A term coined by genre manipulator Quentin Tarantino, a "hang-out movie" principally features characters that you would like to make friends with in an alluring setting or aesthetic. They are usually characterized by a lack of significant plot, lots of conversational dialogue, and have a certain profundity to them.
Champions of the genre include director-writers Jim Jarmusch, Sophia Coppola, and Richard Linklater, whose films are ranked twice in the Ranker list. Here are ten 'hangout' movies for you to hang out with, as voted for by Ranker users.
Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
The first Linklater addition on the list, Everybody Wants Some!! is the spiritual sequel to 1993's Dazed and Confused. The film follows baseball athlete Jack Bradford (Blake Jenner) to his first week in college in the early 1980s. Unsupervised for the first time in life, he and the house full of his teammates navigate settling into a whole new environment.
They try on several identities; attending a punk concert, a hoedown, and frat parties in their first of many, while Jake has an extended flirtation with Zoey Deutch's Beverly. The film is basically the team touching base and getting to know one another by simply hanging out.
American Graffiti (1973)
One of the first of the genre, American Graffiti plays like a non-musical version of Grease. Several teenagers hang out on a balmy night on the last day of summer vacation after high school ends; the film focuses on Richard Dreyfuss's Curt as he deliberates whether to stay in his small town or head off to college.
The movie was directed by George Lucas, and based on his own youth (per The New York Times, including late-night escapades and driving around in 60's era cars looking for girls to woo.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
This Jim Jarmusch film concerns two centuries-old vampires who have nothing left to do but hang out. Adam and Eve, played by Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton respectively, spend their days playing chess, listening to old vinyl, and walking around Detroit at night.
The city serves as a backdrop of atmospheric romantic desolation, as they try to remain outsiders in a collapsing modern world. An honorable mention to his similar next film Paterson, which has Adam Driver as a bus driver trying to find poetry in his day-to-day.
Friday (1995)
It's an unbelievable Friday, and slackers Craig and Smokey must come up with $200 before the day draws to a close. Perpetually unemployed and owing their drug dealer, they navigate their South Central LA neighborhood to get the funds. Sidetracked by friends Felisha, petty thief Ezal, and bully Deebo, they soon get into more and more trouble.
A buddy stoner comedy that spawned three sequels, Friday is a great example of a slightly more action-packed hang-out movie than most other works in the genre.
Lost In Translation (2001)
Summing up how 'in between' life can feel on a trip abroad, Lost In Translation features Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), two individuals at different crossroads in life. Charlotte is recently married and feeling disconnected from her lover, and Bob is a washed-up film star disconnected from his own life. They meet in Tokyo and bond through karaoke, walking through the streets and chatting during late jet-lagged nights.
Writer-director Sophia Coppola based the story on her own life, feeling isolated in Japan during the early days of her marriage to Spike Jonze (per Indie Wire). Coppola also added her personal taste with an uber-cool soundtrack of shoegaze and dream-pop classics.
What We Do In The Shadows (2014)
In this mockumentary from Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi, vampire friends go about a life of completing menial tasks. The typical movie villains simply try to fit in with modern living instead of causing carnage. We see them in very mundane human situations such as getting into nightclubs, completing chores, and fighting with their flatmates.
It lets the audience hang out with their favorite blood-sucking monsters in situations one couldn't imagine them in before; showing what they actually do in those shadows.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Locked in the school library for a whole Saturday in detention, five members of separate cliques make their own fun together in John Hughes' teen classic. The team is made up of Judd Nelson (The Criminal), Ally Sheedy (The Basket Case), Emilio Estevez (The Jock), Anthony Michael Hall (The Geek), and Ringwald (The Princess). Throughout the day, they get to know one another in conversations that would not otherwise have been had.
The film captures the minutiae of high school living, as viewers hang out with all stereotypes at once as they dance, smoke pot, and get to the source of rumors about one another.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Big Lebowski is a classic farce in which a gang of bowling pals is caught up in a hostage adventure, but heavily stoned The Dude (Jeff Bridges) largely couldn't care less. He's only after a new rug, as his urine-stained one really tied the room together. Mr. Lebowski owes a debt, but The Dude only goes by The Dude., and after meeting the real Mr. Lebowski, he becomes intertwined with his multitude of problems, including his trophy wife, his artist daughter, and a porn producer.
The Coen Brothers' seventh film, the movie is littered with bizarre characters to meet and silly situations to observe that result in a whole lot of nothing in the best way possible.
Clerks (1994)
In Kevin Smith's seminal first film, Dante and Randall count down the minutes until their shift is over but keep getting distracted by crazy ex-girlfriends, important hockey matches, and the wacky customers that walk into their convenience store. Smith writes his hallmark pop-culture-filled dialogue and whip-smart conversation into the hangout, as they try to get through one crazy 90s day.
Filmed in the store where Smith actually worked at the time and based on his everyday life (per Yahoo), the film feels like a real hangout between pals with a few adventures thrown in for good measure.
Dazed and Confused
The top hangout movie, Dazed and Confused is the second Richard Linklater film on the Ranker list. Dazed and Confused takes place on a heady last day of school. Viewers follow all sections of teenage life, as soon-to-be freshmen mingle with soon-to-be seniors. And also with Matthew McConaughey's older David 'alright, alright, alright' Wooderson. The cast actually featured many young stars that would grow to become Hollywood elites, such as Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Renee Zellwegger, Adam Goldberg, and Parker Posey.
An updated version of American Graffiti, the teens drive around discussing their future as they plan for a fourth of July party that night- including scoring kegs of beer. All this is soundtracked by an expansive list of carefully curated seventies tunes.