16 h. ago ‘Unfailing ability to cheer me up’: why The Rebel is my feelgood movie

The next entry in our series of writers highlighting their go-to comfort watches is a look back to the 1961 Tony Hancock comedyFor me, memorable and/or uplifting film experiences tend to be around individual moments – the resurrection scene in The Matrix for example, or Dizzy’s “I got to have you” in Starship Troopers. (Do either really hold a candle to Mel Brooks’s A Little Piece of Poland number in the To Be Or Not to Be remake? The jury is still out.) But without wanting to sound like either a retro bore or a they-don’t-make-’em-like-they-used-to fuddy-duddy, I turn to Tony Hancock’s yuk-heavy feature vehicle from 1961 for its unfailing ability to cheer me up.I think I must have first watched it in the 1980s on TV, after my dad solemnly recited one of the film’s great moments, when Hancock offers a hunk of cheese to a blue-lipsticked beatnik Nanette Newman and says, with a sort of slack-jawed terror: “You do eat food?” Newman, as it happens, is perhaps The Rebel’s most amazing si...

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4 d. ago Muriel’s Wedding review – Toni Collette is outstanding in the film that brought Abba back

Brilliantly led by Collette, PJ Hogan’s 1994 story of a lovable loser was the feelgood sensation that rescued the band’s reputation – how can you resist it?When writer-director PJ Hogan made Muriel’s Wedding in 1994, he surely knew he had struck feelgood-movie gold. But maybe he didn’t realise he had personally authored a pivotal moment in Abbamania’s global history: the momentous transitional phase between the band being taboo-naff and being world-conqueringly beloved. (Maybe Mr Hogan should be getting a cut of the Mamma Mia! musicals and the Abba Voyage live show.) Hogan also gave us our first real view of Toni Collette who started the way she meant to go on: being outstanding in everything she is in.But back in 1994, it was still appropriate that a loser – albeit a lovable loser – could be depicted as an Abba fan; but this movie gets something right that the endless pedantic jukebox musicals that came later get wrong. This crucial pro-Abba film is not itself obsessed with Abba an...

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7 d. ago ‘Can kick me out of any funk’: why Sullivan’s Travels is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series on writers’ top comfort films is a reminder of why Preston Sturges’s 1941 comedy is unbeatableI shudder to think who I would have become had I never once been a 13-year-old girl roaming the stacks of a suburban Blockbuster Video. I fell in love with movies mostly because I wanted to impress the older high school boys who worked behind the counter. The nicer ones took time to recommend their favorite films. So I must thank the beautiful, near clone of OC-era Adam Brody who enthusiastically sold me on Sullivan’s Travels, Preston Sturges’s 1941 classic. I’ve seen it so many times that I’ve come to consider it an old friend.Perhaps unsurprisingly, what initially drew me, a boy-crazy middle schooler, to the film is the sheer hotness of its two leads. Even by our current standards of eerily plump, airbrushed faces and Ozempic-toned bodies, Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea sparkle onscreen together. Her peekaboo curls and low, sultry delivery demand attention, making ...

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2 w. ago ‘Never fails to make my day’: readers on their feelgood movies

As Guardian writers continue to share their go-to comfort films, we asked for your picks, which range from a ghostly sports drama to a Hitchcock thrillerMy parents’ favorite, too. So much so they allowed me to watch it on a school night. I loved the arch dialogue (Deborah Kerr), especially the request for “pink champagne” that I used for years to torture my younger sister whenever she wanted to know what I was doing. Why, drinking pink champagne, of course! It’s on Netflix again so am enjoying it for the umpteenth time in all its glorious technicolor. Deepavali70 Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Guardian writers on their ultimate feelgood movies: ‘Keeps me optimistic’

Our writers highlight the films they find endlessly rewatchable, including Notting Hill, The Wedding Singer and Mamma Mia!“Feelgood” movies are often thought of as big-hearted romantic comedies, comforting classics, or childhood favourites that still hold up decades later. In our series, My feelgood movie, Guardian writers reflect on their go-to flick, and explain why their pick is endlessly rewatchable.This list will be updated weekly with further picks.You’ve Got Mail is available on Hulu in the US and on Now TV in the UK Continue reading...

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3 w. ago ‘Actually romantic and actually funny’: why When Harry Met Sally is my feelgood movie

The latest comfort movie recommendation in an ongoing series is a reminder of Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner’s landmark romantic comedyThere’s not a dull moment in When Harry Met Sally, Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner’s 1989 classic, which has become the apotheosis of the romcom. Every detail in the film is to be savoured: the golden leaves of Central Park. Billy Crystal’s apartment. Meg Ryan’s glasses. The sweaters! Oh, the sweaters!It’s not exactly a groundbreaking choice, so much so that I’m almost embarrassed to call it my “feelgood movie”. Calling When Harry Met Sally a perfect comfort film is like calling pizza the perfect comfort food. It’s hardly discerning or original. Continue reading...

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4 w. ago ‘Keeps me optimistic’: why You’ve Got Mail is my feelgood movie

The next entry in our series of writers highlighting their go-to comfort picks is an ode to Nora Ephron’s winsome romantic comedyThere’s a montage in the opening of You’ve Got Mail that is so sentimentally sweet that it feels like the cinematic equivalent of a pumpkin spiced latte. As the guitars of the Cranberries’ Dreams jangle, the film’s two leads, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, leave their respective homes and walk through an autumnal-hued New York City with smiles on their faces, their characters unaware that earlier that morning they were anonymously exchanging emails. I must have seen this opening more than 100 times, and while I’d never be so happy to walk to work, it always fills me with a romantic appreciation for life’s potential.I can’t remember the first time I watched this Nora Ephron-penned and -directed romcom, but I do recall that as a child I would load it into the DVD player at every available opportunity. Based on the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner, and centred o...

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