‘And Chill’: meet the Facebook Messenger bot who gives you Netflix recommendations

There are few words more guaranteed to ruin a peaceful night in than “What film shall we watch?”

Thanks to Sky Movies, Netflix, Amazon Prime et al, choice is almost limitless; paralysed by indecision, it’s midnight and your Deliveroo is cold by the time you’ve decided on Deadpool over Nightcrawler.

But why make your own rational decision when technology can do it for you? And Chill is a “bot” operating through Facebook Messenger: tell it a film you like and why, and it’ll recommend something similar.

I hand it The Room: the 2003 film written, directed, produced by and starring the visionary that is Tommy Wiseau. Full of non-sequiturs, incomprehensible storylines and repeated scenes, it’s gained cult status for being the worst film of all time.

“Try Broken Flowers. It is very similar,” says And Chill. Broken Flowers is a 2005 Cannes Grand Prix-winning film starring Bill Murray, Sharon Stone and Tilda Swinton. It’s clearly an attempt to improve my appalling cinematic taste.

And Chill isn’t the only film generator removing the necessity of independent thought. On agoodmovietowatch.com, daredevils opt for either a totally random choice or their select “best” watches.

Diehard Netflix fans should play Flix Roulette (netflixroulette.net): put in genre and ratings filters before hitting “Spin”. It links directly to the streaming site, so you can hit play before anyone can argue — leaving you with loads more time to, well, Netflix and chill.

Follow Frankie McCoy on Twitter: @franklymccoy