Full List of Films
You’ve probably heard of a lot of these movies, and for good reason
A lot of popular things are overrated, but some popular things are popular for good reason. I’ve watched more than these movies, but these are the ones that remain re-watchable year after year. And yes, I wish my list wasn’t so white, but blame Hollywood.
Four Weddings and A Funeral
A man chases after a mysterious woman he meets at a series of weddings.
Reasons to watch:
Witty, dry British humor. Likeable friend cast. This movie is more about friendship than anything. Watch if you liked Love Actually, Notting Hill, and need a good cry.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Any infidelity, (non-main) character death, crying
10 Things I Hate About You
Based on a Shakespeare story, a boy pays another boy to romance an unwilling strongheaded girl so that he can get with his sister.
Reasons to watch:
Cast of adorable talented actors at the start of their careers, set in an idyllic colorful California high school with likable characters, and amazing clothes. Heath Ledger!
Don’t watch if you hate:
The bet-to-lovers trope, second-hand embarrassment
About Time
A man discovers that he inherited the ability to travel back in time of his memories and redo certain days. After his perfect meet-cute is ruined, he uses his ability to find his love.
Reasons to watch:
It’s not convoluted, the leading man isn’t creepy, and the family dynamics are natural and funny. It’s a great film about enjoying life in the present.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Any time travel, death of a non-main character, main couple has children
Adventures of Babysitting
Main character, Chris, plans for a normal night in babysitting, but after going to the city to rescue her friends, she and the kids encounter car thieves, blues musicians, and much more.
Reasons to watch:
Classic 80s adventure of a babysitting gig spiraling into a hijinx-filled night in New York City. It’s funny and actually high-stakes
Don’t watch if you hate:
Children in dangerous situations, some innuendo
Aladdin
Aladdin’s poor, Jasmine’s rich. After a fateful encounter, Aladdin falls in love and uses the help of a magic genie to woo Jasmine.
Reasons to watch:
Aladdin is cute, Jasmine is charming, and Robin Williams is right at home in this bigger-than-life character.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Inaccurate generalizations of middle-eastern culture, man lying to woo woman
Anastasia
The Duchess of Russia is offering an award to find her long-lost granddaughter after her family is torn apart. Dimitri is a conman who finds an opportunity in Anya, who looks just like the long-lost royal.
Reasons to watch:
Great songs and fantastic protagonists to root for. Romance is nice too.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Inaccurate history, hate-to-love trope
Bring It On: In it to Win it
Two head cheerleaders are in a fierce competition at a national cheerleading championship, only for the rivalry to turn into teamwork.
Reasons to watch:
Believable romance, funny side characters, and cheerleading superstition. Fun, playful summer setting.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Stereotypes, sassy black best friend/gay best friend trope, cheesiness
Bend it Like Beckham
A young British-Indian woman torn between her traditional family’s expectations and her passion for soccer. She meets another girl who encourages her to break the rules.
Reasons to watch:
A good representation of strict immigrant parents and of how it feels to not meet your culture’s expectations. Also funny and shows great friendship.
Don’t watch if you hate: Annoying parents, homophobia, love triangles, mentions of racism
Bridget Jones’s Diary
A year in the life of the lovable and self-deprecating Bridget as she navigates her struggles with love and self-improvement.
Reasons to watch:
Watch if you like Pride and Prejudice. Also, Bridget Jones is the most relatable rom-com character and isn’t perfect like the rest of the leading ladies. Great film that says you don’t have to change to be loved.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Second-hand embarrassment, love triangles, character getting cheated on
A Cinderella Story
A retelling of the Cinderella story with Jennifer Coolidge as the stepmother and Hilary Duff as Cinderella.
Reasons to watch:
The cast is great, there’s a beautiful mascarade costume party, and it’s all so quintessential early 2000s.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Supportive sassy black friend trope, cringy lines
Clueless
Based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma, this movie is about how one rich and clueless high school girl’s meddling in others’ affairs can get messy.
Reasons to watch:
The clothing and set is so full and vibrant, and all the characters are so funny. The main character especially, really draws you in with fourth-wall breaks.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Romance between ex-step siblings, attempted sexual assault, a mugging, reckless driving, flawed protagonist, character says r-word
Rodger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella
It’s a musical of Cinderella featuring Whitney Houston, Brandy and other legends!
Reasons to watch:
It was a race-blind casting, which means they hired the best actors and actresses without worrying if they looked like the cartoon. It is also one of the few movies where a black girl and an Asian boy are the main romance.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Musicals, when a movie feels like a set
Charlie Bartlett
Charlie is a wealthy but lonely teenager who has been expelled and must join a new school. He starts dispensing advice and medication from his family’s psychiatrist to fit in.
Reasons to watch:
Watch if you liked the show Sex Education, because the show is based off this movie. Its witty, dry, and exciting.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Inappropriate humor, emotionally detached parents, pill use
Disturbing Behavior
A newcomer to school soon realizes there’s something strange about the popular clique. They’re eerily perfect and more are joining their forces.
Reasons to watch:
This is a classic 90s thriller that won’t scare you too bad, but is interesting. Its a conspiracy about conformity, like Stepford Wives.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Some violence, nudity, needle scene, sexual harassment scene
Drop Dead Gorgeous
This film is a mockumentary of a small-town Minnesota beauty pageant. After one mysterious death, things start to escalate.
Reasons to watch:
It sounds dark, but the movie is played as really dry and for laughs. It’s still a dark comedy, so it makes fun of how creepy pageants are.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Dark satire jokes, a mentally disabled character being treated poorly
Easy A
After a misunderstanding, a rumor spreads about the main character that she lost her virginity. She realizes that there are benefits to playing up the lie.
Reasons to watch:
Emma Stone plays a funny, likable lead, and the main romantic leading man is cute, kind, and patient. Her family is supportive and funny too.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Language around slut-shaming, sexual harassment, off screen teen and teacher relationship
Ella Enchanted
Another kind of Cinderella, highly stylized in a magic medieval-ish time. Ella is cursed with obedience, which means she does everything she’s told without a choice.
Reasons to watch:
Both romantic leads are beautiful and charming, the world is colorful and a great blend of medical and early 2000s clothes. Amazing cast
Don’t watch if you hate:
Fairytale logic
Down With Love
1960s feminist writer is seduced by a play boy journalist so he can prove her misandry as fraud. They both play deceitful games of cat and mouse.
Reasons to watch:
It’s a light and peppy movie paying homage to the 60s style of movies.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Nonsensical plots, deceit-to-love trope, stylistic editing
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Ferris only has one more sick day to live up, but his principal’s onto him. While pretending to be sick, he enlists his best friend and girlfriend have the most fun as possible.
Reasons to watch:
This is the ultimate feel-good and will leave you cheesing, feeling like the whole world loves you.
Don’t watch if you hate:
A character having a strict father, stressful time limits
Howl’s Moving Castle
An evil witch curses a young hatmaker to look like a grandmother. She follows Howl, a wizard with a magic ship that allows him to travel between realms, to fix the curse.
Reasons to watch:
It’s a gorgeous imaginative world filled with likable side characters and a heartwarming romance. This movie is for girls who never relate to the perfect pretty rom-com girls.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Mild offputting body horror, evil characters being forgiven
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Kiki moves to Jiji (with her talking cat) to fulfill her village’s tradition of spending a year alone to train as a witch. She starts a delivery service with her broomstick.
Reasons to watch:
It’s a great tale of overcoming self-doubt and the importance of community. It’s wholesome and has beautiful visuals.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Temporary character depression
Legally Blonde
To get back with her boyfriend, Elle Woods decides to follow him to law school to show him she’s smart.
Reasons to watch:
Funny classic with real insight into how everyone feeds into the idea that femininity equals stupidity. It’s goofy but grounded enough for you to care. Good romance too.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Cheesiness, scene of workplace sexual harassment
Legally Blonde 2
While planning her wedding, Elle Woods discovered that her chiwawa’s mother was being held in an animal testing site. She gets fired from her job and goes to Congress to petition her bill.
Reasons to watch:
While it definitely follows a pattern from the first movie, this one still has the same charms and the same lovable friends. It also shows genuine insight into how politics become corrupted.
Don’t watch if you hate: So much cheesiness
Mr & Mrs Smith
Two spies are married, not knowing the other is also a spy. After almost killing each other on a mission, they realize the truth and have to defend themselves from each other and a third party trying to kill them.
Reasons to watch:
Well-choreographed fight scenes and witty dialogue. THE Angelina Jolie.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Impossible stunt physics
Oceans 11
Less than 24 hours into his parole from a New Jersey penitentiary, the wry, charismatic thief is already rolling out his next plan and assembling a team to rob a casino.
Reasons to watch:
A fun heist thriller that is smart but doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Oceans 13
The original heist team is back together to take revenge on behalf of one of their teammates who was betrayed in a deal. They plot to sabotage a businessman.
Reasons to watch:
The same appeal of the first movie: witty, satisfying, and cool.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Mild grotesque scenes
The Parent Trap
After meeting each other at summer camp, two long-lost twins hatch a plan to switch places and bring their parents back together.
Reasons to watch:
This movie is bright, pretty and lively. There’s an evil stepmother, a makeover scene, and lots of hyjinx.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Divorce
Ponyo
Goldfish princess encounters a human boy after a major flooding, and they work together to return to his mom, as Ponyo avoids returning back to the sea.
Reasons to watch:
Adorable and pretty illustrations, with imaginative world-building. This movie will make you feel warm inside.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Fish
Polite Society
Aspiring stunt double teen feels she must save her sister from her wedding after she gives up her art career to be with a rich man.
Reasons to watch:
Very relatable movie for brown girls who feel like they’re disappointing their parents and their culture’s standards.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Overzealous and sometimes inconsiderate protagonists, unrealistic plot developments, action scenes
The Princess Bride
Told as a story to a sick child in the modern day, the Princess Bride is about true love. The leading lady thinks her love is dead after he disappears at sea, so she accepts being forced to marry the wicked king. Little does she know her love is coming back for her!
Reasons to watch:
Watch if you love Ella Enchanted or When Harry Met Sally. This classic movie is filled with sincerity and lots of laughs.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Giant rats, non-gory torture
The Princess and the Frog
Tiana just wants to keep working so she can fulfill her dead dad’s wish of running a restaurant. Prince Naveen just wants to have fun, but has to marry rich or he’ll become broke. After some voodoo, they both get turned into frogs and must find their way back.
Reasons to watch:
Disney’s first black princess, set in lively 1920s New Orleans with fantastic jazzy soundtrack.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Black characters being animals for majority of movie
Ratatouille
Linguini is a terrible cook trying to survive in a competitive french restaurant, and Remy is a rat who loves fine food but has no opportunities to eat it. They both have what each other needs.
Reasons to watch:
With a delightful soundtrack, Ratatouille is playful and inspiring. There’s romance too, and so many interesting characters.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Tons of rats, rats being around food
Robin Hood
He steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Ever since the new King started taxing the citizens of Nottingham, Robin Hood has become the hero outlaw with his trusty sidekick.
Reasons to watch:
It’s a comforting 2-D illustration with cute talking animals but more than anything its also so fun and really witty. Not a musical but there’s a cute song!
Also, there’s a very dreamy but understated romance.
Saved!
Saved is a story of a super Christian highschool. The main character never questions a thing, until she becomes pregnant after sleeping with her boyfriend to fulfill Jesus’ messages of “curing” his homosexuality.
Reasons to watch:
Saved deals with topics that could be heavy, but are treated with nuance and humor. It also has a dynamic, nuanced representation of a teen in a wheelchair.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Mentions of conversion, homophobia, and any infidelity
The Sound of Music
Julie Andrews plays a nun who is sent to nanny seven children after being too boisterous for the convent. Her playful personality and love of music begin to change the children and the strict father.
Reasons to watch:
Incredibly beautiful cinematography of Austria, great music, pretty dresses, and dreamy romance.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Musicals, plot point of rise of Nazis and WW2
The Craft
After a suicide attempt, Sarah moves to a new highschool and finds that her telekenisis is well-matched by three girls aspiring to be witches. After combing their forces, things go ary with the newfound power.
Reasons to watch:
90s teenage witchcraft. Whats more to say?
Don’t watch if you hate:
Racist antagonists, attempted sexual assault, scene of spiders and snakes, mentions of past suicide attempt
Red Eye
A high-end hotel manager is waiting to fly back home when she meets charming Jackson Rippner at check-in. She thinks it luck that they’re seated together on the plane, but soon learns otherwise.
Reasons to watch:
Its high stakes and interesting, because the main character is resourceful and smart. You can’t tell where its going, but it doesn’t end sad.
Don’t watch if you hate: Violence
The Rescuers
When an orphan girl is kidnapped no one seems to care, except for a secret worldwide association of mice called The Rescue Aid Society. The two mice make a charming team between a classy French one and her bumbling partner.
Reasons to watch:
It’s a prettily drawn adventure that is easy to get invested in.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Children getting mistreated, alligators
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
Three drag queens go on a road trip to LA to go to a national competition, but get stuck in a small rural town.
Reasons to watch:
These famous macho stars earnestly play these drag queens with complete authenticity. The story is about the art of drag culture and about bridging the gap between predujices. Its hilarious and camp.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Homophobic antagonists, domestic violence, over-the-top acting, lack of realism
Troop Beverly Hills
With her marriage breaking up, Beverly Hills housewife tries to prove herself by leading a local troop. The troop is filled with funny girls, all Beverly Hills stereotypes in their own interesting ways.
Reasons to watch:
This hilarious movie is light and captivating and also shows a diverse cast of smart witty young girls. Watch if you like Parent Trap or Addams Family 2.
Watching the Detectives
Lucy Lu plays a modern-day femme-fatal who is obsessed with never being bored. Video store owner Neil starts dating her, but finds that he’s in over his head.
Reasons to watch:
This untypical romcom is witty and continues to shock you. It also breaks down the ‘manic pixie dream’ trope.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Lying or mean pranks
Wild Child
After acting out too much, spoiled American teen Poppy gets sent to a British boarding school. With the help of her dormmates, Poppy tries everything to get expelled.
Reasons to watch:
Its super cheesy, super fun. You don’t expect to come to like the main character, but the movie’s sincerity gets to you.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Corniness, second-hand embarrassment
Lilo and Stitch
Mischievous, lonely, and misunderstood, Lilo is a young girl who wants a pet. Stitch is an equally mischievous alien on the run who crashes onto this planet and pretends to be a pet.
Reasons to watch:
It has humor and heart and is, to this day, one of the best representations of Hawaiian people. The illustration doesn’t whitewash or make everyone thin and is super adorable. There’s a sweet romance, too.
Don’t watch if you hate:
Kids being orphans, conflict with the state/foster system
Sister Act 2:
If you haven’t seen the first one, Whoopi plays a Vegas singer who pretends to be a nun to outrun her mafia boyfriend. In the sequel, she teaches music to a class of misfit high schoolers in hopes of keeping the institution open.
Reasons to watch:
It’s a wholesome story of a diverse class and many black youth learning self-confidence and finding community. Great music, also with Lauryn Hill!
Don’t watch if you hate:
Cheesy
