Noah Baumbach, the writer-director behind scarring snapshots of domestic malaise like The Squid and the Whale, works in a more forgiving register here, expressing enormous compassion for his malcontents, their misery deeply amusing rather than acidic. Stripping away the manic extremes that usually define his onscreen persona, Adam Sandler plays Danny, a sad-sack father reeling from his marriage’s dissolution by moving in with his accomplished, self-absorbed, deeply critical father (Dustin Hoffman), eventually also reconnecting with his far more successful (but by no means happy) half-brother (Ben Stiller). And don’t forget to stay classy, San Diego. (All apologies, Dewey Cox.) Given the high possibility of sidesplitting, you may wanna have a medical professional on hand. Culling this down was a tough call humor is a seriously subjective topic, and every one of our 19 writers weighing in had their own idea of what constitutes “hilarious.” But this list represents the best cross section of screen comedy of our millennium, a collection that runs the gamut from droll to bladder-loosening.Īnd, since we’d originally published this list in early 2018, we’ve updated it and added 20 new entries - including several first-rate comedies that were regrettably left off the list. Or a dozen.Īfter a number of heated arguments and lots of name-calling and the occasional chaotic pie fight, we’ve narrowed down our choices for the greatest comedies of the 21st century. But they’ve all consistently cracked us up, in a two-decade-plus span in which - let’s be honest - we’ve need a laugh or two. Some of these movies have been gently witty, while others have displayed all of the subtlety of a dose of Sex Panther cologne. Since the turn of the century, we’ve giggled at the poignant and the perverse, rom-coms and raunch-coms, new-and-improved takes on singular comic types and loose, highly improvised ensemble pieces that spread the spotlight around. German father-daughter duos and goofy stoners? Bring ’em on! Headbanging teachers and backstabbing bureaucrats? Yes, we’ll take them too. Talking foxes, Huey Lewis-loving serial killers, world-saving marionettes, foulmouthed political fixers and boisterous bridesmaids - all great as well. (The latter is a little harder to come by on Netflix, but they still turn up!) The various films are ranked by a mixture of quality (how good the movie is in general) and effectiveness (how good it’ll make you feel)–because you shouldn’t have to settle for less just because you want to feel good when the credits roll.What’s so funny? If you’re talking about screen comedy in the 21st century, the answer is easy: bumbling manchildren, the more boorish and clueless and stuck in their stunted adolescence, the better. Some of them are Netflix originals from the last few years others are all-time classics from decades ago. In an attempt to acknowledge the secret range of the feel-good movie, this list encompasses comedies, romances, family movies, dramas, and even the occasional action-movie comfort food. Some of them, with their broad ideas of what audiences want, even come across as kind of insulting.īeyond that, there are a lot of different ways to define that good feeling you’re searching for: Do you want to laugh, or go “aww”? Do you want to watch people fall in love, or family-friendly antics that end in a hug? For this list, we’ve combed through the current Netflix offerings in an attempt to go beyond the algorithm’s nebulous definition of feel-good, and present a line-up of films that come by their good feelings honestly, skillfully, and in a variety of ways. Some of them are downright clumsy–so determined to reach that crowd-pleasing ending that they provide the equivalent of a cheap, fast-fading dopamine hit. But here’s the thing: Not every feel-good movie is good. There are a lot of movies on Netflix designed to make you feel good “feel-good movies” is even one of the service’s many categorical rows you can scroll through endlessly, paralyzing your decision about what you actually want to watch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |