I agree with a lot named here, Airplane!, The Princess Bride, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Casablanca, but the first one that popped into my mind was Amelie. It’s just thoroughly delightful and charming.
The Princess and the Pirate starring Bob Hope.
I was not a big fan of his and those Road To… films with Bing Crosby were a bit repetitive but the Princess and the Pirate was very entertaining considering I went in totally oblivious. It just happened to be on TV one lazy afternoon. Crosby features in a tiny cameo.
I also cannot pick just one.
“Horse Feathers” with the Marx Brothers.
Christmas movies deserve a category all their own. A Christmas Story, including the sequels. But I always return to “Bachelor Mother” watching Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. Watch the scene just after Charles Coburn says “Thanks for that at least” when Ginger Rogers and David Niven slowly realize what he means.
Here are some movies I find entertaining that others haven’t mentioned yet.
Three Amigos
Top Secret
Little Shop Of Horrors
Back to the Future
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Labyrinth
The Sting
I believe Michael Palin suggested “Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory”
Anyhoo, some great suggestions in here and plenty that I’d have listed but one recent release that I find myself coming back to for sheer entertainment value is “The death of Stalin”
Another vote for Airplane. I was young enough when I first saw it to find slapstick and wordplay humor deeply entertaining. And it’s hugely quotable, even now: “Guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.” "I am serious, and don’t call me ‘Shirley’ ", “Do you like gladiator movies, Timmy?”
Hero was another one that knocked my socks off the first time I saw it. I realize it’s propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party, but it’s visually stunning, well-acted, with a compelling story and interesting characters.
Another such is A River Runs Through It. I lived near a second-run theater when it came out, when it came there, I took a chance on it, since it only cost me five bucks. Went back to see it again four more times. I even convinced my roommate to see it by telling him that Brad Pitt had a nude scene.
“This is the perfect time to panic!” has to be one of the top ten lines ever written.
I’d have to agree. My 13 year old self was completely absorbed for the duration of the original Star Wars film back then. Time disappeared. I was enthralled.
Keep in mind, people were waiting in line for hours to get tickets to see this film 35 times back then.
I agree. Let’s put Die Hard on the list.
wrong thread
It would be a tossup between The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction (both enjoyed with great friends) and The People Under The Stairs (horrible movie torn to shreds with live sarcastic commentary - movie itself was beyond awful).
I will add another “Airplane!” vote and also throw in the following:
Rat Race
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
The Simpsons Movie
The Big Sleep (1946)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
The thing that’s brilliant about all three of them is that, by the end, the plot doesn’t matter. I’m not sure if Bogart solved the case in The Big Sleep. I don’t even remember what crime was committed. Listening to Bogart trade quips with everyone, especially Lauren Bacall, was enough to make that movie awesome. The bombs going off at the end of Strangelove was inevitable. And I almost didn’t care if Danny Ocean and his friends got the money; it was just so damn much fun watching them figure out how to do it.
What a great yet impossible to answer question. For the purposes of this thread, my criteria is a movie where I had a great theater experience and I still watch and enjoy the movie as much as the first time I saw it. Since Airplane! has been mentioned a few times (who didn’t love the hell out of Airplane!?) I will say The Ring.
At the time it was the best horror movie that had come out in years. You could feel the collective fear in the theater and everybody gasped at the same times. I had / have seen a lot of horror films and I don’t recall an audience all screaming and shrinking back into their seats as when Samara comes out of the tv near the end. The cinematography and score are absolutely hypnotic and then you get these small bits of disturbing visuals.
Eric Idle, actually.
I don’t know what it says about me and Mrs. Charming and Rested that seemingly 3/4 of the movies in our Pandemic Outdoor Film Festival are somewhere on this list.
Film festival movies included, in no particular order:
Jurassic Park
ET
A League of Their Own
Jaws
Star Wars (Han shot first edition)
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Knives Out
The Princess Bride
Tombstone
Casablanca
Audience was anywhere in age from young Millennials to our wizened Boomer neighbors and all the movies were all crowd pleasers. .
Mine would be Inglourious Basterds — for pretty much the same reasons you’d said, and then some.
Big Trouble In Little China.
Think about it.
I’m always entertained by movies I consider the greatest (Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life, North by Northwest).
But the OP is asking for purely entertaining movies, which aren’t necessarily great movies.
I would nominate Ocean’s Eleven (1960) and The Birdcage.