Here’s a List of Cheese-Free Date Night Movies That Won’t Have You Rolling Your Eyes
Whether it’s your first date or Valentine’s Day, the pressure is on with this grueling question: what to watch? Choosing a movie for yourself is hard enough, date night brings in the added strain of finding something you both want to watch. For this, we just rolled out our new Watch Together feature in the app, so be sure to join the beta and give it a try this weekend.
Our team has also put together a list of off-beat, perfectly balanced flicks that will check both you and your partner’s boxes
That Thing You Do!
1996
There’s one quality of a good date that this film has in spades: sweetness. Tom Hanks’ writer-director debut is virtually sexless, which is great for those early will-they-won’t-they dates, but don’t be fooled by the PG rating. TTYD! is full of genuinely funny jokes and sprinkled with innuendo. The romance between certified hotties Tom Everett Scott and Liv Tyler simmers enough to be inspirational, but you and your date will spend most of the time bopping your heads to these catchy tunes.
— Carrie, Staff Writer
They Came Together
2014
Are you that couple that hates romantic comedies? They Came Together was made for you. This unrelenting satire of romantic comedy is from David Wain, the mind behind hilarious absurdist genre parodies like Wet Hot American Summer. Leads Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler destroy all those rote rom-com tropes in this hysterical send-up that will have you laughing your asses off.
— James, Staff Writer
Lost in Translation
2003
Lost in Translation subverts rom-com tropes by exploring a different kind of love. Two strangers in an unfamiliar place find in their alienation a deep companionship in each other. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are electric together — an odd coupling that emphasizes the unique perspective this movie has about what love can look like.
— James O.
All The Real Girls
2003
You’d be hard pressed to find an opening scene as unabashedly romantic as the one David Gordon Green conjured for All The Real Girls… or a final scene as achingly bittersweet. As for everything in between, this tenderly-observed tale of a small-town player (Paul Schneider) tasting the sour side of love with his best friend’s sister (Zooey Deschanel) will make you laugh, and cry, and probably leave you feeling like your heart got ripped straight out of your chest. And please understand that how your watch-party partner reacts to that finale will be very telling of their character.
— Patrick, Staff Writer
Airplane!
1980
There’s perhaps no film with more Jokes Per Minute (JPM?) than the Zucker brothers’ Airplane!. It’s impossible to be nervous or take yourself too seriously while this film is on, and it’s so quotable you’ll set yourselves up for future dates full of inside jokes. In a way, I’m living proof of Airplane!’s standing as a date movie: my parents saw this on a date a couple years before they got married and they still talk about it.
— Carrie S.
Only Lovers Left Alive
2013
I freely admit that, “You drank Ian!” became a go-to phrase for me for about a year after I saw this genre diamond from certified auteur-of-cool Jim Jarmusch. That’s how much I adore this haunting, often hilarious tale of vampiric amor. While chill vibes, a KILLER soundtrack, and ethereal visions of American decay are the order of the day in Only Lover Left Alive, the beating heart of the film is a swooning tale of an age-old love that literally has no end. And that’s the sort of relationship we should all be looking for in a watch-party pal, right?
— Patrick P.
Waiting for Guffman
1996
Any Christopher Guest movie could have made my list, but Guffman is one of the dumbest and most fun. The usual suspects of Guest’s orbit are all at their best, playing cartoonishly goofy characters who are deathly serious about live theater. It’s campy as heck so it’s queer canon, meaning it’s also a great excuse for daters of all stripes to let your guards down and stop trying to impress each other.
This also functions as a perfect litmus test: if your date hasn’t seen this, it’s a warning sign. If they don’t laugh, they shouldn’t get another date.
— Carrie S.
Out of Sight
1998
There’s nothing sexier than a will-they-won’t-they energy between a fugitive on the lamb and a federal U.S Marshall. No, not The Fugitive, but close…it is Steven Soderbergh’s breakthrough hit Out of Sight.
George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez play cat and mouse in a movie that might as well be an unofficial prequel to the Ocean’s movies. It’s hot, it’s hip, it’s a date night hit.
— James O.
Raising Arizona
1987
This Coen Brothers comedy classic tells the story of a couple you can’t help but root for. Nic Cage and Holly Hunter are hilarious and heartwarming as star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of the law who desperately want to start a family. Raising Arizona has little of everything you want in an upbeat, light-hearted comedy–a poignant, funny love-conquers-all tale directed with deft hands. This movie is perfect for date night.
— James O.
And finally….it’s a little out there but….
Mandy
2018
Tales of drugged-up, axe-wielding anti-heroes going on blood-spattered journeys of vengeance hardly scream date night for most people. And the ultra-violent Mandy is certainly not suited to all tastes.
But this savage, psychedelic journey is, in fact, undertaken in the name of love, and against the vile band of beings who dared to destroy it. So if you’re looking to find out how many demigod worshiping and masochistic biker-types your date would off to avenge you, or if they’re a fan of Nicolas Cage or not, Mandy is the film to kick-start either conversation… which really are make-or-break sort of subjects.
— Patrick P.
We hope our selections make your special evening one for the books. And once you’re done with this list be sure to check out our new “Watch Together” feature in the Taste app.
