There’s nothing quite like the first shot of a double-espresso in the morning, a caffeine hit that relaunches one’s serotonin levels. It gives you that instant dopamine rush that temporarily charges those social batteries for a long day of pretending you care, before the inevitable dash to make use of the toilet facilities, and the eventual withdrawal; it’s essentially liquefied cocaine. Yet, regardless of our pre-existing knowledge of the inexorable crash, we have such an insatiable reliance that we just can’t help ourselves… what if we could obtain that feeling naturally? From one of Wim Hof’s cold showers, or from a brisk walk through a nature reserve, or a method that doesn’t involve dousing your body in freezing water and trudging through cow sh*t to make you feel better about life, i.e. catching a feel-good movie at the cinema or on TV… sounds more like it.
Leaving the cinema after a feel-good classic is tenfold the caffeine charge, and minus the overwhelming feeling of the crippling anxiety it induces. Feel-good movies will often take on a special significance in our memories too. Whether it be Groundhog Day, Home Alone, or Forrest Gump, people commonly fall back on subtle references to these films, allowing them to unlock the endorphins they enjoyed while watching them for the first time, or simply to be able to relate to their peers. While typically falling in the comedy/drama bracket, feel-good films have a broad cross-genre grip, taking several forms beyond the stereotypically funny or dramatic flicks. The 1990s was a golden age for definitive movies of this kind, and here are some of the best…
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7 Home Alone
20th Century Fox
A Christmas classic that many have to resist the urge to watch during the rest of the year, Home Alone has seared itself into the collective pop consciousness for three decades. A pre-teen is unintentionally left at home by his forgetful family, who heads to France for the festive holidays. Targeted by particularly idiotic burglars, Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) sets about protecting his home in this perfectly efficient film which is adored by adults and children alike.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Pretty Woman
Touchstone Pictures
Featuring Richard Geer and Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman is the charming tale of a hotshot socialite sparking up an unlikely friendship and relationship with a prostitute. Consequently, Edward (Geer) takes Vivian (Roberts) under his wing, recognizing her potential as not just a pretty woman, but a highly astute and intellectual person simply out of luck. Pretty Woman isn’t just a romantic drama, but a representation of the disbarring of a false conception that a woman can simply be defined by her sexuality. As such, it’s been enjoyed again and again and is a feel-good lift-me-up.
5 Scent of a Woman
Universal Pictures
Al Pacino seized the Best Actor award with his performance as the irrepressible Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a blind and disgruntled army veteran placed in the day-care of Charlie Simms (Chis O’Donnell), a scholar at an exclusive, local preparatory school. Despite Frank’s reservations and frostiness toward the sensitive Charlie, the pair form a flourishing bond and see Frank’s aversions to aid turned on their head. Filled with some of cinema’s most quotable dialogue, Scent of a Woman is a low-stakes good time.
4 Life is Beautiful
Melampo Cinematografica
While there is some debate to be had about how “feel-good” Life is Beautiful really is, it’s a film that can shift one’s perspective on life and fill the viewer with gratitude and the feeling that life is indeed beautiful. The movie emotionally captures the soul-stirring essence of fatherhood, and the remarkable nature of a father intent on providing his son love (and distraction) as he shoulders the burden of the reality of being Jewish during WW2 and suffering in a Nazi concentration camp. The story is of a parent’s ultimate sacrifice for his child, and the sheer selflessness he displays to protect his son from their grim situation can truly encourage a more optimistic and compassionate outlook on life.
3 The Big Lebowski
Gramercy Pictures
The Coen Brothers have conjured up winning formula after winning formula, and The Big Lebowski is no different. Starring Jeff Bridges as Jeff “the dude” Lebowski, John Goodman as Walter, and Steve Buscemi as Donny, the troubled, bowling-loving trio slip down a particularly greasy alley when they mistakenly become ensnared in a case of mistaken identity and subsequently seek compensation for a damaged rug. Surreal, silly, and brimming with lovable and wacky characters, it’s impossible to not hold onto a lingering smile after watching The Big Lebowski.
2 As Good as it Gets
TriStar Pictures
In As Good as it Gets, Jack Nicholson stars as Melvin Udall, a prejudiced writer with serious obsessive-compulsive disorder, to the extent that he even takes his own cutlery to the local café. Forced to take care of a neighbor’s dog he, in the first instance, loathes, Melvin quickly grows an attachment to it while concurrently falling in love with a waitress at his favorite restaurant, Carol (Helen Hunt).
Nicholson scooped his second Academy Award for Best Actor, though it arguably should have been his third, had he not cruelly missed out on the vote for his iconic showing in The Shining. Helen Hunt, like her counterpart, also took home the Academy Award for Best Actress, a feat that hasn’t been achieved since. As Good as it Gets definitely helped make 1997 a great year for cinema, and has the lightness and joy to make any day feel great.
1 Forrest Gump
Paramount Pictures
Tom Hanks and Forrest Gump steal the show here by (literally running) a country mile; the Captain Philips star claimed the Academy Award for Best Actor, alongside the movie’s win for Best Picture, and it undoubtedly remains the decade’s best feel-good offering. For those who’ve committed the cardinal sin of having not watched it already, the film follows the story of a kind man who is intellectually and partially physically disabled, the inimitable Forrest Gump.
Gump inadvertently finds himself embroiled in major events throughout world history (thanks to some great editing effects), from patrols through Vietnamese jungles during the Vietnam War, unintentionally uncovering the Watergate Scandal, and continuously running for three years, two months, 14 days, and 16 hours. “Run, Forrest, Run!” has probably been uttered by most people witnessing a victim flee the wrath of their bullies ever since.
