Looking for movie recommendations

[carbonel]

I've been watching too many worthwhile but depressing 4-star movies. I'm looking for suggestions for movies that are upbeat or feel-good, but also intelligent. Live action preferred over anime, and a Bechdel pass is definitely a plus. Romance is acceptable but very much optional.

A couple of examples that I've already watched that would fit the criteria are Bull Durham and The Goodbye Girl. Once is marginal, because of its rather melancholic feel, but gets a pass because it has reasonably intelligent characters interacting without romance getting in the way.

Comments

[carbonel]

I don't think I could stand to watch 2012. I'll give Serendipity a try, though.

I remember seeing a review of Hot Tub Time Machine that said it worked surprisingly well despite the utterly stupid premise. I wasn't particularly tempted, though.

Looking at John Cusack's filmography, I think the only thing of his I've watched was Being John Malkovich.

[guppiecat]

His career has had stages. The early stuff was basic teen romcom, but it worked pretty well: "Sixteen Candles", "Better Off Dead", and "Say Anything" are all fun, if basic.

Then he did young people crime stories. Those don't meet your "fun" criteria and several of them just aren't very good.

When he revisited his romcom roles as an adult, he did a lot of really good stuff. "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "High Fidelity" are really quite good and I liked "America's Sweethearts" but not quite as much. He pretty much nailed that roles with the afore-mentioned "Serendipity".

Then he did a few less popular, but excellent stuff, of which "Max" (not happy) and "The Martian Child" are the best. "War Inc" is in that group, but it really didn't work as satire.

These days, he's back to doing crime, so I guess I have to wait until he's old enough to play a grandfather before I get any more romcom stuff out of him.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Grosse Pointe Blank is really good but I thought America's Sweethearts was a predictable waste of an impressive cast.

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

"The Sure Thing" is my favourite John Cusack film. It's that rarest of things: an intelligent teenage sex comedy. I must have seen it at least ten times.

I adored "Notting Hill". Hands down the best Richard Curtis film, IMO.