Choose Me (1984)

An ex-prostitute (Lesley Ann Warren) who now owns her own bar, a man (Keith Carradine) recently released from a mental hospital, a radio talk show host (Genevieve Bujold) who specializes in relationships, a French thug (Patrick Bauchau) and his ditzy wife (Rae Dawn Chong) form a romantic roundelay as each tries to solve the puzzle of love. I suppose one could try and list the reasons why Alan Rudolph's eccentric romantic comedy (but not the ha-ha kind) shouldn't work but it does so why bother. It's a swoony nocturnal dream bathed in red lights in which romantic fantasies long to be fulfilled, sometimes right before our eyes but we don't see it. No one is quite sane and perhaps the film is suggesting one has to be out of one's mind to even try and figure it out. The performances are terrific all the way down the line but I was especially taken with Carradine's performance this time round, possibly his career best. The songs by Teddy Pendergrass not only provide the perfect accompaniment but are essential to the film's theme. With John Larroquette.