It's fair if you think of Martin Scorsese and all that comes to mind are crime films and the occasional biopic or period piece. But his filmography is much broader than that when taken as a whole, and one of his most interesting projects is the nightmarish comedy he made after The Last Temptation of Christ ran into serious production and funding problems. Rebounding with a smaller film and a tighter budget, Scorsese produced an underrated gem that combines an unpredictable narrative with a stellar cast of character actors.

Paul Hackett leads a pretty boring life and his one small attempt to do something out of the ordinary leads to a bizarre night he won't soon forget. The plot can essentially be boiled down to "man tries to get home from SoHo", but his misadventures and the people he meets keep things anything but straightforward. Alongside Griffin Dunne are Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, John Heard, Catherine O'Hara, and Cheech & Chong! Be forewarned — this is the kind of comedy that's funny, in part, because it's not happening to you. In that sense, it's been described as "Kafka-esque" (a descriptor often tossed around), and there is in fact a scene with dialogue directly inspired by one of Kafka's stories. It's dark, it's funny, and it's hard to tell what will happen next; in my book, these add up to a great film experience. Check it out for yourself!