Some of the best films out there didn’t get the wide studio releases they deserved, which is unfortunate. Here’s a list of some of the most funny, weird and most emotional movies you haven’t seen.
“Heights”
(Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Glenn Close, Jesse Bradford)
In this amazing film, Banks and Marsden play an imperfect young couple on its way to marriage. Things eventually get derailed, but it’s not what you might expect. Adapted from a play, everything about the film is about how it looks and feels, and it’s more about the interaction of the characters than it is about action or intrigue. It’s an emotional collision of people in New York, a big city that proves to be smaller than they think.
“Me and You and Everyone We Know”
(John Hawkes, Miranda July, Miles Thompson)
The comedy of “Me and You and Everyone We Know” is the kind of quirky, painfully awkward comedy made famous by “Napoleon Dynamite.” All the central characters are terrible at social interaction, but the movie is about overcoming that. Instant messaging has never been as funny as when the two young boys in the film take part in some grown-up Internet hi-jinks.
“Eulogy”
(Hank Azaria, Ray Romano, Rip Torn, Zooey Deschanel, Kelly Preston)
When the Collins family patriarch, played by Rip Torn, dies suddenly, the whole dysfunctional family comes together to pay their final respects. It’s sort of like “The Royal Tenenbaums,” but less understated, and some of the film’s funniest moments are too inappropriate for print. Nothing is off-limits in this knee-slapper, including lesbians, marijuana and porn.
“Dot the I”
(Gael García Bernal, Natalia Verbeke, James D’Arcy)
Romance-thrillers involving love triangles are nothing new, but “Dot the I” adds a reality TV-style twist that will have you guessing until the movie’s last seconds, similar to 2002’s “My Little Eye.” If you want an intricate, complicated thriller, or if you just want to stare at Gael García Bernal for a while, this is the movie for you.
“Bride & Prejudice”
(Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews, Daniel Gillies)
Martin Henderson plays an American hotel heir who falls for a beautiful Indian woman, played by Aishwarya Rai, in this Bollywood-style romantic comedy. Bollywood films are all about bright colors, mixtures of genres and, of course, musical numbers, so expect a little bit of everything in this pleasant, Americanized Bollywood flick. And if you don’t already know who Aishwarya Rai is, you’d better figure it out pretty soon – she’s a huge star.
“The Chumscrubber”
(Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close)
Jamie Bell, the little boy from “Billy Elliot,” is all grown up in “The Chumscrubber,” a dark comedy about wealth, suicide and prescription drugs.
When Troy, the high school’s prescription drug dealer and Bell’s best friend, kills himself, everyone’s perfect suburban lives come crashing down on them. An all-star cast of seasoned professionals and “next big thing” newcomers leads this darkly funny satire of modern life. Glenn Close takes her suburban housewife role from “The Stepford Wives” to a whole new level here and proves simultaneously funny and sad to watch.
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