpunk was faster than lightning and ↵immediately solved the riddle: ‘I can’t remember what it was, but that’s “Prototype.” Guess it has something to do with the fact that the young guy is a robot.’ Congratulations! Yes, it is ‘Prototype’ (Greene 1983), and yes, the uneasy situation has to do with Michael (David Morse) being an android. It’s early in the movie, Dr. Carl Forrester (Christopher Plummer) has brought the prototype Michael home—without Forrester’s wife Dorothy (Frances Sternhagen) knowing. Forrester wants to see if Michael passes as a human. He does, but Dorothy serves dinner. Michael can’t eat, doesn’t want to be rude, but can’t tell that he is a machine either. Finally, when his wife goes into the kitchen for a minute, the doctor pours the salad from Michael’s plate upon his own. So, the artificial-intelligence equipped robot he constructed is a success. The military thinks so, too, but Forrester doesn’t like that … from then on drama unfolds. Again: Hardly known today, but very worthwhile watching.