Film
Cocoon
Cocoon is a sunny, life-affirming sci-fi comedy about aging. A group of retirees discover a swimming pool harboring an alien secret, and suddenly feel decades younger. It's genuinely funny, genuinely moving, and genuinely strange—a film that asks what you'd give up to feel young again, then lets you sit with the answer.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like warm, slightly melancholy science fiction that lingers on ordinary people's longing for another chance, with the wonder arriving through small domestic moments rather than spectacle.
Skip it if you want brisk pacing or a sharp genre thrill, since the middle stretches are gentle and talky, and the sci-fi elements sit quietly in the background.
What it asks of you: Settle in for just under two hours at an unhurried pace, with a lot of scenes of older characters chatting, joking and bickering before anything big happens.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Splash1984
A mermaid falls in love with a New York businessman in this witty, romantic fantasy-comedy. Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah have real chemistry, and the film balances whimsy with genuine emotion. It's playful without being stupid.
But The 1980s romantic comedy formula feels well-trodden now, and some of the humour is broad and dated. It's lighter on ideas than Cocoon.
*batteries not included1987
Aliens help save a rundown apartment building in this quirky, warm fantasy. The practical effects are charming, the ensemble cast is likeable, and it finds genuine pathos in small lives mattering. It's optimistic sci-fi about community.
But The logic is deliberately loose and the sentimentality is thick. If you need plot consistency or restraint, this will feel too earnest and loose.
The Poseidon Adventure1972
A disaster film with real soul: a ship capsizes, and an ensemble of ordinary people—including an elderly couple—fight to survive. It's thrilling, character-driven, and treats its older actors with dignity and agency. A prototype for Cocoon's ensemble warmth.
But The pacing is deliberate and some sequences feel padded. Modern action films move faster, and this asks you to invest in people rather than spectacle.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Cocoon
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Straight Story1999
Both films center aging characters and treat them as fully alive, desiring people rather than comic relief. Both are fundamentally about reconciliation and the possibility of renewal, but where Cocoon uses sci-fi fantasy, Straight Story uses radical realism.
David Lynch's only G-rated film: an elderly man rides a lawnmower across Iowa to reconcile with his brother. It's sincere, meditative, and heartbreakingly beautiful. Lynch photographs small American lives with the reverence of a saint.
But There is almost no plot. It moves at a walking pace—literally—and asks you to find meaning in slowness, silence, and landscape. If you need narrative momentum, this will test you.
More like this (7)
On Golden Pond1981
Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn as an aging couple spending a summer at their lakehouse. It's tender and funny, with real gravity about mortality, memory, and reconnection. Hepburn's final role is luminous.
But It's a chamber piece about marriage and aging—quiet, introspective, almost stagebound. There's no plot machinery; it's entirely dialogue and performance.
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes1984
A thoughtful, visually sumptuous adventure about a man raised by apes learning human society. It's romantic and melancholy, with stunning cinematography and a genuine mystery at its heart. Rick Baker's ape work is phenomenal.
But The pacing is slow and the tone is somber—it's more interested in loneliness than excitement. Some find it ponderous rather than contemplative.
The Right Stuff1983
An ensemble chronicle of test pilots and astronauts becoming heroes. It's sprawling, beautifully shot, and treats ordinary men facing extraordinary stakes with real respect. The early flight sequences are astonishing.
But It's three-and-a-half hours and juggles many characters, so investment is uneven. The structure is deliberately episodic, which some experience as baggy.
Witness1985
Harrison Ford as a cop hiding in an Amish community to protect a boy who witnessed a murder. It's a thriller with real intimacy, exploring faith and violence and belonging. The climax is visceral and earned.
But The romantic subplot feels obligatory and the fish-out-of-water elements are familiar. Some find the pacing stately for a thriller.
The Breakfast Club1985
Five teenagers spend a Saturday detention and slowly reveal themselves to each other. It's funny, heartbreaking, and genuinely interested in how people see each other. The film respects its characters' inner lives without being precious.
But It's anchored to 1980s high school culture and some of the politics feel dated now. The resolution is neat in a way the middle complexity doesn't earn.
Dreamscape1984
A rogue psychic is recruited into an experimental program allowing people to enter others' dreams. It's visually inventive, conceptually strange, and genuinely unsettling. Dennis Quaid and Christopher Plummer anchor the weirdness.
But The plot gets tangled and the science is decorative. It's more interested in atmosphere and surrealism than coherence, which some find frustrating.
The Visitors1993
Both treat first contact with the alien as fundamentally human—about connection, displacement, and what we value. Both use sci-fi to ask what we'd choose if we could start over, and both answer tenderly.
A Korean sci-fi comedy: aliens arrive on Earth and decide to integrate into human society as ordinary people. It's funny, bewildered, and warm-hearted, finding comedy in cultural collision without contempt. The final act is genuinely moving.
But It's subtitled and operates on non-Western logic about community and duty. The pacing is unhurried and the humour is deadpan rather than broad.
People
Cast
Steve GuttenbergJack Bonner
Tahnee WelchKitty
Brian DennehyWalter
Don AmecheArthur Selwyn
Wilford BrimleyBenjamin Luckett
Hume CronynJoseph Finley
Maureen StapletonMary Luckett
Jack GilfordBernie Lefkowitz
Jessica TandyAlma Finley
Clint HowardJohn Dexter
Linda HarrisonSusan
Gwen VerdonBess McCarthy
Directing
- Ron HowardDirector
- Carline Davis-DyerScript Supervisor
Writing
- Tom BenedekScreenplay
- David SapersteinStory
Production
- Robert DoudellAssociate Producer
- Beverly McDermottCasting
- Penny PerryCasting
- David BrownProducer
- Lili Fini ZanuckProducer
- Richard D. ZanuckProducer
Recommended by
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Harry and Tonto, *batteries not included, The Evening Star, Starman, Grumpy Old Men, 18 Again!, Poms, The Whales of August, Bad Grandmas, Cocoon: The Return, Gotta Dance, Dream a Little Dream, Phenomenon, Shaukeen, Going in Style, Kotch, Alive and Kicking, Hawks, The Company of Strangers, That's Life!