Film

The Oranges

A suburban comedy-drama about two neighbouring families imploding when a middle-aged man begins an affair with his friend's young daughter. It's uncomfortable and awkward in ways the film mostly knows about, anchored by a stellar cast doing their best to find humanity in a fundamentally messy premise. For people who like their relationship dramas fizzy and their chaos confined to the cul-de-sac.

TMDb rating2.8

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About a Boy2002

Similar ensemble warmth and willingness to let flawed people be sympathetic without excusing them. Finds genuine comedy and tenderness in suburban dysfunction and unlikely connections across age gaps.

But Lighter in tone than you might want, and the romance subplot has dated some of its attitudes. Slower paced than modern comedies.

About a Boy poster

Happyish2015

Explores suburban discontent and marriage fatigue with real sophistication and dark humour. Features strong ensemble chemistry and tackles the resentments that bubble beneath normal life.

But Deeply cynical throughout. Short-lived, so commitment issues aren't a surprise. Heavier drinking than some want in their comedy.

Happyish poster

Hung2009

Examines messy adult desire and the gap between who we want to be and who we are. Funny, raunchy, genuinely interested in its characters' interior lives rather than just judging them.

But More explicit and graphic than The Oranges. Can lean into shock value over substance. The show declines as it goes on.

Hung poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Fleabag2016

Both examine the wreckage created when desire crosses family lines. Both find the absurdity and tragedy in the same moment. Both are ultimately about being seen and failing each other despite genuine care.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's series anatomizes family damage and desire with the same dark honesty as The Oranges, but with inventive form—breaking the fourth wall, non-linear storytelling, genuine emotional gut-punches. Six episodes of perfection.

But Extremely British sensibility. Graphic language and sexual content throughout. Some viewers find the protagonist too manipulative to root for.

Fleabag poster
More like this (7)

Conversations with Friends2022

Explores entanglement across boundaries with intelligence and visual flair. Focuses on the emotional complexity rather than easy moralizing. Cast is magnetic throughout.

But Very interior and literary—long scenes of people thinking about feelings. Some find the aesthetic pretentious. A bit slow to move.

Conversations with Friends poster

Forgetting Sarah Marshall2008

Proves that romantic comedies can have genuine stakes and allow their characters actual pain alongside the laughs. Warm-hearted about human messiness without being saccharine.

But Quite a bit broader in humour than The Oranges. If you want realism over comedy, this will feel light.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall poster

The Good Wife2009

Elegant examination of marriage, infidelity, and family secrets unraveling in front of an audience. Characters are complicated and morally muddied. Cast acting is exceptional across nine seasons.

But Legal procedural elements add layers of plot that can feel distant from the human drama. Very long commitment. Tonal shifts between the personal and the professional.

The Good Wife poster

Animals and Other People2017

Gently handles family dysfunction with real specificity and affection. Chris Kelly's script finds comedy in genuine pain without cheapening either. Feels lived-in and true.

But Very indie and small-scale. Some find the pacing meditative to the point of sluggish. Limited distribution means harder to find.

Animals and Other People poster

Krisha2016

Ari Aster's debut focuses on family chaos and addiction with unflinching empathy. Raw, semi-autobiographical, genuinely unsettling while remaining deeply humane about failure.

But Difficult subject matter handled without sentimentality can feel punishing. Long runtime for the scope. Shot on digital and stylistically austere—not a comfortable watch.

Krisha poster

Dogville2003

Both explore how nice suburbs and nice families contain cruelty, weakness, and self-interest. Both suggest the veneer of civility is thinner than we admit. Same darkly comic view of human nature masked by manners.

Von Trier stages suburban hypocrisy and moral compromises as a theatrical parable. Shot on a soundstage as a play, it strips away any romance to show exactly how communities betray their own. Bracingly original.

But Deliberately artificial and distancing. Long runtime. Von Trier's misogyny allegations hang over his work. The ending is genuinely bleak in ways most won't want.

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You're the Worst2014

Both refuse to punish desire or neatly resolve moral complications. Both locate comedy in the gap between how people present themselves and what they actually want. Both understand that attraction doesn't wait for permission from propriety.

Inverts the romantic comedy formula by making self-destructive, terrible people the leads. Finds genuine tenderness in toxic relationships. Funny, formally inventive, and honest about how love can coexist with damage.

But Characters are deliberately unlovable at first. Show's cynicism about relationships won't appeal to optimists. Some episodes can feel self-indulgent or structurally confused.

You're the Worst poster

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