Feel-Good Movies You Might Need Right Now 

Things are tense these days. The world is not as we might have known it, and no matter what your thoughts on recent events, we imagine you’re a bit exhausted. So join us as we look to recommend some possible escapes, at least for a couple of smiling hours.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

More than 70 years later, Singin’ in the Rain remains the one musical that even folks who hate musicals cannot help but smile about. A chipper and beguiling fantasy that, like the song says, only wants to “Make ‘Em Laugh,” Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s technicolor fantasia is still uproarious.

From the shots of Gene Kelly gliding, umbrella in hand, through the rain-soaked streets of a Hollywood backlot to sequences of Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor guffawing about staying up all night, this is a movie designed purely to entertain and enchant. It floats on air, and also has a lot of inside baseball for old movie fans as it makes fun of the industry’s transition from silent films to sound in the 1920s, even as this movie is likewise obsessed with showing off new innovations in 1950s color. – David Crow

School of Rock (2003)

For something a little more modern but still musically inclined, might we suggest Jack Black getting his rock star god thing on in School of Rock? You’ve probably seen the movie countless times, but what’s one more viewing of Black’s adventures as Dewey Finn? He’s an aging rocker who never made it, so he cons his way into a job as a substitute teacher at a posh private academy.

There he mentors an incredibly talented classroom of kids—both as characters and real-life talent—and convinces them that it is time to rock. It’s absurd but filled with enough warmth and affection from writer Mike White and director Richard Linklater to stay genuine. Also those kids really can rock! – DC

Father of the Bride (1991)

If comfort food could be turned into a filmography, it would look almost identical to the works of Nancy Meyers. A writer-director who definitely authors what she knows—or what she knows a lot of people wish life was like—her films have the coziness of a favorite sweater during a pleasant autumn day in the backyard. Such is the charm of the 1991 Father of the Bride remake starring Steve Martin.

While directed by Meyers’ then-husband and collaborator Charles Shyer, Father of the Bride has all the fingerprints of Meyers’ later works as director, plus Steve Martin at his most charming and lovable. Which goes a long way since George Banks (Martin) is the prospective father-in-law from hell. Suspicious, snoopy, paranoid, and frugal to a fault, he is a great comic creation filled with ‘90s eccentricities, and surrounded by an absolutely spellbinding cast that includes Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams, and a baby-sized Kieran Culkin. It’s schmaltz done right and will brighten your darkest day. – DC

The Princess Bride (1987)

Also while on the subject of movies about brides, perhaps the most magical is the one with its own Miracle Max. There is definitely some type of alchemy at work in Rob Reiner’s timeless The Princess Bride, a movie that marries the enhancement of a children’s storybook—in this case with the film being shrewdly adapted by author William Goldman from his own tale he originally penned for his daughter as bedtime story—with the wry smartassery of 1980s New York. Indeed, the film imagines a fantasy realm set vaguely once upon a time where the likes of Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Christopher Guest, and Wallace Shawn as an inconceivably brilliant Sicilian are walking around.

But the whole cast is winning, from Cary Elwes and Robin Wright as the endearing if hopelessly square romantic idols at the center, to Mandy Patinkin’s far more rousing swashbuckler in search of vengeance, Ingo Montoya. André the Giant is also on hand to prove endlessly gentle, even as he threatens to bash Elwes’ head in with a rock. The movie is a comedy magic trick and a classic at any time. – DC

Mary Poppins (1964)

Within seconds of pressing play on Walt Disney and Robert Stevenson’s 1964 masterpiece, your shoulders will drop and your stomach will unclench. Mary Poppins is a beta blocker in movie form. Its opening titles—an old-fashioned London skyline at night, the melody of “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)”, the cheery appearance of the words “Walt” and “Disney,” “Julie” and “Andrews”—are a much-needed arm around your shoulder. For the next two hours and 19 minutes, you know you’re safe in the company of a woman whose confidence, common sense, wit, and magic can navigate whatever’s thrown at her, from animated penguins to Dick Van Dyke’s Cockney accent, to the merciless invasion of capitalism into the heart of man.

Enjoy the songs, the dancing, the costumes, and the useful reminder that the world contains more joy and beauty than it does narrowmindedness and cruelty. Oh, it’s a jolly holiday with Mary alright. – Louisa Mellor

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Dance scenes are feel-good movie gold, and with due reverence paid to the fine work of Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Napoleon Dynamite, and the penguins from Happy Feet 2, the greatest movie dance scene of all time features the Hoover family of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This one isn’t about talent or moves, it’s about shaking off cynicism to stand up for innocence, sacrificing status for solidarity, and—as all the best things always are—sticking it to the man.

‘The man’ in this instance is the shudderingly gross child beauty pageant industry, in which seven-year-old Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) unwittingly applies to compete. A dysfunctional family road trip ensues, ending at the pageant where Olive’s guileless strip joint moves and homemade costume do not fit in. The pageant organizers want her out, and that’s when the Hoovers stand up. Literally. Even dad Richard (Greg Kinnear), a success and status-obsessed wannabe Tony Robbins, defends his kid through the power of pelvic thrusts. They all do, from her Nietzsche-reading teen brother (Paul Dano) to her suicidal Proust scholar uncle (Steve Carell), and her excellent mother (Toni Collette). It’s ramshackle and beautiful, and a fuck you to cruel conformity. – LM

Paddington 2 (2017)

Paul King’s second Paddington movie made headlines for jostling with Citizen Kane for a perfect score on the review-amalgamation website, Rotten Tomatoes. A ridiculous contest. One of those films is the highest artistic achievement in the history of cinema, and the other one’s about a sled.

Reputation squabbles aside, Paddington 2 is an unbeatable feel-good picture. The first Paddington movie is too, but it’s missing one key element in the form of Hugh Grant, who gives an unimprovable performance as conscienceless luvvie villain Phoenix Buchanan. Grant steals this movie as deftly as his character steals the pop-up book that young Paddington is framed and imprisoned for nicking in the film. The miscarriage of justice takes Ben Whishaw’s animated bear on a thrilling adventure involving hardened prisoners, free diving, marmalade sandwiches, and the true meaning of community.

It may sound silly, but released in the aftermath of the UK’s 2016 Brexit vote—an ugly time internationally, then and since—Paddington 2 put a country and a lead character on screen that you’d be proud to belong to. If you need feel-good escape, this is it. – LM

Perfect Days (2023)

Directed by Wim Wenders and co-written with Takuma Takasaki, Perfect Days might also be called Zen and the Art of Public Toilet Cleaning. Much of the film follows the day-to-day life of middle-aged Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) as he wakes up and washes in his small flat, works cleaning public restrooms in Tokyo, and goes home to read before falling asleep and starting the day again.

Although Wenders and Takasaki allow some bits of dramatic tension to creep into the plot, the pleasure of Perfect Days comes from watching Hirayama simply exist. Yakusho gives an amazing, quiet performance as a man who finds fulfillment in service, taking the opportunities to connect and show kindness as they come. – Joe George

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Normally, I’m a stickler for saving Christmas movies for Christmastime, but extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and few movies are as extraordinary as It’s a Wonderful Life. On the one hand, Frank Capra’s movie is the type of sentimental fantasy that some might find distasteful. The story believes that God would find one failed Upstate New Yorker so important that He’d stop the world and show George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) why he matters.

On the other hand, George’s importance stems, in part, from the way he stands against the money-grubbing landlord Mr. Potter, who uses property as a means to exclude or oppress. It’s a Wonderful Life functions as hope and good news, promising that, despite all empirical evidence to the contrary, God stands with those who stand against people like Potter—so much so that God will break the rules of physics to support them. And that our communities and friends will stand by us too. Those glad tidings are always welcome. – JG

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Given the franchise’s unabashed but often checkered tendency toward political commentary, Star Trek may not be everyone’s pop culture comfort food of choice right now. Furthermore, director Leonard Nimoy and his team of writers (including Harve Bennett, who gets a “story by” credit with Nimoy) build Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home around a “Save the Whales” plot that might be disheartening in its datedness.

However, The Voyage Home is less an action movie or even a time travel movie than it is a hangout flick. By sending Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and company back to the 1980s, The Voyage Home forces the group to stick together outside of their element. As a director, Nimoy has clear affection for his castmates, resulting in not only great scenes involving Kirk (and William Shatner is never more charming than he is here), but also often-underutilized characters such as Chekov and Uhura. It’s a feel-good film that climaxes with the gang jumping in the water and having fun. – JG

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Cinephiles will forever debate the merits of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, a conflict that didn’t seem to bother either performer that much. But when it comes to pure comfort, fans should reach for Keaton’s (largely) apolitical stunts over Chaplin’s class conscious sentiments. Really, you can’t go wrong with any of Keaton’s major films (although, the pro-Confederacy plot of The General won’t do anyone any good right now), but I tend to prefer Sherlock Jr. for its pure fantasy.

Keaton stars in Sherlock Jr. as a projectionist who fancies himself a detective and hopes to prove himself to a woman who otherwise ignores him. Like most Keaton films, the plot exists largely to set up the thematic stakes (underdog against a larger, uncaring system) and stunts. Sherlock Jr. contains one of Keaton’s best, an extended sequence in which his projectionist enters the movie screen and tries to keep up as the world around him shifts. Ever stone-faced against existential turmoil, Keaton’s resilience remains a balm for us all. – JG

Those are some of our recommendations for a movie or two to take your mind off things. Let us know if you have any more you’d like to suggest below!

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