Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Daytrippers:
The Straight Story
Endlessly fascinating as a divergence from the usual style of David Lynch, The Straight Story is the acclaimed director at his friendliest. Made for Disney and sandwiched between Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, this movie of a farmer just trying to see his brother is an uncomplicatedly intimate and sincere picture of family at its warmest.
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums not only stands as one of Wes Anderson’s best movies of his career, but also a defining work of the independent filmmaking scene in the early 2000s. It’s dripping with color and visual intensity, masking a story with deep themes of broken families.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
To put into words how exhilarating Everything Everywhere All at Once is isn’t easy to do. A film unlike any other, it pushes every filmmaking possibility to the brink in 2022. Many films come and go with the wind, but Everything Everywhere All at Once will be in our culture for years – even decades. The phrase “modern classic” doesn’t apply to films very frequently, but this is one of those instances where it feels justified.
Nebraska
In classic Alexander Payne fashion, the setup for Nebraska is equal parts funny, sad, and deeply personal. And the payoff is well worth the wait due to remarkably nuanced and layered performances from Bruce Dern and Will Forte as a complicated father-son duo.
Bottle Rocket
There’s a looseness to Bottle Rocket that sets it apart from Wes Anderson’s later films. The plotting is messy, the pacing uneven, and the tone swings between comedy and melancholy without much warning. But it’s precisely that raw, unrefined energy that makes it feel authentic. While the meticulously crafted worlds of Anderson’s later films can sometimes feel like dioramas, Bottle Rocket feels like life — confusing, small-scale, and full of moments that don’t always go anywhere but still matter.
American Fiction
Cord Jefferson’s first movie, American Fiction, didn’t blow me away, and I was hoping for a more cohesive film to get me excited about his big themes and sensibilities. A few stylistic choices are pleasant on the eyes, and the performances from Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown are worthy of their acclaim, but the final product is a lackluster satire.
You’re Cordially Invited
Nicholas Stoller’s career has had its highs and lows, and You’re Cordially Invited is another entry that feels stuck in the middle. The writer-director behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors once had a knack for sharp, self-aware comedy, but his recent films, including Neighbors 2 and Bros, have felt like diminishing returns. His latest, a straight-to-Prime Video release starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, had the potential to reignite his creative spark. Unfortunately, while there are glimmers of his old magic, the film ultimately feels too safe and forgettable to leave much of an impact.
The Fabelmans
The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s latest movie, effectively mines through his childhood to examine his love for film. A complex set of ideas mixed in a way only the master filmmaker could pull together.
About Schmidt
About Schmidt is a good film, one that sits comfortably in Alexander Payne’s filmography but doesn’t quite reach the heights of his later classics. For fans of Payne’s more nuanced works, it’s an important piece, but it doesn’t carry the same emotional punch or cultural impact as his more well-known projects.
Ticket to Paradise
When Ticket to Paradise is clicking, it is a lot of fun and absolutely worth the price of admission. When it isn’t, the movie is still charming and charismatic enough to appreciate and sink into, all thanks to leading performances from Julia Roberts and George Clooney.
READ MORE: The Daytrippers (1996)
