Remember date night? Those carefree evenings full of possibilities and a second bottle of wine. When you didn’t have to get home to help the kids with their homework and enforce bedtimes (sometimes yours). Back when having dinner at 8 p.m. followed by a movie at 10 didn’t sound like a Quixotic aspiration.

Now I know there are some intrepid couples out there that still keep date night alive even with kids, pets, cello practice, and HOA meetings. To those valiant souls, I say thank you for your service. You are an inspiration to every one of us that can’t stay awake past the opening credits of “Foundation” on Apple TV+ or can’t go out without returning to a hefy babysitting bill. But all is not lost. It’s time to take back date night! Maybe we can’t afford a five-star meal and dancing any more or even stay awake past 9:30 p.m. but it’s the thought that counts. We must always remember that the true joy of date night is time spent with your loving partner.

And watching a cool movie.

Yes, I know that date nights can’t take all kinds of forms and functions. There are some of you that do karoake. Some of you do escape rooms. A few of you probably do that thing with the indoor skydiving and rock climbing and axe throwing. You folks are hardcore! I say, do what you enjoy with the person you love most on your night out. For me, date night will always be dinner and a movie.

When I was a teen, it was TGI Fridays and the local multiplex. I regaled dates with endless plates of potato skins and screenings of Legend, Short Circuit, and Big Trouble in Little China. Over the years, my choices in eateries and movies have both improved. Although, I have to confess that I did take my then-girlfriend/now wife to see Sarah Michelle Gellar play a precocious chef with magical powers in Simply Irresistible. Some nights I can still hear the screaming. My wife is a very forgiving woman. 

Dinner and a Movie

Modern life keeps us pretty busy these days and wifey and I don’t get out much for date night. However, we have adapted to have date night at home. We order takeout, lock the kid in his room, pull up a movie on the streamer du jour and voila! Dinner and a movie! Viva la romance! Plus, we can eat in bed just in case we don’t make it all the way through the movie. For those couples out there struggling to balance alone time with the demands of domestic life, I suggest you adopt this approach as well.

DoorDash and your Roku TV can be as romantic as that charming bistro you remember from the nascent days of your relationship. Just replace that violin player’s soothing serenade with the sound of Netflix warming up. And eating dumplings out of an aluminum tin is so much more fun than consuming an expensive appetizer that you ordered just because it made you sound worldly. And here’s the kicker. The best part is you’re already home and in bed, which was always the end game of date night, right? Okay, results may vary, but bear with me here.

Get This Party Started!

I have curated a list of movies for you to consider for your next date night at home. I leave the menu up to you. We’re a fan of Chinese food, but pizza works pretty good, too. I’d stay away from wings or ribs. You’re still on a date after all. Don’t consume anything that’s going to need a generous supply of wet naps before the main event. And you’re in bed, too, so that’s just not the kind of saucy you want in the bedroom (if you get my drift).

The movies I’ve selected are tried and true winners for such an occasion. My wife and I have enjoyed each of them with our General Tso’s chicken. They have a little something for everyone. My movie recommendations for date night are as follows: Comedies usually work best, but the occasional action flick can be appealing, provided there’s enough humor and a little bit of character development to dilute all the testosterone.

I would avoid horror movies (you are eating, after all) and no dramas or foreign films (this evening isn’t about impressing anyone). You can catch a new release or an old favorite. Most of these movies have been out for a while, but they’re all very watchable. You can also screen a beloved favorite. Nostalgia is always a good call. No judgment here. This is about enjoying each other’s company. Nosh on some goodies and zone out with a cool flick. I’ve broken these out into categories in case your mind works that way.

Let’s Get Heisty

Heist movies are a very specific genre and they’re hard to do really well, but easy to do poorly. Most of them juggle ensemble casts and twisty plots, which can be hard to do in this short attention span culture. Wifey and I found the following selections immensely entertaining. They aren’t super serious but they’re not comedies either. They have some thrills, but they’re not action-packed. Both have awesome casts with solid stories and a few surprises. You’ll need to pay attention so you don’t miss anything, but hey, that’s also why you have the rewind button. These flicks are full of swagger so enjoy the coolness with a pizza and a $3 bottle of wine. 

Ocean’s Eight

While I’m not usually super high on the idea of spinoff movies, Ocean’s Eight is a fun watch. It is tailor-made for date night viewing. This riff on Ocean’s Eleven is overflowing with star power (Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Anne Hatheway for starters) as Danny Ocean’s sister assembles her own team to nab jewels during NYC’s famous Met Gala. It is a pseudo-sequel to the Ocean’s movies, which themselves were sequels of a reboot of a 60’s flick more famous for its Rat Pack cast than anything that happened on screen.

While not the most original movie, Ocean’s Eight is incredibly watchable. It’s as comforting as that takeout you’ll be consuming as you watch. The cast features several scene stealers, including Awkwafina as a streetwise pickpocket, Helena Bonham Carter as a daffy fashion designer, and Hatheway as a snarky starlet. Bullock does a solid job in the lead role, but she’s basically a female stand-in for George Clooney. Even her character’s motivation is slightly similar to Brother Ocean’s in the first flick. The movie tries a little too hard to make her look cool, and her chemistry with co-star Blanchett is a little forced, but the charisma of the rest of the crew more than compensates. And any movie with Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots are Made for Walkin’ on the soundtrack is all right by me (Fun trivia: her dad played Danny in the original Ocean’s 11).

Logan Lucky

Speaking of Clooney’s Ocean’s Eleven, this next selection was directed by the guy who made all those flicks. Steven Soderbergh helmed this heist flick nicknamed Ocean’s 7-11 because it’s about hillbilly dudes robbing Charlotte Motor Speedway. But to label it a redneck repeat of those previous films is doing a disservice. Logan Lucky is probably the best movie that nobody has seen and definitely worth your time. One of my personal faves and the wife agrees. Its clever script pops and every actor here delivers a memorable performance.

For example, Daniel Craig is unrecognizable with bleached blonde hair and a Southern accent. He’s Joe Bang, a demolitions expert recruited by the Logan brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) to blow a vault holding NASCAR’s riches. Tatum rises above his beefcake baggage to play a has-been high school football star with a million-dollar idea and a robbery checklist. Driver crushes it as his brother – a one-armed bartender and Iraq war vet. Delight in the hijinks as these misfits attempt a big score to finally trump their family’s neverending bad luck.

Logan Lucky is smart, satisfying, and hilarious with these working-class guys facing high-tech security with low-tech ingenuity. You will never see cockroaches ever on screen employed again for such a remarkable purpose. The movie sports a superb supporting cast that includes Jack Quaid, Riley Keough (granddaughter of Elvis), Katie Holmes, and General Hux’s brother, Brian Gleeson. They all shine. Plus, Seth MacFarlane rules in a cameo as a Richard Branson-esque entrepreneur that’s more entertaining than an entire season of Family Guy.

Mean Girls

There are nights when you don’t want your ladies to play nice, so pick a flick that features a beloved actress taking a dark turn. Enjoy an antiheroine that makes you laugh because she says all the things that you wish you could. Both of these movies feature two of America’s sweethearts playing nasty characters. You’ll enjoy their dirty deeds and if you don’t, relax, both movies are less than two hours. They go by fast. Wifey and I both consider them prime date night viewing. Served best with Kung Pao Chicken or any other spicy dish.

Young Adult

Charlize Theron plays an aging prom queen who just can’t let high school go in this dark comedy by the team that brought you Juno (writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman). Mavis Gary is so stuck in the past that she ghostwrites a series of young adult novels (think Sweet Valley High, not The Hunger Games), constantly reliving her glory days in its pages. When confronted with the looming deadline on her final book in the canceled series, she packs up her tiny dog and heads home to win back her happily married old boyfriend. 

Young Adult is a cynical gem. It’s a cringingly funny portrait of a high school mean girl who has grown older, but has never grown up. Mavis is viewed by her small-town Minnesota neighbors as living the good life as a famous author in the big city, but she only escaped as far as Minneapolis and she writes teenybopper novels that are displayed in the discount section of the local bookstore. Theron rules this movie, lording it over the rest of the cast.

With every caustic aside and withering glance, Theron makes you love this character despite her despicable behavior. Supporting players Patton Oswalt and Patrick Wilson deliver solid performances, but they are satellites in her orbit. Oswalt fares best, getting to shine in a heartfelt role as a former classmate with a tragic past. He’s Theron’s sidekick and voice of reason and a sarcastic stand-in for the audience. His character is frustrated by her stunted adolescence but infatuated nonetheless. Their dialogue crackles like Diet Coke drizzled on a lit sparkler.

Bad Teacher

Cameron Diaz leaves rom-coms choking on fumes as she races full speed ahead as the worst teacher at a suburban middle school. Dumped after her rich boyfriend discovers she’s just in it for the cash, Elizabeth Halsey figures there’s only one thing keeping her from landing a sugar daddy: breast implants. Determined to find the cash for plastic surgery, she embezzles dough from the 8th-grade car wash and runs multiple other scams until she eyes the wealthy substitute math teacher (played with no shame by Justin Timberlake).

Bad Teacher lights all the “inspirational teacher” cliches on fire and enjoys watching them burn. Diaz relishes her chance to play bad and she smoothly ricochets off Jason Segal and Phyllis Smith (from TV’s The Office), who play co-workers caught in her web. John Michael Higgins (veteran of Christopher Guest’s pseudo docs Best in Show and A Mighty Wind) brings the funny as the dolphin-obsessed principal and Lucy Punch (Hot Fuzz and Dinner for Schmucks) makes you wince (in the very best way) as Diaz’s goody goody nemesis.

Ironic Action

Sometimes you want to kick date night up a notch, but your partner is not in the mood for a high-octane action flick. Does your relationship have a “Vin Diesel Clause?” Believe me, I get it. You can only be so fast and furious. After a long day, you just want to relax with your loved one, enjoy some comfort food, and let the chill vibes of a decent flick wash over you. None of that screams Dom Toretto, no matter how many times he says “Family.” These movies have some heavy dude energy that is balanced with clever scripts, smart casting, and righteous tunes. Pair them with a tasty burger and a cold beer.

Pulp Fiction

If you haven’t seen this modern classic in a while, it’s time to watch it again. This L.A. noir about larcenous hipsters and malevolent heavyweights has aged extremely well. Forget all the imitators that have come since and go back to this original. Try to watch it like we did back on the big screen in 1994 when Quentin Tarantino wasn’t an institution, Samuel L. Jackson was not yet a household name and no one was expecting John Travolta to reclaim iconic status. Embrace its awesomeness. This movie rocks on so many levels.

The cast is a motley crew of legends and soon-to-be legends. Besides Jackson and Travolta, we’ve got Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, and Eric Stoltz. They all master Tarantino’s thick, rapid-fire dialogue, turning it into urban poetry. Pulp Fiction is the movie where Tarantino made good on the promise of his charged debut with Reservoir Dogs and really came into his own as a virtuoso. The zigzag storyline, which jumps back and forth in time and from one character to another is punctuated by an eclectic soundtrack of surfer rock, pop, and soul classics.

The Nice Guys

Period movies work best when the setting is essential to the storytelling. This is especially important when movies are set in the recent past. If there are people in the audience that lived through that time, then your movie better be legit. Think of Argo and Chinatown. The time period is as much a character as the actors playing their parts. And for period movies to really work, the movie has to commit:  music, clothes, dialogue, everything. If it’s set in the Seventies. It has to feel like the seventies. Don’ t just put the cast in bell bottoms and call it a day.

The Nice Guys is written by Shane Black, who cut his teeth on slam-bang action movies as screenwriter of Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and The Long Kiss Goodnight. He broke out as a director with the awesome and underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – a funny film noir with Val Kilmer and Robert Downey, Jr. (the first stop on his redemption tour before Iron Man). Black is a master of tough-guy dialogue that’s underscored with heart and humor. This movie is no exception. He takes us back to Los Angeles in 1977 to follow two down-on-their-luck detectives reluctantly teaming up when they realize that their two cases are surprisingly intertwined.

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe play these nice guys trying to figure out who killed a porn star and they’ve got to work fast because someone is after their other client – a rebellious rich girl who has some insight into the murder. The Nice Guys is a throwback to the cynical detective movies of the seventies like The Drowning Pool and The Long Goodbye, but it’s doused with a healthy amount of self-deprecating humor. Gosling sheds his dreamboat image to play a soused gumshoe who can’t catch a break while Crowe is a beefy legbreaker trying to make good. This movie features Gil Gerard, TV’s Buck Rogers, in a satisfying cameo so keep your eyes peeled.

Lounge. Laugh. Love

So my friends, please enjoy these recommendations for your next date night at home. Heck, for that matter, I’ve got you covered for a couple of months so kick off your shoes, put Uber Eats on speed dial, fire up the Paramount+, and have some fun. Life moves pretty fast so slow down a minute with your true love and have some quality alone time. Date nights don’t have to be extravagant as long as the two of you are having fun. It can be as simple as tasty takeout and a good movie. Take my advice and embrace these flicks and whatever comes afterward.

And remember, cuddling is important.

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