Film

Choose Me

A neon-lit romantic comedy about misfits and dreamers orbiting each other in 1980s Los Angeles, anchored by a late-night radio shrink and a mysterious drifter. Stylish, digressive, and genuinely odd—less interested in plot mechanics than in how loneliness makes us lie, especially to ourselves. For anyone who loves movies that meander toward feeling rather than racing to resolution.

TMDb rating3.1

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Ghostbusters II1989

Another 1980s ensemble piece where charm and anarchic energy matter more than narrative tightness. Smart actors playing flawed people in New York, riffing on each other with real affection and comedy rooted in character.

But The plot is messy and episodic, and if you need momentum and payoff, you'll find yourself waiting for a movie that doesn't arrive.

Ghostbusters II poster

After Hours1985

Scorsese's night-time New York odyssey where a man gets lost in downtown weirdness. Similar structure—lonely person bumping through encounters with eccentric strangers—and the same drift toward absurdist comedy and unexpected pathos.

But More deliberately surreal and darker. If you want warmth or resolution, this will frustrate you—it's designed to stay a little mean.

After Hours poster

Something Wild1986

A fastidious man and a free-spirited woman go on an impulsive road trip. Balances romance and comedy with real danger and weirdness; the cast riffs brilliantly and the tone keeps surprising you without feeling smug.

But It swerves into genuinely unsettling territory in the second half. Not everyone wants their romantic comedy to potentially upset them.

Something Wild poster

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The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Both films strip away social courtesy and force characters to confront what they really want versus what they can admit. But where Choose Me offers possibility and misdirection, Killing of a Sacred Deer suggests there is no escape—only the recognition of why we fail each other.

Yorgos Lanthimos's austere nightmare: a surgeon's family is held hostage by a young man seeking revenge. The dialogue is formal and oblique, the atmosphere glacial—but underneath is the same fascination with how people's contradictions destroy them, and the impossibility of real love under pressure.

But No warmth, no hope of resolution. Watching it feels like intellectual harm. If Choose Me is a lullaby about loneliness, this is a scream.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer poster
More like this (7)

Splash1984

Romantic, funny, and utterly weird—a man falls for a mermaid and everyone just goes with it. Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks have the same easy rapport your leads do; it's about connection across impossible difference.

But The premise is cute but the execution gets sentimental fast. It can feel a bit safe, even when it's trying not to be.

Splash poster

Desperately Seeking Susan1985

Madonna and Rosanna Arquette in a screwball mystery set in Manhattan. Energetic, packed with character detail, and genuinely inventive about how misunderstanding and attraction tangle together in the city at night.

But Dated in the way all 1980s pop products date, and the plot eventually requires you to care about things the movie itself doesn't take seriously.

Desperately Seeking Susan poster

Tender Mercies1983

Bruce Dern's quiet heartbreak as a washed-up country singer trying to rebuild. Spare and meditative; about how grace arrives sideways, through work and small kindnesses, not grand gestures. Beautifully acted.

But Almost nothing happens. If you need plot, you'll feel like you're watching paint dry. It's a mood piece, not a story.

Tender Mercies poster

Local Hero1983

An American oil executive sent to a small Scottish village to acquire land slowly falls in love with the place and its people. Warm, funny, and genuinely quirky without trying too hard. Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster have real chemistry.

But Whimsical to a fault; some people find that cloying instead of charming. The fish-out-of-water setup can feel predictable.

Local Hero poster

The Sure Thing1985

John Cusack drives across America with Daphne Zuniga in pursuit of a supposed sure thing—but falls for his travel companion instead. Funny, warm, and genuinely romantic without being saccharine. Both stars are at their best.

But Follows the romantic-comedy playbook fairly faithfully, so if you've seen the template before, the beats will feel familiar and a little stale.

The Sure Thing poster

Into the Night1985

Jeff Goldblum insomniacs encounters the mysterious, dangerous Teri Garr. Noir-inflected and surreal, full of character actors and eccentric set pieces. Weird enough to hold your attention even when the plot trails off.

But Tonally chaotic and deliberately B-movie in feel. The script is loose to the point of seeming improvised, which some find liberating and others find sloppy.

Into the Night poster

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Both films hinge on elaborate fictions people construct to avoid being known, and the terror and relief when those fictions start to crack. But Choose Me treats this as comic—a game we play—whereas Little Jo treats it as survival, with real stakes and real sorrow underneath the performance.

Suzy Amis passes as a man in the Old West to survive and find freedom. A Western masquerade romance that's both tenderly intimate and genuinely strange. Beautifully made and morally complex about identity, desire, and what we'll do for acceptance.

But Neither a conventional Western nor a romance. Takes its time and expects patience. Black-and-white cinematography and a slow burn will lose anyone looking for action or clarity.

The Ballad of Little Jo poster

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