Greetings!
I recently started running again on a treadmill in my basement after the longest stretch of physical inactivity since I was in utero. While lost in girl pop heaven in my AirPods, I started randomly making lists of things (like this!) and decided to pull them over to the blog once in a while. If nothing else, I’m really hoping this will serve as a list for you when you’re like, “What should I watch??” Feast your eyeballs!
The rules to make this list were simple:
The movie could not be considered a classic film/too popular. I checked with my mom and resident romantic comedy expert Wes George, one of my best friends and also a straight man who loves a chick flick.
The movie had to be good enough to re-watch. Wonderful, funny, uplifting re-watchables. All of these movies are ones I’ve seen more than once at a bare minimum, most of them I’ve watched at least 4 times. (…how have I gotten anything done in my life?)
Let’s hit it!
Serendipity. This movie is just SO, so, so good. I love everything about it. I am an enormous John Cusack fan, so there’s that to start - his hair, his height, his everything is my dream. It popularized the cult-restaurant following for the world’s longest line and largest cup of hot chocolate. Kate Beckinsale is who every girl wants to be. The twinkly guitar-laden score, the premise of soulmates, the ridiculous caricature that is John Corbett playing his…whatever instrument that is…the JEREMY PIVEN OF IT ALL. I mean, the scene where Jeremy Piven’s character reads John Cusack’s character his eulogy?! PLEASE. Whatever happened to Jeremy Piven? Molly Shannon owning the New Age shop and being ridiculously charming and goofy per usual. Eugene Levy! The MOMENT WHEN JOHN CUSACK GETS THE BOOK FROM NATASHA (AKA his fiancé Halley who will always be Natasha from SATC). It’s so beautiful. This is my #1 sleeper rom com. Why is this movie not on everybody’s list of top films? It’s brilliant, it’s the best, the end.
About Time. Oh my good God. This movie. All I can say is do not watch it with anyone who you don’t want to ugly cry in front of. This is a “once every three years or so” movie for me. I can’t watch it more often than that or I’ll end up in a padded room. Being a parent only makes it more intense. It is a beautiful, time-travel-y love story between Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams, set in England, where Domhnall discovers he (along with his father, Bill Nighy) has the ability to time travel. He can go back and experience things, drop in (as himself) at any point. He can change history, but only in little increments - big ones get him into trouble. My only tiny critique of this movie is that Rachel McAdams’ dialogue was clearly written for an English person and hearing an American use very British phrases is kind of weird tonally, but otherwise this movie is deeply brilliant and will honestly change your life, if you’re paying enough attention. I think about it at least every week. It’s so beautiful.
The Truth About Cats and Dogs. A 90’s delight. Uma Thurman, Janine Garofalo, and an adorable British guy that we never saw again (I mean he acted for decades after this but not in movies I watched). The concept: Smart, kind of dumpy Janine is a radio show host. She lives next door to model Uma Thurman. One day, a caller to the radio show (hot British guy) who wants to come by and thank Janine for her good advice sees Uma sitting in her chair pretending to host the show, mistakes them for each other, and hilarity ensues. Basically, it’s a movie about whether looks are everything. It’s a weird little gem. You’ll love it.
Keeping the Faith. A cult classic and maybe the most formative movie of my adolescence. I have probably seen it 50 times times. I had two best guy friends in middle school and we each took a “role” from the cast, which is Jenna Elfman, Ben Stiller, and Ed Norton (who also directed this movie!). Its premise is almost hilariously “joke-y:” a priest and a rabbi fall in love with the same woman - and they all were childhood friends. I know. You’re waiting for the punchline. It’s so precious. Somehow it successfully deals with spirituality and how it intersects with romance, and contains some of the building blocks I’ve built my own love life around (“You cannot make a real commitment unless you accept that it’s a choice that you keep making again and again and again.”) So fun, barrels of laughs, Jenna Elfman has amazing legs, and it has a loaded cast of delightful people including Anne Bancroft who is brilliant. And the woman from House…Dr. Cuddy? I’m not looking up if I’m spelling that right. But she is hysterical in this movie.
The Preacher’s Wife. It will never stop surprising me how few people I know who’ve seen this movie. THIS MOVIE IS INCREDIBLE. There is nobody - and I literally mean nobody - more talented or more beautiful than Whitney Houston at this point in her life. She is the GOAT, original #1, unbeatable, unstoppable, sparkling magic potion, balm for a weary world period the end. I love her. And then we have Denzel. DENZELLLLLLLL in this movie. I literally dare you not to fall in love with him. Premise: Denzel’s character is an angel, sent from heaven to help a struggling preacher with his church and his marriage. This movie features delights including but not limited to: Chrismastime; Whitney in a beautiful black velvet dress; adorable little kid singing; the beauty that is Black Church; Whitney singing live; Penny Marshall as director. If you’ve never seen this movie, I almost want you to watch it over anything else on this list. A classic. Hi did I mention Whitney Houston in the 90’s is the star? K.
Definitely, Maybe. Arguably the most mainstream of this list. I love this movie for the Bill Clinton of it all. And for the women. Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, and Abigail Breslin. If I’m being totally honest, Ryan Reynolds’ whole schtick drives me a little bit nuts. But in this movie, the women balance it out and really make it work. It’s a plot with some problems, but it’s a comforting, happy re-watch (which is really what constitutes a good romantic comedy). The plot: a little girl wants to know the story of how her parents met on the heels of their divorce. Her dad tells her three stories of past girlfriends (realizing this plot is like, really inappropriate?) to let her decide which one is her mom. Okay get rid of the weirdness of that part and just focus on the actual love stories, the most important one being between a dad and his daughter.
Letters to Juliet. As far as quality is concerned, this movie is probably the worst on this list. It’s not good. There, I said it. It’s not! HOWEVER. The concept is cute and frothy and it’s just a fun lil’ romp of a movie. And sometimes we need that, you know?? Amanda Seyfried is a fact-checker (I think?) at a big-city paper and goes on a trip with her chef fiancé to Verona (setting of Romeo and Juliet), where she stumbles upon a coven of women who call themselves the Secretaries of Juliet, returning the love letters of forlorn or heartbroken women. When she finds an older letter, she responds to it, and it sends her on a journey, along with the letter’s author (Claire) and her grandson, to reunite with Claire’s old flame. Beautiful setting and inter-generational friendships.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 1, 2, &3. It’s a testament to these films that they’re almost the only ones to make the list made after 2015. This series of films, created by and streaming on Netflix, are sugary-sweet, but won’t leave you feeling sick to your stomach. Lara Jean Covey, played amazingly by the BRILLIANT Lana Condor who should be starring in everything, writes love letters to her five biggest crushes and tucks them away, never to be mailed. But when they inexplicably get sent to each guy, she has to weather the fallout. Obviously the other star of this movie is the ridiculously hot Noah Centineo who you will dream about later. There are no movies like this being made right now. No hard edges, incredibly heart-felt, truly pure, and can be watched with your parents. Inspiring. Great. The best. Also fantastic art direction, they really create a world so beautifully you’ll feel like you’re in it.
Crazy Stupid Love. This is a movie that got a lot of attention when it came out, but fails to rank in most people’s list of greatest rom coms. WHY, I ask you?? Steve Carell! Emma Stone! Julianne Moore! RYAN GOSLING. Three love stories told across three generations. And a love story between Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling’s characters that’s one for the books. Tell me you don’t die laughing on the shopping trip, or that your mouth doesn’t fill with drool when Ryan Gosling takes his shirt off in that one scene, and I will call you a liar, my friend. This movie is really funny and really sweet and deserves more praise than it gets. I’m not gonna tell you the plot because it’ll kind of spoil things.
Shall We Dance. I feel strongly about this weird, weird movie. So, okay: the premise is that Richard Gere, slogging his life away in boredom (despite being married to consummate hottie Susan Sarandon) stumbles upon a…dance studio. OKAY JUST HANG IN THERE WITH ME. He wanders in and meets J Lo, a ballroom dance instructor with a sad story who teaches him how to live all over again. Stanley Tucci is in it and he wears a really bad wig. The nanny from The Parent Trap is in it, who actually also wears a hairpiece. It’s strangely moving and great. It’s corny, it’s awkward, it’s trying too hard, and it’s kind of perfect. There’s dancing. You will love it.
Return to Me. Be. Still. My. Heart. (If you’ve seen this movie, that’s a little joke for ya!) Okay - so again, this premise sounds cheesy and dumb, but I swear on Meg Ryan that it’s not. David Duchovny (heart eyes) plays a man in love with his beautiful wife, a brilliant zoologist named Elizabeth. She dies tragically in a car accident in the first 20 minutes of the movie. Meanwhile, Minnie Driver (of Good Will Hunting fame) lies in a hospital dying of a heart condition for which she needs an emergency transplant. Her grandfather, who raised her, along with the incomparable Bonnie Hunt (who wrote and directed this beautiful movie!) wait by her bedside. And…you guessed it. Dead wife Elizabeth’s heart saves her life. The story goes on to feature a mourning David Duchovny who eventually falls in love (unknowingly) with Minnie Driver. It is the most wholesome, precious, wonderful movie full of family dynamics and the grandfather’s pack of friends (they run an Irish/Italian fusion restaurant and bar called O’Reilly’s, comedy gold). Again, a guaranteed feel-good. Promise.
High Fidelity. I’m hitting you with two Cusacks because we all deserve more John Cusack. This movie is adapted from one of my favorite all-time books of the same name and features Rob, a record store owner, who takes the movie to walk you through is “Top Five All Time Most Memorable Breakups.” (There was a Hulu show starring Zoë Kravitz that premiered last year which was great and tragically canceled - check it out!) He goes back to confront each woman. It’s creative, so effortlessly cool, Jack Black and Steve Zahn and Lisa Bonet and Catherine Zeta-Jones are all in it. It’s a movie that will leave you feeling both good and maybe a little more intellectual for having watched. Absolutely qualifies as the only intellectually stimulating movie on this list. Well, that’s not true - About Time is really good. But this one is more like, “Oh hey look at me judging you about your musical preferences in an obscure coffee shop ripping a cig,” vibes. Like - if enjoyed 10 Things I Hate About You? You will love this movie.
Brown Sugar. This movie hits REAL different when you re-watch it as a married adult woman (like I did last week) where Taye Diggs’ character is just openly having an emotional affair with Sanaa Lathan’s character and like, is cheating, right? Right. So when his wife is at dinner with that other guy, I was low key like…DID he deserve it?? Anyway, that’s for you to decide. This movie is straight up REPLETE with cheating but honestly you’re rooting so hard for Taye and Sanaa that you can’t help but love it. It’s got a killer soundtrack and features Mos Def as arguably the most adorable part of the movie, with Queen Latifah serving everything the the Queen always serves. Honestly, as a white middle school girl who loved folk music, it’s where I first connected with hip hop, which led me to a moment in high school where I was playing the song “Brown Sugar” by D’Angelo in my car with my VERY WHITE BOYFRIEND who said, “I don’t like this type of music.” And then we broke up. Check, please! You’ll really enjoy this.
Morning Glory. Oh my goodness, if this isn’t a feel-good movie, I don’t know what is. Rachel McAdams can basically do no wrong for me, and this movie is no exception. She plays an adorable and driven morning news show producer who gets a big break when a failing morning show hires her to save it. The anchors are Harrison Ford (SWOON) and Diane Keaton. We also get a special appearance by Patrick Wilson, one of my Top 5 Celebrity Crushes, who is pitch-perfect. Rachel McAdams’ story is at the center of it all, with the love story being between her and Harrison Ford (not sexual love, just love love) more than anything else. It’s so wonderful. Please watch it. There are flouncy skirts and great blazers galore.
Honorable mention:
The Wedding Date. This movie is so bad that I couldn’t allow it in the top 15. It almost did, supported solely on the fact that Dermont Mulroney is so, so, SO SO hot. But I cannot allow it to move forward.
Julie and Julia. So, so, so so good. So re-watchable. But I think it also counts as too mainstream. I mean, honestly, I could do without 100% of the Amy Adams storyline and just focus son the Meryl storyline, but it’s still a really fun movie.
Okay y’all - that’ll do. Hope you enjoyed this evidence that I spend so, so much time in front of the TV!