Everyone has a go-to karaoke song, and for Sandra Hüller, it’s ‘Sign of the Times’ by Harry Styles.
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The German actress reportedly insisted on the pop hit for a scene in her latest movie, Project Hail Mary, which sees school teacher Dr. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) sent into space on a world-saving mission. During a goodbye party, Hüller, who plays project lead Eva Stratt, grabs a mic and starts singing.
It’s an unexpected moment of stillness that reveals her character’s vulnerability – along with the universal awkwardness of performing badly.
Karaoke, which means ’empty orchestra’ in Japanese, has long held an appealing juxtaposition for filmmakers. On the one hand, it’s kitsch and fun – a comedic display of expression. On the other, it’s uncomfortable, humiliating and a bit sad – like watching a helium balloon slowly deflate.
These contradictions between performance and reality have made for some of cinema’s most poignant moments, allowing characters to spill their deepest truths while lyrics bound cartoonishly across a screen.
Whether used for humour, absurdity or pure emotional devastation (most often the case), here are some of the karaoke scenes that still ring in our ears – for better or worse.
Marriage Story (2019)
🎤 “Someone to need you too much / Someone to know you too well / Someone to pull you up short / To put you through hell”
Noah Baumbach’s movie about the breakdown of a marriage between theatre director Charlie (Adam Driver) and actress Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) is a devastating portrait of romance gone rotten. Not realising the scale of Nicole’s unhappiness, Charlie copes through denial – his detached affability viciously combusting before finally settling into acceptance. When he performs a rendition of ‘Being Alive’ from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company, it’s an overdue moment of catharsis. More than that, it becomes an impassioned celebration of being vulnerable – of throwing yourself headfirst into love again and again, despite knowing the risks.
Lost in Translation (2003)
🎤 “More than this / You know there’s nothing / More than this”
Two lost and lonely Americans form an unlikely connection in Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning movie, set amidst the dizzying neon drizzle of Tokyo, Japan. While Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the young wife of a travelling photographer, spends her days aimlessly exploring the city, Bob (Bill Murray), an apathetic older actor, remains restless and ruminative within the confines of their hotel. Recognising a mutual sense of alienation in one another, they meet over drinks one night – and thus blooms an intimate, unspoken bond.
Throughout, the movie beautifully captures a sense of existential disillusionment – of feeling adrift and invisible, destined to float away forever.
When the pair impulsively take to a karaoke bar, it’s a rare moment of them abandoning any insecurities and daring to be fully seen. Bob’s version of Roxy Music’s ‘More Than This’ feels especially pertinent, as his usual sarcasm gives way to a tender sincerity that lets Charlotte know how deeply he cares about her.
Aftersun (2022)
🎤 “I thought that I heard you laughing / I thought that I heard you sing / I think I thought I saw you try”
Few movies in recent years have torn our emotions to shreds like Charlotte Wells’ masterpiece. Set primarily in the late ’90s at a Turkish holiday resort, it follows 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) and her father Calum (Paul Mescal) on their final vacation together. As the footage’s creamy-hazed nostalgia shuffles and shifts to the present, the impact of Sophie’s memories sharpens – revealing a gut-punching subtext of confused grief.
The chasms in their father-daughter relationship are starkest during a karaoke scene. After Calum refuses to sing R.E.M.’s ‘Losing My Religion’ with Sophie, we witness her resentment and his growing shame – rooted in the paralysis of depression. The song itself, about unrequited love, becomes a powerful allegory for the movie’s themes, as Sophie’s voice, small and struggling, fights to connect with her father.
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
🎤 “Out by the boxcar waitin’ / Take me away to nowhere plains”
Told through the fractured narrative of memories, this contemporary cult classic chronicles the relationship between Tom (Joseph Godron-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel). It’s a workplace karaoke night that sparks their (ultimately doomed) romance, with Tom’s drunken performance of the Pixie’s ‘Here Comes Your Man’ capturing his tendency towards delusions of grandeur.
Despite Summer stating early on that she does not want a serious relationship, Tom maintains the belief that their connection holds a deeper destiny; that Summer is his escape from life’s mundanity. In this sense, just as karaoke can be a way to momentarily view yourself as a rockstar, it becomes symbolic of Tom’s foolish romanticisms – always at a painful mismatch with reality.
Rye Lane (2023)
🎤 “Bright as the sun, I wanna have some fun / Come and give me some of that yum-yum”
Unlike the overwhelmingly sombre examples in this listicle, British romcom Rye Lane utilises karaoke for a far more joyful message.
A chance encounter between recently heartbroken strangers Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) leads to them spending a chaotic day together, wandering south London and connecting over their pasts. While pretending to be Dom’s girlfriend to make his ex jealous, Yas recounts their fictional meet-cute at a hip-hop karaoke night. This later becomes the setting that sparks their real-life romance, as a joint performance of Salt-N-Pepa’s iconic ’90s track ‘Shoop’ results in the pair finding harmony in their desires – and finally kissing.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
🎤 “Well, I can’t forget this evening / Or your face as you were leaving”
Forget any subtextual yearning, sometimes karaoke is simply butchering a power ballad after one too many Proseccos at the work Christmas party. This is how it goes down for the chain-smoking and chronically single Bridget (Renée Zellweger), who slurs her way through ‘Without You’ while her crush Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) watches on in hypnotic disgust. It’s unbearably cringe and shamefully relatable – a reminder of the horrors this public humiliation ritual can deliver. Knowing Zellweger can sing, however, it is also a very impressive bad performance!
Saltburn (2023)
🎤 “You dress me up, I’m your puppet / You buy me things, I love it”
Emerald Fennell’s Tumblr-ified take on obsession and desire is hardly remembered for being subtle, but one of its most on-the-nose scenes involves a particularly humiliating karaoke choice. After “poor” Oxford student Oliver (Barry Keoghan) attempts to muscle in on his wealthy friend Felix’s (Jacob Elordi) family, Felix tricks him into singing ‘Rent’ by Pet Shop Boys; its lyrics about transactional relationships intended to embarrass and remind him of his lower-class standing.
The Cable Guy (1996)
🎤 “Don’t you want somebody to love / Don’t you need somebody to love”
A common theme here has been karaoke revealing who characters truly are, and that’s certainly the case for Jim Carey’s unhinged cable man.
In Ben Stiller’s darkly comic (and prophetic) take on technology-induced disconnection, a friendship between Chip (Carey) and his new neighbour Steven (Matthew Broderick) takes a sharp turn for the crazy after the former performs Jefferson Starship’s ‘Somebody to Love’ at a party. All wide-eyed, open-mouthed and gyrating hips, Chip turns his karaoke session into a psychedelic explosion of wired energy that leads to Steven cutting ties – and foreshadows the obsessional chaos to come.
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
🎤 “When we hit that road, hell for leather, cats and dogs will dance in the heather”
In Rob Reiner’s beloved comedy about a friendship-turned-romance, there’s a scene in which Harry (Billy Crystal) grabs the microphone of a portable karaoke machine and starts singing ‘The Surrey with the Fringe on Top’ from ‘Oklahoma!’. When he’s barely a few verses in, a nightmare scenario hits: his ex girlfriend walks in with her new partner, leaving the tinny, upbeat backing track to soundtrack Harry’s despair. While only a brief moment, it highlights both lead characters’ reluctance to let their guards down – chasing expectations rather than embracing what’s in front of them the entire time.
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