Choose Me (1984)

Several lost-soul night-owls, including a nightclub owner, a talkback radio relationships counseller, and an itinerant stranger have encounters that expose their contradictions and ... See full summary »

Director:

Alan Rudolph

Writer:

Alan Rudolph

Stars:

Geneviève Bujold, Keith Carradine, Lesley Ann Warren

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Geneviève Bujold	...	Nancy
Keith Carradine	...	Mickey
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Eve
Patrick Bauchau	...	Zack Antoine
Rae Dawn Chong	...	Pearl Antoine
John Larroquette	...	Billy Ace
Edward Ruscha	...	Ralph Chomsky
Gailard Sartain	...	Mueller
Robert Gould	...	Lou
John Considine	...	Dr. Ernest Greene
Jodi Buss	...	Babs
Sandra Will	...	Ida
Mike Kaplan	...	Harve (as Mike E. Kaplan)
Russell Parr	...	Bradshaw
Teresa Velarde	...	Studio Secretary

Storyline

Several lost-soul night-owls, including a nightclub owner, a talkback radio relationships counseller, and an itinerant stranger have encounters that expose their contradictions and anxieties about love and acceptance.

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Plot Keywords:

love | listening to a radio | compulsive liar | cigarette smoking | absurdism | 

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Taglines:

In the middle of the night, when there's no one else...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 August 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alege-ma

Filming Locations:

KPFK Radio, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$56,231, 3 September 1984, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,490,233, 1 January 1985

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,602,206

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tartan Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Picked by Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Independent Films" in a special supplement devoted to independent films that was only distributed to subscribers in November 1997.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Announcer: Stay by your phone, Doctor Nancy Love will be up on KCMY talk radio with The Love Line.
Nancy: I recommend that you examine the deeper feelings you have for your wife, Tom.

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Connections

References Primrose Path (1940)

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Soundtracks

Choose Me (You're My Choice Tonight)
Written by Luther Vandross and Marcus Miller
Performed by Teddy Pendergrass
Produced by Luther Vandross
Courtesy of Asylum Records [us] and Teddy Bear Productions [ca]

User Reviews

Strides with confidence into the netherworld of sexual politics.

This film strides with confidence into the netherworld of sexual politics. The story is overloaded with allusion, and the actors all render brilliantly nuanced performances inside characters that bristle with sexual energy and conflict.

Geneviève Bujold, as Dr. Nancy Love, is adept at giving radio talk show advice to her listeners, but cannot interact with people in real life. Had the internet been popular then, she would have been an AOL Chat Room Goddess. Her vulnerability blossoms like a rose as she gets caught up in the lives of her new roommate and her lovers.

Keith Carradine plays Mickey, who may or may not be a compulsive liar, but can often substantiate the wild boasts with which he regales anyone who will listen. He is deviously seductive, literally, and his ability to weave truth and lies into a delicate web ensnares and at the same time repulses the women he meets.

Lesley Ann Warren, as Eve, is a former hooker who owns a bar she just had to buy because it had been named for another Eve, who provides a connection to Mickey, maybe. Similarly, every character is delicately, and sometimes most indelicately, connected to every other character. Usually they don't know it, but their lives revolve around one another's secrets. The underlying message appears to be that to know someone, one must discover their secrets, and perhaps that is a bit too obvious to bear comment, but a more universal and ironic truth lies beneath. We want people to accept us as we present ourselves to them, but we demand of those we would care for that we see their inner selves.

Rae Dawn Chong and John Larroquette head up a sterling supporting cast, but Bujold, Keith and Warren are dead solid perfect in their fragile and complex portrayals.

This is one of my all time favorite films, and if you notice that it has a decidedly Altmanesque feeling, it's because director Alan Rudolph was, in fact, an early protégé. I watch it when I want to remember the 80's and wonder how any of us survived, but it's an acquired taste. There should be a warning on the cover; "Caution. Watching This Movie May Require an Intellect."