Meeting someone you click with on a dating platform is always exciting. The virtual medium presents such a relaxing platform, somewhere you can shed any inhibitions and start getting to know a potential partner. After developing a rapport you can start chatting about activities for your first date. One of the most popular of all is enjoying a Netflix movie. Flirtmoms.com had asked their users and based on this poll they’ve come up with seven of the best that will make your first date a guaranteed success.
The Other Guys
Comedies are always a terrific icebreaker for any date night. In this offbeat example, the typically overly-wacky Will Ferrell tones his performance down to play a pen-pushing and browbeaten NYPD detective, Gamble, who is partnered with the more headstrong Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg). Plodding along from day to day, Hoitz, itching to get back out onto the street, pounces when a minor case quickly develops into something much bigger. Sidesplitting chaos ensues, but the heart of this action-comedy is the rapport between the two leads. They grow to respect each other, while proving to their colleagues they are far from the pushovers everyone thought they were. Chemistry between partners? Perfect first date entertainment.
Bird Box
First date choices will tend to focus on romcoms or thrillers, but sometimes an out-and-out horror film is just what’s needed to get the adrenaline rushing. There aren’t so many jump scares in this post-apocalyptic science fiction drama, no vampires or seriual killers, but it’s the unseen evil that makes this much, much scarier than any monster movie. A mysterious force has decimated humankind, with the survivors clutching the knowledge that they are safe as long as they can’t see the entity. Sandra Bullock, a highly versatile performer who might be more familiar from her sexy but slightly kooky rom-com persona, is perfect as a mother determined to protect her children. With potential danger lurking around every corner, they embark on a perilous river journey, made more trecherous by the fact they need to stay blindfolded to survive. With every twist and turn, you and your partner will be snuggling closer together.
Click
Here’s an unusual movie to tie in with your date, as you keep the remote control in one hand and your refreshments in the other. Michael (Adam Sandler) is an architect who stumbles upon a fantastical remote control. This does so much more than change the channels on a TV set. It has the power to fast-forward or rewind to different parts of his life. Essentially, this is taking the premise of the hugely successful Groundhog Day – what would you do differently if you could control time – and giving it an even more potent twist. Sandler may be the movie equivalent of Marmite – some of his roles are cringeworthy, others side-splitting, but here he tones down the trademark gurning and goofy voices to make the most of the simple but brilliant plot device.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Are Marvel movies ok for a first date? Isn’t it an assumption that the person you are getting to know better is guaranteed to be a superhero fan? You don’t need to fret – this feature, starring the ever-likable Paul Rudd as the titular Ant-Man, and Hope van Dyne as Wasp, is a standalone feature you can get engrossed in without having to appreciate the lengthy back-story of so many similar films. Unlike a lot of these movies, that can be over-reliant on jaw-dropping special effects at the expense of 3D characters you can truly invest in, Ant-Man is grounded in more basic emotions. Sure, the central storyline is about humans magically shrunk to the size of insects, but as well as introducing a whole new universe – literally, at everyone’s feet – it has a lot of heart. The female lead character is also foremost in the action, a definite bonus in a superhero universe so often dominated by testosterone and alpha males.
When We First Met
Sometimes the best Netflix movies for a first date are the good, old-fashioned romances, although this feature also involves a bit of time traveling! Noah (Adam deVine) meets Avery (Alexandra Daddario) at a party one Halloween. He falls for her, only to be friend-zoned. Fast-forwarding three years, Avery has become engaged to someone else. Noah has the power to go back in time and influence events to try and engineer his preferred outcome. Altering time has become a familiar trope, introducing so effectively in the aforementioned Groundhog Day, and more recently, in About Time. But here you can’t help but fall for the blend of laugh-out-loud moments, and the sparkling chemistry between the actors. Emotions frequently run high, which is perfect for your viewing experience.
O Brother, Where art thou?
Over the years, Ethan and Joel Cohen have unleashed a whole series of memorable, thought-proking comedies. This is one of their best. It’s the USA in the mid-1930s, at the height of the Great Depression that caused so much hardship. The plight of the three main characters, Ulysses (George Clooney), Pete (John Torturro), and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) is worsened by the fact they form part of a prison chain-gang. Managing to escape, the loveable trio embark on a true odyssey (the screenplay is based on Homer’s classic fable), with Clooney and friends singing joyous bluegrass songs, and encountering sirens,and an actual one-eyed Cyclops (John Goodman as a Ku Klux Klan leader, overseeing his racist numbskulls performing an elaborate dance routine during one gathering).
Step Brothers
What better way to conclude a choice of date night flicks than an over-the-top comedy, starring Will Ferrell and John C Reilly as Brennan and Dale, two spectacularly lazy and incompetent man-children, living and leeching off their parents? When their Brennan and Dale’s respective parents move in together, the sworn enemies clash at every opportunity. At one point Brennan tries burying Dale in the garden, which exemplifies the intensity of their antipathy. But slowly, grudgingly, friendship and love are kindled. Ideal for your blossoming relationship!
