RandomCha

How can two people with strong, and often wildly different, tastes in film get along when it’s Friday night and time to pick something to watch?

My husband and I have devised a system that allows for flexibility and variety.

• The film queue has 30 slots; I get 15 films, my husband gets 15. Films are organized in a spreadsheet, sorted alphabetically by title.
• When it’s movie night, I ask my phone to give me a random number between 1 and 30.
• When a film is selected, the person who originally chose it has veto power. If the film is vetoed, a “strike” is recorded on the spreadsheet. Once a film has 3 strikes it must be removed from the queue, and the person who originally chose it must replace it in the queue with a new film.
• If a film is vetoed, the selection process continues and I ask my phone to give me another random number between 1 and 30.
• Only 3 vetoes are allowed per movie night; after the third veto, we must reach an agreement to watch one of films already selected.
• In the event a film is selected but is discovered to be unavailable (it’s no longer streaming anywhere, etc.), the person who originally chose it may either (a) keep it in the queue, strikefree, until it does become available or (b) replace it in the queue with another film.