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Movies like Burning Palms

Key Features:
Los Angeles, Taboo, Dark comedy, Interconnected stories, Social satire, Dysfunctional family, Moral decay, Shock value, Controversial themes, Black humor, American Dream, Excess, Irony, Provocative
Tone:
cynical, satirical, humorous
Target Audience:
Cult film enthusiasts, Dark comedy fans, Satire lovers, Provocative cinema viewers
Emotional Arc:
Discomfort → Shock → Disgust

Burning Palms

2010-04-23
Burning Palms Poster - Find Similar Movies

A subversive tale that interlaces five stories set in Los Angeles, where no taboo is left unexplored as each character careens toward a dark and often comic fate

Genres
Comedy, Thriller
Cast
Zoe Saldaña, Rosamund Pike, Lake Bell, Paz Vega, Shannen Doherty, Nick Stahl, Emily Meade, Robert Hoffman, Jamie Chung, Dylan McDermott
Crew
Christopher Landon, Christopher Landon
Rating
5.2(63 votes)
Burning PalmsBurning Palms
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Going Down in La-La Land

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The Burning Plain
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Storytelling
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College and high school serve as the backdrop for two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.



Ingrid Goes West
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Ingrid becomes obsessed with a social network star named Taylor Sloane who seemingly has a perfect life. But when Ingrid decides to drop everything and move west to be Taylor's friend, her behaviour turns unsettling and dangerous.



Flower
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6.3

Rebellious, quick-witted Erica Vandross is a 17-year-old firecracker living with her single mom, Laurie, and her mom's new boyfriend, Bob, in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. When Bob's mentally unbalanced son, Luke, arrives from rehab to live with the family, Erica finds her domestic and personal life overwhelmed. With Luke and her sidekicks Kala and Claudine in tow, Erica acts out by exposing a high school teacher's dark secret.



State and Main
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Grand Canyon
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All About Nina
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American Fiction
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A novelist fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.



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When a woman visits a Chinese doctor, she discovers her pain is due to pent-up rage, and the only cure is to fully express herself, whatever may come.



National Lampoon's Dirty Movie

An outrageous cut-rate producer is about to fulfill his lifelong dream to make a movie about the most offensive, dirtiest jokes ever told. As Charlie and his filmmaking team hilariously struggle to write a script and assemble their award-winning cast, the movie-within-a-movie emerges with one dirty joke after another. Only one can take the crown for writing the dirtiest joke ever told, and Charlie will do whatever he can to be that king.



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A sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.



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Burning Days
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L.A. Story
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A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes her top off.



Palm Swings
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Extreme Movie
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A sketch comedy movie about the joys and embarrassments of teen sex. But mostly the embarrassments.



The Canyons
4.4

The discovery of an illicit love affair leads two young Angelenos on a violent, sexually charged tour through the dark side of human nature.



Seven Psychopaths
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A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.



Echo Valley
6.4

Kate lives a secluded life—until her troubled daughter shows up, frightened and covered in someone else's blood. As Kate unravels the shocking truth, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child.



Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber

Katya Livingston, a self-centered, obnoxious and conceited 28-year-old ad sales exec, won't let anything or anyone stand in her way in getting to the top of the San Francisco social ladder. When tax inspectors question her claims Katya is forced to keep a financial diary and finds time to add details about her friends, enemies and lovers all from her unique point of view.



Digging for Fire
5.188

Tim and Lee are married with a young child. The chance to stay at a fancy home in the Hollywood Hills is complicated by Tim's discovery of a bone and a rusty old gun in the yard. Tim is excited by the idea of a mystery, but Lee doesn't want him to dig any further, preferring that he focus on the family taxes, which he promised to do weeks ago. This disagreement sends them on separate and unexpected adventures over the course of a weekend, as Tim and his friends seek clues to the mystery while Lee searches for answers to the bigger questions of marriage and parenthood.



Arizona
Arizona(2018)
5.46

Set in the midst of the 2009 housing crisis, the life of Cassie Fowler, a single mother and struggling realtor, goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder.



Happiness
Happiness(1998)
7.4

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.



Burn After Reading
6.7

When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money for Linda to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. Predictably, events whirl out of control for the duo, and those in their orbit.



B.A.P.S
B.A.P.S(1997)
5.2

Two wannabe Black American princesses aim to marry rich men, who will pay for their world's first combination hair salon and soul food restaurant.



Southland Tales
5.2

Set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Boxer Santaros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. His life intertwines with Krysta Now, an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and Ronald Taverner, a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.



Slow Burn
Slow Burn(2005)
5.3

A district attorney is involved in a 24-hour showdown with a gang leader and is, at the same time, being manipulated by an attractive assistant district attorney and a cryptic stranger.



Better Living Through Chemistry

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Red State
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Hollywood Homicide
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Ken Park
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Twentynine Palms
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A photographer and an unemployed woman embark on a chaotic trip to the California desert for a photo shoot, filled with passionate encounters and frequent fights. Their seemingly empty relationship takes a dark turn when a brutal incident abruptly ends their journey.



Buffaloed
Buffaloed(2020)
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The TV Set
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Sex Is Comedy
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A group of people gather in the California desert to watch a "film" set in the late 1990s featuring a sentient, homicidal car tire named Robert. The assembled crowd of onlookers watch as Robert becomes obsessed with a beautiful and mysterious woman and goes on a rampage through a desert town.



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A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.



Bad Actor
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During the filming of a movie, actress Sandra Navarro denounces actor Daniel Zavala for sexual abuse on the set during the recording of a scene for the movie. Daniel pleads his innocence and the production tries to prevent the situation from leaking off the set and causing a scandal.



A House on Fire
6.835

Montse, divorced and with two children who have long ignored her, prepares for a family reunion at her home on the Costa Brava.



Maps to the Stars
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Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family are chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts.



Blood Fest
5.34

Fans flock to a festival celebrating the most iconic horror movies, only to discover that the charismatic showman behind the event has a diabolical agenda.



Cursed
Cursed(2005)
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A werewolf loose in Los Angeles changes the lives of three young adults who, after being mauled by the beast, learn that the only way to break the curse put upon them is to kill the one who started it all.



Pleasure
Pleasure(2021)
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19 year old Linnéa leaves her small town in Sweden and heads for Los Angeles with the aim of becoming the world's next big porn star, but the road to her goal turns out to be bumpier than she imagined.



Crash
Crash(1996)
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After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims, and he begins to use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.



Colossal
Colossal(2017)
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A woman discovers that severe catastrophic events are somehow connected to the mental breakdown from which she's suffering.



God Bless America

Fed up with the cruelty and stupidity of American culture, an unlikely duo goes on a killing spree, killing reality TV stars, bigots and others they find repugnant.



Breaking News in Yuba County

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Exposed
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After witnessing a miracle, a young Latina woman experiences strange things as a police detective searches for the truth behind his partner's death.



Empowered
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Paz seems to have a perfect life. She has a job, a partner and friends but something's missing. In reality, there are things she is unhappy about. She feels anxious and burdened but can't bring herself to express these feelings. Until one day she turns to a strange therapy that will make her say absolutely everything she thinks. How would your life be if you only said what you think?



Schizopolis
6.1

A man works for the unpleasant guru of a Scientology-like movement.



Intolerable Cruelty
5.947

A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.



Crash
Crash(2005)
7.214

In post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles, tensions erupt when the lives of a Brentwood housewife, her district attorney husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple converge during a 36-hour period.



Rotting in the Sun
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A filmmaker facing an existential crisis goes on a vacation to a Mexican gay nudist beach, where he meets a social media celebrity who convinces him to collaborate with him on his new TV show. But one disappears and another embarks on a wild journey through Mexico City to find him.



Mayhem
Mayhem(2017)
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Self Reliance
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When a man is offered a million dollars to play a game in which hunters try to kill him, he thinks he has found the perfect loophole: they can only attack when he’s alone. His only problem is that none of his friends or family believe the game is real. Forced to seek companionship in unexpected places, he navigates the bizarre challenge with humor, paranoia, and a surprising search for connection.



Mutant Action
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Waging war against all things glamorous and beautiful, crippled terrorists Acción Mutante plot a series of attacks on society's elite, and attempt the kidnapping of a wealthy socialite at her elaborate wedding reception.



How to Break Up with Your Douchebag

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Palm Trees and Power Lines

A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.



Cero y van cuatro
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Four stories... one city. A dark comedy about crime in the big city: EL TORZON - two friends are smoking grass in their car, when they're caught by a corrupt Judicial Police Officer; VIDA EXPRESS - a wealthy businesswoman is kidnapped and her deadbeat husband has to come up with the money; BARBACOA DE CHIVO - an angry mob mistakes a college professor with a burglar and decide to lynch him in front of the church; COMIDA PARA PERROS - a bumbling thief tries to rob a restaurant



Bliss
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Lethal Weapon
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A veteran cop and an unstable detective become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.



Chain of Fools
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Widows
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Cecil B. Demented
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Official Competition

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Secretary
Secretary(2002)
6.8

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.



Kika
Kika(1993)
6.4

When American author Nicholas brings in a cosmetologist named Kika to prepare the corpse of his recently deceased son, she inadvertently revives the young man, then falls in love with him. Forces conspire against the couple, though, as Nicholas wants Kika for himself.



Vengeance
Vengeance(2022)
6.582

A journalist and podcaster from New York City travels to West Texas in order to report on the death of a girl he was hooking up with.



Contagion
Contagion(2011)
6.6

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.



Blood Diner
5.382

Two cannibalistic brothers kill various young women to make their flesh part of a new special dish at their rundown restaurant while seeking blood sacrifices to awaken a dormant Egyptian goddess.



Bloody Oranges
5.98

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The Sex of Angels
5.3

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Entertainment
5.594

Set in the Mojave Desert, the film follows a broken-down comedian playing clubs across the Southwest, working his way to Los Angeles to meet his estranged daughter.



It Stains the Sands Red

In the throes of a zombie apocalypse, a troubled woman from Las Vegas with a dark past, finds herself stranded in the desert with a lone and ravenous zombie on her tail.



Mainstream
6.341

A young woman thinks she’s found a path to internet stardom when she starts making YouTube videos with a charismatic stranger – until the dark side of viral celebrity threatens to ruin them both.



Sidewalks of New York
6.007

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Girl Lost: A Hollywood Story

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Fear City: A Family-Style Comedy

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She-Devil
She-Devil(1989)
6

A cunning and resourceful housewife vows revenge on her husband when he begins an affair with a wealthy romance novelist.



The Kill Room
5.9

A hitman, his boss, an art dealer and a money-laundering scheme that accidentally turns the assassin into an overnight avant-garde sensation, one that forces her to play the art world against the underworld.



Eddington
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The Opposite of Sex

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Combustion
5.492

Mikel will marry Julia, owner of a major jewelry he inherited from his parents. During the party in announcing their commitment, Mikel meets Ari, one of the waitresses catering. The attraction that arises between them will make Mikel is interested in the world of Ari: illegal motor racing. Then, the protagonist of this story decides to leave Julia without knowing the true intentions of the person who has seduced. Ari and her boyfriend, Navas, have hatched a plan to get around Mikel jewelry made ​​with his ex-girlfriend.



Greener Grass
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Adult World
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Bandidas
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6.032

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Babylon
Babylon(2022)
7.373

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Bowfinger
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6.171

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Burning Bright
6.3

After her lousy stepfather steals her savings to buy a vicious tiger, Kelly loses all hope of going to college. But Kelly's situation worsens when a hurricane leaves her and her autistic brother boarded up in their house with the man-eating beast. This edge-of-your-seat thriller follows the gutsy heroine and her younger sibling as they struggle to outwit the ravenous predator and find a way to survive.



Ceremony
Ceremony(2010)
4.97

Sam Davis convinces his former best friend to spend a weekend with him to rekindle their friendship at an elegant beachside estate owned by a famous documentary filmmaker. However, it soon becomes clear that Sam is secretly infatuated with his ex, Zoe, who is now the filmmaker’s fiancée, and that his true intention is to thwart their impending nuptials. As Sam’s plan begins to unravel, he is forced to realize how complicated love and friendship can be.

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