Seeking movie recommendations - lighthearted (but not stupid/juvenile)

Cafe Society
41

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World - IMDB - the first “chase” movie I’d seen. Wonderfully silly stuff. Loads of cameos

Joe vs The Volcano - IMDB - It’s not nearly as well known as it deserves. Leaves you with a lot to think about, but is very light. Probably the most emotionally intense part is a wedding towards the end.

The Zero Effect - IMDB - It’s a detective story without good guys or bad guys. They’re just a bunch … of guys … and the greatest detective the world has ever known. Vastly, vastly underappreciated

Muppets from Space - IMDB - My personal favorite of all of the Muppets films. If you’re a Muppets person & haven’t seen this one, you really should.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - IMDB - Another genre, totally hysterical from the start to the very strange ending. Plus, you’ll learn much more about African Swallowsthan you’d imagined going into the film.

42

Bed of Roses (1933)
Always-cool Constance Bennett and wisecrackin’, scene-stealin’ Pert Kelton are two whores looking to “rook umpchays” on a New Orleans-bound riverboat in fast-paced pre-Code comedy filled with sleazy innuendo.

All Through the Night (1942)
Ambiguously criminal Bogart and his comic crew (including Jackie Gleason) take on Nazi Fifth Columnists after a local cheesecake baker is clipped. Great cast, incredible double talk scene and a climax prefiguring the 2000 attack on the U.S.S Cole.

Went the Day Well? (1942)
Nazis infiltrate a small Brit town, eventually taking over before being met with some resourceful and extremely violent resistance by the most unlikely of townsfolk. WWII morale-raiser based on Graham Greene short story.

Champagne for Caesar (1950)
His Kind of Woman (1951)
Vincent Price in two of his best and most underappreciated comedic performances.

Princess of the Nile (1954)
Debra Paget gets in and out of baths and rivers a lot, and more than holds her own with a scimitar in this escapist hokum with a good supporting cast (including Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Honey Harlowe).

The Magic Serpent (1966)
Outlandish Japanese fantasy.


A Stolen Airship (1967)
Kids steal an airship, hang with Captain Nemo and have sundry other adventures in Mystimation!

The Vultures (1984)
Riff on Kelly’s Heroes.

Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl (1998)
Japanese crime comedy with several eccentric characters and a satisfying pay-off.

SLC Punk! (1998)
Punks in Utah become extinct. Well-written comedy.

Taxi (1998)
Ace cab driver in gimmick-laden cab tries to catch the Mercedes gang. Action, thrills, comedy, car stunts, etc….

Adrenaline Drive (1999)
A shy, timid nurse and a meek rental car clerk gain possession of a briefcase of blood-soaked money. The rest is chase and escape…. (from IMDB) Note that this is a parody.

Kamikaze Girls (2004)
The unlikely friendship between two 17 year old girls, one a tough biker chick, the other a would-be fashion designer obsessed by the Rococo period, is told with a great deal of humor, imagination and style (at times evoking Amelie).

43

Not sure if it counts as a heavy theme, but there’s Buried on Sunday. A Canadian film from 1992, it’s on Youtube here:

Kind of a post-cold-war, pre-9/11 screwball comedy about nuclear extortion and the collapse of the Canadian fisheries.

44

Arthur. I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about it other than it was really good, and as much as it pains me to say it, because I don’t like him, the remake with Russel Brand was very good as well. Though that could be because he sounds drunk to begin with.

The original or the (2007) remake of Death at a Funeral.

Noises Off! It’s rare to see this many huge stars in one, what I assume was a, low budget movie. It’s slapsticky, along the same lines as Clue.

The original Sleuth with Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier.

The remake of Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman

The Third Man

All About Eve, but I’m not sure that counts as lighthearted.

Some Like It Hot

45

Yes, and interestingly, it correctly predicted that Hitler would not survive the war. Not too lighthearted, though!

Another excellent movie, also not lighthearted.

46

These are my favorite lighthearted movies that I own on DVD:

American Dreamer - a very funny romantic spy spoof caper with JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti

The American President - Cinderella, with Annette Bening as journalist Syndey Ellen and Michael Douglas as the Prince (the U.S. President)

Author, Author - A change of pace for Al Pacino, as a playwright taking care of five children. It’s my favorite Pacino role, but expect heartwarming rather than menacing.

Fools Rush In - a culture clash romantic comedy with Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek in Las Vegas

Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers - The first has DeNiro having way too much fun sending himself up, and the second takes it up a notch adding Hoffman and Streisand

If Shakespeare works for you, my favorite feel good movie of all time is Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing. I always recommend it with quote I overheard from a young girl walking out of the theater, “Why can’t real life be like that?”

And my annual Easter movie - Easter Parade, with Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, and the music of Irving Berlin

Now I have my own shelter-in-place watchlist.

47

Groundhog Day, although everyone’s probably seen it by now.

48

Seconded. I have yet to find a person who didn’t like this movie. It spans all ages and all tastes.

49

This is a good opportunity to check out some classic silent comedies. Just about anything from Keaton, Lloyd, and Chaplin. And some of the unsung heroes like Harry Langdon and Roscoe Arbuckle.

50

A Certain Movie has been mentioned 5 times in this thread already. Although two are the same post repeated.

What if we are stuck in self-isolation, living the same day over and over?

“What is Lake Titicaca?”

51

My favorite light-hearted movie is Beat The Devil. It’s a sort of spoof of The Maltese Falcon and similar flicks.

If you think you’d enjoy “the adventures of a motley crew of swindlers and ne’er-do-wells trying to claim land rich in uranium deposits in Kenya as they wait in a small Italian port to travel aboard a tramp steamer en route to Mombas,” then you should like it.

Oh also… directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston and Truman Capote. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Jennifer Jones, Robert Morley and Gina Lollabrigida.

And it’s easily available everywhere.

52

Groundhog Day, although everyone’s probably seen it by now.

53

I agree this is a good movie but I don’t think it’s all that light-hearted nor is it much of a comedy.

54

Great movie, but just to nitpick a little, Being’s character Sydney Ellen Wade is a lobbyist, not a journalist. A good companion film to that, BTW - being another wonderful, witty political comedy/romance - is Dave, with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver.

And if you’re determined to brush up your Shakespeare, Shakespeare in Love is a (mostly) lighthearted romance about the Bard and the forbidden object of his desire, with lots of Shakespearean in-jokes sprinkled throughout. Highly recommended.

55

Thanks for that… beautiful. And ahhh… that gorgeous acoustic guitar work (Mark Knopfler).

My favorite soundtrack.

56

Topper, Topper Takes a Trip and Topper Returns.

My Favorite Brunette

My Favorite Blonde

Passport to Pimlico

Definitely Emperor’s New Groove.

57

another vote for Local Hero (1983)

also, Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

58

Here are a couple that I never hesitate to recommend for anyone:

“Joyriders”, with Martin Landau and a cast of teenagers

“Cheaters”, with Jeff Daniels and a cast of teenagers.

“My First Mister”, with Albert Brooks and a teenage Leelee Sobieski

59

For something completely different, you could try Tanna (2015).

This is based on a true story that happened in 1983 among the remote indigenous tribal people of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, and acted (brilliantly!) entirely by those people.

They still live a very traditional lifestyle. Almost the only signs of modern civilization are the occasional steel machete. But they worship Prince Philip (yes, that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh) as a god.

Tanna (2015) Trailer

It’s well worth watching. And after about 10 minutes you don’t even notice the penis sheaths any more! :slight_smile:

60

This far in and no one’s mentioned Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and the glorious Audrey Hepburn?!? :eek: :dubious: :smack:

Try High Society, the musical version of The Philadelphia Story, with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Celeste Holm.

Arsenic and Old Lace, with Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, and Raymond Massey filling in for Boris Karloff.

Father Goose, also with Cary Grant, alongside Leslie Carron.

***An American in Paris ***and Singin’ in the Rain, both with Gene Kelly.

The Great Race, with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, and the scrumptious Natalie Wood.

Some Like It Hot, with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and the ultrababe Marilyn Monroe.

Around the World in 80 Days, with David Niven and Shirley MacLaine.

Gigi, with Louis Jourdan, Leslie Carron, and Maurice Chevalier.

Pygmalion, with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Or the musical version, My Fair Lady, with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

Disney’s Mary Poppins, with Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke, one of my happiest childhood memories.

The original 101 Dalmatians, still my favorite Disney film.