Valentine's movies that aren't for faint of heart
LOS ANGELES — He may have had you at hello, but the goodbye — and everything in between — can make for a much more interesting movie. This Valentine's Day, if you're looking for inspiration amid the shelves of your local video store, try one of these unusual suggestions.
At least it'll be a change from the typical flowers and chocolates.
• "Lost in Translation" (2003). Bill Murray isn't a whole lot of fun, and we never find out what he whispers to Scarlett Johansson at the end before she leaves Tokyo. But their almost-romance has a dreamy, vaguely sweet quality about it.
• "Blue Velvet" (1986). Nothing is more romantic than a pair of scissors and a tank of nitrous oxide. Look at it as a great make-or-break date movie: If you can sit together and enjoy David Lynch's twisted classic about strange love and a severed ear, anything is possible.
• "Team America: World Police" (2004). It's a spoof of bombastic action movies from the genius minds of "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone — and puppets are the stars. See it for the sex scene alone. Maybe you'll get some ideas.
• "Something Wild" (1986). It starts out fun, sexy and slightly dangerous, with Melanie Griffith kidnapping Jeff Daniels for a weekend adventure. But it eventually turns darker with the arrival of her ex-con husband, played with chilling menace by Ray Liotta.
• "American Splendor" (2003). Comic-book writer Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) is a miserable human being. And he's not very attractive, and he's constantly kvetching. But in the nerdy Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis) he's found a friend and soul mate. An extremely creative film.
• "Kissing Jessica Stein" (2001). When boys are no fun anymore, why not try girls? That's what Jennifer Westfeldt does, with great neurosis and analysis, in the title role of this unexpected, unconventional romantic comedy.
• "Bride of Chucky" (1998). The tagline is "Chucky gets lucky," which is a sort of steamy notion — except Chucky is a homicidal doll who spews one-liners. In this fourth film in the series, he goes on a murder spree with Tiffany, a doll dressed in a wedding gown (voiced by Jennifer Tilly).
• "Misery" (1990). Kathy Bates undoubtedly loves James Caan — after all, she keeps telling him she's his No. 1 fan. She just has an enthusiastic way of showing it. (If this one's checked out, try "Fatal Attraction" or "Play Misty For Me" instead for psycho obsessions.)
• "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2006). OK, not at the video store yet. There's something pure and almost noble about Kazakh TV journalist Borat Sagdiyev's cross-country pursuit of Pamela Anderson — and his desire to make sexytime explosions with her.
• "Closer" (2004). Julia Roberts and Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen fall in and out of love with each other. And they lie and cheat and try to destroy each other. Playwright Patrick Marber's script is searing, but it'll make you feel better about your own relationship.
• "The Squid and the Whale" (2005). OK, so it's about divorce, but it's a really smart, eloquently written movie about divorce. And ultimately the unhappily married writers (played beautifully by Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels) are happier apart.
• "The Girl on the Bridge" (1999). He's a knife thrower looking for a target! She's a suicidal French waif! But when Daniel Auteuil stops Vanessa Paradis from ending it all by jumping into the Seine, they discover they share a psychic connection. And they get to form a new circus act.
