You’re feeling shitty. Chances are, it’s probably raining outside. Scratch that––pouring. You can’t get any work done, and reading a book seems like too much of a chore. Watching a movie seems like a great option for escape, however, every title you look at is way too saccharine.
Yeah, we get it, you’re a bit of a film buff. Surprise, surprise: so are we. We feel your pain every time you google search “feel good movies” and come up with Forrest Gump for the umpteenth time. So before you give up and throw yourself upon the mercy of Katherine Heigl, we’re here to help. Here are four great feel-good movies for that aren’t Hollywood rom-coms.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg: Okay, so it may not have a textbook happy ending, but we’ll forgive that because it’s a) a musical, and b) French. Starring Catherine Deneuve and directed by Jacques Demy, it profiles the relationship between two French teens, Geneviève and Guy.
The Last Days of Disco: Though he has a prolifically small output (four films in twenty two years), Whit Stillman has a knack for a comedy of manners that simultaneously satirizes and glamourizes the foibles of the Northeastern twenty-something elite, as they navigate their professional and social lives. This is what Gossip Girl wishes it was.
Auntie Mame: “Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” exhorts Rosalind Russell’s Auntie Mame in this outrageous, screwball comedy. Recently orphaned Patrick Dennis moves to New York to live with his zany aunt. Through misfortune and prosperity, Patrick and Mame’s bond is unshakable. You’ll leave this movie wanting to wear turbans and caftans for the next week and a half.
How To Steal A Million: The story of an art forgery heist, this charming Audrey Hepburn comedy is both stylish and sweet. With Hepburn’s always impeccable simplicity in her dress, the film is as much sartorial eye candy as it is a wonderful way to pass the time.