Choose Me (1984)

Please don't spend money on this.

Great Film overall

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

When I watched Choose Me, I became instantly involved, but seeing this film gave me a secret hope that there existed an even greater love than I had yet known. The film is based on three complex characters: Eve (Leslie Ann Warren), Mickey (Keith Carradine) and Nancy Love (Geneviève Bujold) whose love lives strangely intertwine, except they don't know it. Eve is a former prostitute that found inspiration to get off the street by deciding to purchase a bar bearing her name. Mickey is a man's man that would easily captivate any woman because he is the lover who isn't afraid to bear his soul or to say "I love you". He is also a fighter pilot, spy, expert mechanic, and photographer but most of all, he is a self-professed pathological liar who is just wants to win at love for once. He arrives at Eve's door looking to gamble on a love that he had once known, maybe. Dr. Nancy Love is a radio talk show host that gives relationship advice to her faithful listeners but her character demonstrates a clear inability to translate all that knowledge and genuine common sense into meaningful relationships with people in the real world. While the setting of the movie occurs mostly at night, it is also sultry and often reminiscent of a Red Light District. One of the other greater attributes to this film is that the entire soundtrack is exquisitely done by Teddy Pendergrass and each and every song is smoothly seductive and lyrically evocative of the desperation of all three of the characters. All of them one way or another is looking for a connection and one way or another they all find it. Some find love, some find that love isn't about staying in relationships that don't offer real connections outside other than temporal ones and some learn that in order to really live sometimes you just have to allow yourself to give in.I suppose what moved me most about Choose Me was its off-beat sensibility, passion and tenderness that the director, Alan Rudolph brought out of the actors and the storyline. I also found myself optimistic about the fact that no matter how many frogs you had already kissed; no matter how together you are or not, or how many nights you previously spent alone one day we all just might be chosen.

Neurotic Nancy (superbly played by Genieve Bujold) gives advice to the lovelorn in Los Angeles over the airwaves of her popular radio program under the guise of husky-voiced talk radio host Dr. Anne Love. Nancy rents a room from sultry bar owner Eve (a marvelous performance by Lesley Ann Warren), who doesn't know that Anne is Dr. Love. Both Nancy and Eve become involved with charming mysterious drifter and pathological liar Mickey (a terrific and charismatic portrayal by Keith Carradine), who's a mental hospital escapee with an enigmatic past. Writer/director Alan Rudolph deftly concocts an utterly intoxicating seriocomic cinematic meditation on the constant pursuit of love, lies and deception, the complexities of human communication, and the disappointments of romantic relationships. Moreover, Rudolph does a masterful job of creating and sustaining a deliciously smoky and jazzy retro 40's film noirish romantic atmosphere that's significantly enhanced by the throbbing and sensuous bass voice of Teddy Pendergrass on the soundtrack and Jan Kiesser's beautifully glowing neon-lit cinematography. The uniformly first-rate acting from a tip-top cast constitutes as another substantial plus: Bujold, Warren, and Carradine are all wonderful in the leads, with sterling support from Rae Dawn Chong as frustrated would-be poet Pearl Antoine, Patrick Bauchau as Pearl's smooth heel husband Zack, and John Larroquette as smitten bartender Billy Ace. One of the key pleasures of this smart and sophisticated adult entertainment is the clever, crazy and surprising ways the characters' lives continually intersect throughout the intricate and unpredictable narrative. Better still, there's a genuine freshness and spontaneity evident throughout that's a true joy to behold. Granted, the languid pacing and quirky tone take a little getting used to, but this film overall casts an extremely enchanting spell that's impossible to either dislike or resist. Highly recommended.

Wow, where to begin with this film. The characters were mostly uninspired, broken, and sparsely developed; the plot was simple, boring, and overdone; the 'artsy' characteristics of the film weren't touching, clever, or interesting; and the cinematography wasn't appealing.I felt like I was thrust into a mid-80's MTV street dance video full of mentally-undeveloped, childishly-simple personas who couldn't believe they were who they are. The story didn't flow and felt like cogs meshing together in a very obvious way.A couple of the actors were good and portrayed realistic emotion. One character was developed and worthy of life. The 'point' of the movie isn't worth making.I was left feeling unamused.

Viewers who are fans of Titanic and made-for-the-masses, fat part of the bell curve movies are likely to miss the subtle, internal drama, the kind that adults experience, that is going on when there appears to be nothing going on in Choose Me. This film accomplishes what cinema has great trouble doing, capturing and expressing the psychological realities operating even in seemingly banal human events. This is a film for adults who can afford to reflect on life and experience. We all have heard about the junior high girls who saw Titanic fifty times during its run. One wonders how much of an impression was left. I have seen this film several times over the last 18 years, and I found myself recommending it today. It makes a subtle impression that lasts.