Usaro

Some older/classic recs: It Happened One Night is fantastic though only one of the characters is on the run. Pierrot le Fou is wildly original. They don't exactly fit all your parameters, but Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Badlands, and Bonnie and Clyde all provide great structural touch-points... and two of them are truly great.

Thanks all! @sivartalappes I guess I meant the kind of film where a character goes from rags to riches, either in a monetary sense or otherwise.

Leni Riefenstahl. Though I suppose that has been written, but has always proven too hard a sell.

Thanks, guys!

Let's also assume someone's already said The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Chinatown, Planet of the Apes and Dr. Caligari. Some of mine are: Source Code (screenplay), Angel Heart, La Jetee and Memento.

Luis Bunuel is the master of surrealism. 'Un Chien Andalou', 'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' and 'Belle de Jour' are my favorites. 'The Phantom of Liberty' is another masterpiece:

The funniest scripts I've read include Wain and Showalter's 'They Came Together', Johnny Rosenthal's 'Iron Jack' and the pilot for 'Hello Ladies', which is significantly funnier (and edgier) than the filmed version.

Thanks for all these!

Thank you all for the recommendations! Keep them coming, please.

Stuff I've laughed out loud reading, by the way, includes Iron Jack and the Hello Ladies pilot (which was sadly much more ballsy and hilarious than the pilot that aired).

Love De Palma! If you haven't already, check out Dressed to Kill and Sisters.

Blow Out?

Besides Poetics, Alexander Mackendrick's On Filmmaking. Cannot rate it highly enough, and it's also one of the few books from an acclaimed master of the craft.

Great suggestions. Also The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, Angel Heart, Basic Instinct, The Conversation, Fargo and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I love this genre.

Enjoyed it, nice job. A simple concept, well executed.