Film

Broken English

A sharp romantic comedy about a flailing woman in her thirties who's tired of being the only single person in her orbit. When a charming French stranger upends her carefully managed disappointment, the film becomes a portrait of reclaiming yourself rather than just finding someone. It's witty without being cruel, grounded in real anxiety about ageing and belonging.

TMDb rating3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you prize talky, character-first films where a thirty-something's restlessness gets treated as real, and the humor comes from people who are a little lost.

Skip it if you want brisk, goal-driven plotting, since it wanders through conversations and scattered dates with an unhurried rhythm that can feel aimless.

What it asks of you: Expect a 97-minute stretch of talk and mood, with long pauses, unforced comedy, and a sadness that stays under the jokes rather than announcing itself.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Forgetting Sarah Marshall2008

A romantic comedy that trusts its audience to care about messy, unglamorous people trying to figure out their lives. Smart dialogue and genuine warmth beneath the humour, with characters who feel like actual humans rather than plot devices.

But It prioritizes character and awkwardness over big laughs or romantic fireworks, so if you want a movie that feels like a movie rather than a conversation, this won't deliver that.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall poster

Truth Seekers2020

Parker Posey delivers brilliant supporting work across comedy and drama, and this series captures the same note of intelligent adults grappling with what they thought their lives would look like by now.

But It's a prestige dramedy that moves slowly and doesn't resolve very much. Some people find that kind of ambiguity frustrating rather than real.

Truth Seekers poster

Conviction

Drea de Matteo carries a legal drama with genuine warmth and specificity, playing a woman redrawing the boundaries of her own life. It has the same grounded emotional core without needing everything to be funny.

But The show gets cancelled before completing its story, which makes it a risky watch if you need narrative closure to feel satisfied.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Broken English

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Cléo from 5 to 71962

Both are about women reclaiming agency from the story they've been told about their lives, but Varda is interested in the solitude that brings, while Broken English finds community.

Agnès Varda's portrait of a woman waiting for test results, wandering Paris and thinking about who she is outside of how others see her. It's in French, in real time, and it's about female autonomy and the strange comfort of solitude. Like Broken English but from 1962, and weirder.

But Nothing happens. There's no boyfriend, no resolution, just a woman moving through a city. If you want narrative comfort, this is deliberately withholding it.

Cléo from 5 to 7 poster
More like this (7)

When Harry Met Sally...1989

The gold standard for romantic comedies about real people in their thirties dealing with loneliness and the gap between how they think they should feel and how they actually do. Endlessly quotable and genuinely moving.

But It's a film from the Eighties with a certain kind of romantic inevitability baked in. Some modern viewers find the ending pat compared to messier contemporary takes on the same story.

When Harry Met Sally... poster

Lovely & Amazing2002

Catherine Keener and Emily Mortimer navigate female friendship and romantic disappointment with the same blend of comedy and real sadness that anchors Broken English. A meditation on wanting to be loved disguised as a character study.

But Nothing much happens. If you're looking for plot momentum or stakes, you'll be waiting. It's entirely about how women feel about themselves and each other.

Lovely & Amazing poster

The Good Girl2002

Aniston against type in a film about a woman bored by her life and the strange choices she makes when someone interesting arrives. Sharp, uncomfortable, and surprisingly thoughtful about why we sabotage ourselves.

But It's bleak in ways the marketing didn't advertise. You won't leave this feeling good about anyone involved, which some viewers want from their entertainment.

The Good Girl poster

Bridget Jones's Diary2001

Understands the specific mortification of being a woman in your thirties and single in a culture that treats this like a personal failing. Warm, funny, and genuinely sympathetic to its protagonist's panic.

But The romance aspect is fairly conventional, and if you've moved past the anxiety of your thirties, the emotional core might feel a bit quaint. Also the 'fat suit' jokes haven't aged gracefully.

Bridget Jones's Diary poster

Wanderlust2012

Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd in a film about marital exhaustion and the fantasy of starting over. It has the same interest in what happens when someone disrupts a life that's become too small, with genuine affection for its characters.

But It's uneven—some scenes land and others really don't. The tone wobbles between dark and whimsical in ways that don't always work.

Wanderlust poster

Our Idiot Brother2011

A surprisingly warm ensemble comedy about people in their thirties figuring out who they are. Strong cast, good dialogue, interested in the small negotiations between honesty and kindness that matter in real relationships.

But The plot is thin and the comedy inconsistent. If you're looking for a film with real stakes or a strong narrative drive, this won't scratch that itch.

Our Idiot Brother poster

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Both use a newcomer (Theroux in one, the stranger in the other) to expose what was already broken in the lives people thought were stable. One finds redemption in that crash; the other finds catastrophe.

Yorgos Lanthimos's formal, poisonous drama about what happens when a charming outsider enters a closed system and everything starts to decay. It's a horror film in the shape of a thriller, and Justin Theroux's presence—so urbane in Broken English—becomes something far more sinister.

But It's dark, strange, purposefully artificial in its tone, and ends in a place that will disturb you. Lanthimos is not interested in making you comfortable, and neither is this film.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer poster

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