362 Best Lighthearted Movies to Watch (Page 15)

Sometimes, you just need a good movie that poses neither an emotional rollercoaster nor an intellectual challenge. Here are the best lighthearted movies and shows to stream now for a carefree and uplifying watch, from the funny to the offbeat.

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211. Samantha Who?, 2008

Samantha Who isn’t revolutionary TV, and if you’re that kind of viewer, you’ll find many narrative holes to poke in the pilot alone. But Samantha Who stands the test of time: years after it first premiered in 2007, it’s still funny and endearing, all thanks to a deceptively smart script and an incredible cast. Apart from Applegate, there’s a pre-Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy, and a pre-Hacks Jean Smart, all of whom delight in every single scene they’re in. The other characters and aspects of the show may not impress as much, but the show is like one of those fluffy crepe cakes. A single layer can feel tasteless and unsatisfactory, but taken as a whole, it’s blissfully delicious.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Barry Watson, Christina Applegate, Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito, Kevin Dunn, Melissa McCarthy, Tim Russ

Rating: TV-14

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212. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, 2012

	
A light and simple feel-good movie with great performances from an impressive cast. Ewan McGregor plays the country's best fisheries expert who is approached by a consultant (Emily Blunt) to help bring the sport of fly-fishing to a desert in the Middle-East, a place at the peak of tensions. The Prime Minister's office, with the help of the media, try to then bring this story to the public as a show of something good happening in the region. It's a quirky movie with a beautiful love story and a few interesting ideas on the current state of journalism. Both leads are absolutely charming together.Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Actor: Amr Waked, Catherine Steadman, Conleth Hill, Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Simon, Jill Baker, Kristin Scott Thomas, Peter Wight, Rachael Stirling, Tom Beard, Tom Mison
Director: Lasse Hallström
Rating: PG-13

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213. Rookie, 2023

If there are parts to Rookie's story that seem too easily resolved—for the sake of making this more of a feel-good movie—these shortcuts still serve a genuinely romantic central relationship that develops in the most organic way possible. Besides the school's stifling conservatism, there's nothing that really stands in the way of Ace and Jana's blossoming connection. By immediately advancing its depiction of queer love beyond the self-acceptance stage (where so many other films get stuck), Rookie is allowed to show us two girls in love and supporting each other, as the normal and beautiful thing it should be. It doesn't hurt either that the movie is pretty entertaining as a sports film, with just enough flash in its editing and sound design to sell the frantic energy of a game wherein you want to impress the person you have a crush on.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Agot Isidro, Alyssa Valdez, Aya Fernandez, Che Ramos, Jelaica Gajero, Mikoy Morales, Pat Tingjuy, Simon Ibarra

Director: Samantha Lee

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214. Remembering Gene Wilder, 2024

	
It’s immediately apparent that there are more carefully made documentaries out there than Remembering Gene Wilder. The film is riddled with pixelated photos for one, and the overall tone is fawning for another. But Wilder is too great of a man to be affected by mediocre filmmaking, and so Remembering Gene Wilder still makes for an entertaining and insightful watch despite its small faults. The film is less about his life and more about his work—a chronological account of his career with nuggets of wisdom for performers, comedians, and writers tucked neatly in between. It still dives into his personal life, to be sure, but as Wilder will readily admit, his creative decisions spell out all you need to know about him.Genre: Documentary
Actor: Alan Alda, Alan Zweibel, Ben Mankiewicz, Burton Gilliam, Carol Kane, Eric McCormack, Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Harry Connick Jr., Mel Brooks, Michael Gruskoff, Mike Medavoy, Peter Ostrum, Rain Pryor, Richard Pryor, Zero Mostel
Director: Ron Frank
Rating: NR

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215. Primo, 2023

Compared to all the meaty and daring shows coming out right now, Primo is relatively lighthearted fare. Its easygoing, PG humor hews closer to network rather than cable television, but the series isn’t without its merits.

Primo is candid and charming as it tackles the realities of school, family, and work. It takes a somewhat progressive approach as it centers on a Latino family, occasionally and importantly bringing up issues of class and race, but it also feels comfortingly familiar. It follows the classic sitcom formula of everyone getting along before the credits roll all while adding its own modern and multicultural twist to it.

If you ever longed for an old-school sitcom that keeps up with the times, then this just might be what you're looking for.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Christina Vidal, Efrain Villa, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Johnny Rey Diaz, Jonathan Medina

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216. Personality Crisis: One Night Only, 2023

After directing George Harrison: Living in the Material World and No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese brings to the fore yet another singular musician, this time New York Dolls frontman David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter). More of a concert film than anything, this feature takes place during a live performance Johansen gives during his birthday; his raspy voice and poetic punk songs already tell a story in themselves, but Scorsese intercuts them with the occasional archival footage and interview, careful not to disrupt a glorious musical moment with cheesy throwback scenes.

A Dolls or punk fan will be moved by the resulting film, a fittingly jagged but meaningful oeuvre of a tenacious artist. But if you're coming to this documentary without much prior knowledge about Johansen, his band, and the era from which he came, you might find it somewhat niche, but overall impressive, informative, and musically thrilling.

Genre: Documentary, Music

Actor: David Johansen, Debbie Harry, Hal Willner, Morrissey, Sylvain Sylvain

Director: David Tedeschi, Martin Scorsese

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217. No Hard Feelings, 2023

It’s best not to overthink the details of No Hard Feelings, an uproarious comedy that benefits from the lead actors’ physicality. It’s meant to be enjoyed as it happens, at the moment, with Lawrence lighting up every scene with full-bodied commitment and Feldman, a worthy co-lead, delighting at every turn. They’re playing stock characters, and the script doesn’t give much beyond the usual backstories, but Lawrence and Feldman play them with so much heart and gusto, knocking every scene they’re in out of the park. Everything else plays second fiddle to their two-hander show. The cameos are star-studded but forgettable (except for Kyle Mooney, who I wished was onscreen more as Percy’s male nanny), the character development is heartwarming but predictable, and though it bills itself as a sex comedy, the film never really touches past third base. But all that is water under the bridge when you’re watching Maddie and Percy flirt and fumble their way through the film.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Alaina Surgener, Alysia Joy Powell, Amalia Yoo, Andrew Barth Feldman, Ari Frenkel, Ben Heineman, Brian Calì, Christina Catechis, Christopher Bailey, Darren Valinotti, Earl Rose, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ethan Metz, Hasan Minhaj, Jacob Augustin, Jennifer Lawrence, Jordan Mendoza, Kyle Mooney, Laura Benanti, Luca Padovan, Madison McBride, Matt Walton, Matthew Broderick, Matthew Noszka, Melissa Lehman, Natalie Morales, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Scott MacArthur, Sophie Tananbaum, Victor Verhaeghe, Zahn McClarnon

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Rating: R

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218. Murphy's Romance, 1985

When it comes to romance films, Hollywood casts young women with older men so often that this age gap is rarely questioned, even when the characters are supposed to be around the same age range. Murphy’s Romance does have an age gap, but it’s one of the few romances that actually cares to examine the age difference, having the age dynamic in canon and with casting intentionally reflecting it. It’s also one of the few that justifies it with the folksy, old-fashioned charm exuded by James Garner, the stability, wisdom, and kindness Emma isn’t used to, and good ol’ chemistry between two leads that’s more heartwarming than heartracing. Murphy’s Romance won’t be the feet-sweeping romance that Hollywood placed on the pedestal, but it’s just the right two people finding each other at the right time, albeit interstitched with randomly added saxophone and a lot of barn-fixing scenes.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Anna Thomson, Brian Kerwin, Bruce French, Carole King, Charles Lane, Corey Haim, Dennis Burkley, Georgann Johnson, Henry Slate, Irving Ravetch, James Garner, Michael Crabtree, Peggy McCay, Sally Field, Ted Gehring

Director: Martin Ritt

Rating: PG-13

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219. Misfortune, 2023

Misfortune (Mala fortuna) is a telenovela that doesn’t shy away from the genre’s goofy qualities. It’s predictable and a little bit ridiculous, but like most enjoyable soap operas, it knows how to draw you in and keep you invested in all the drama. Our protagonists are two peas in a pod: Julio and Victoria, ordinary people who seduce their way into scamming the ultra-rich family known as the Urquizas. Of course, their feelings (both for the family and for each other) get in the way of their schemes, but the resulting entanglement makes for a sexy and hilarious watch.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Antonia Zegers, Fátima Molina, Jorge López, Macarena Achaga, Octavio Hinojosa Martínez

Director: Analeine Cal y Mayor, Joe Rendón

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220. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, 2022

	
When teens are superheroes, it can be tough to balance the regular teen drama along with saving the city (or maybe the world), but it’s a fairly common premise for a teen show. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir may take some familiar super teen tropes, like the secret identities, awesome suit-up moments, and cool powers, but unlike most shows, the enemies they fight are teens just like them, trying to deal with regular teen problems… except they’ve been given power and bad influence from Hawk Moth, an overdramatic supervillain that somehow keeps up-to-date to the latest drama in Marinette and Adrien’s Parisian high school. Playing with new powers and switching up the tropes, Miraculous is a fun gem of a kid’s show, one that pays genuine attention to kid’s issues, even if they solve it with the most ludicrous of powers and catchiest of songs.Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids
Actor: Annouck Hautbois, Antoine Tomé, Benjamin Bollen, Marie Nonnenmacher, Thierry Kazazian
Rating: TV-Y7

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221. May Fools, 1990

	
The death of the matriarch is, of course, sad, but the countryside wake of May Fools seems to be the opposite at first. Just before the heat of summer, the family reunion seems quaint, idyllic, and occasionally eccentric with Milou’s penchant for beekeeping and crayfish catching. The inevitable family squabble over the estate also gets humorous, and this all seems unimportant to the larger May 68 protests that threatened to escalate into civil war. But director Louis Malle finds the small personal changes of Milou’s family and presents them, not as more or less important, but genuine all the same, finding the humanity within each of these characters.Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Bruno Carette, Dominique Blanc, Étienne Draber, François Berléand, Harriet Walter, Hubert Saint-Macary, Jacqueline Staup, Jeanne Herry, Martine Gautier, Michel Duchaussoy, Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, Paulette Dubost, Rozenne Le Tallec, Valérie Lemercier
Director: Louis Malle

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222. Mansfield Park, 1999

	
While better known for Pride & Prejudice, Emma, and Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park, a novel that garnered differing critical interpretations, but still intrigued readers even today. The 1999 film adaptation does capture some of the original novel’s ideas, such as Fanny’s modesty, the Cinderella-like submissiveness as means for survival, and the quiet strength to remain as herself, but it also expands on certain elements that were mostly only alluded to in the original, such as the elements pulled from Jane Austen’s actual life and her own sympathies for anti-slavery. While the film isn’t fully faithful to the original novel and should be considered its own, Mansfield Park does retain some of the essentials that makes it distinctly Austen.Genre: Drama, Romance
Actor: Alessandro Nivola, Amelia Warner, Anna Popplewell, Bruce Byron, Charles Edwards, Danny Worters, Elizabeth Earl, Embeth Davidtz, Frances O'Connor, Gordon Reid, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, Harold Pinter, Hilton McRae, Hugh Bonneville, James Purefoy, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Lindsay Duncan, Philip Sarson, Sheila Gish, Sophia Myles, Victoria Hamilton
Director:  Patricia Rozema
Rating: PG-13

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223. Madadayo, 1993

Even if you aren't familiar with Akira Kurosawa classics like Rashomon and Seven Samurai, Madadayo works as a portrait of a great man who seemed to feel nothing at the end of his career other than gratitude. Made up of long, wholesome conversations between real-life Japanese academic Hyakken Uchida (Tatsuo Matsumura) and his former students, the film finds plenty of wisdom in observing the little things. And as hard as his students try to make sure Uchida's twilight years are as comfortable as possible, there's still something elusive about this man overwhelmed by all the good and bad fortune in his life.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Akira Terao, Asei Kobayashi, Eiji Bandô, George Tokoro, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Hisashi Igawa, Kazuhiko Kasai, Kinzō Sakura, Kōjirō Kusanagi, Kyōko Kagawa, Masahiko Tanimura, Masayuki Yui, Masuo Amada, Mie Suzuki, Minoru Hirano, Mitsuru Hirata, Nobuto Okamoto, Noriko Honma, Norio Matsui, Shigeo Katô, Shû Nakajima, Takao Zushi, Takeshi Kusaka, Tatsuo Matsumura, Tetsu Watanabe, Tetsuya Ito, Tomoko Ôtakara, Toshihiko Nakano, Yoshitaka Zushi

Director: Akira Kurosawa

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224. Luz: The Light of the Heart, 2024

	
Children’s television isn’t likely going to be controversial, daring, or particularly groundbreaking, but certain shows acknowledge that they can impact the way their audience views the world. Luz: The Light of the Heart has a familiar Disney-esque plot of a child going on an adventure to learn more about her roots, but through that basic formula, the first Brazilian Netflix kid series takes the opportunity to respectfully portray the indigenous Kaingang community in their plot, who takes care of and is more knowledgeable about the natural land, and whose teachings may be acknowledged if Luz, potential land heiress, manages to find out the truth. There are some of the standard childish shenanigans, like privileged boarding school drama that occurs when Luz enters the school, but overall, Luz: The Light of the Heart isn’t a bad choice if you’re looking for something to watch with children.Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Kids
Actor: Dandara Albuquerque, Daniel Rocha, Gabriela Moreyra, Marianna Santos, Maurício Destri
Director: Thiago Teitelroit
Rating: TV-PG

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225. Lucky, 2017

This fun drama is about a 90-year-old who’s still searching for answers to life’s existential questions. Lucky smokes, drinks, and is pretty angry (a not-so-chill atheist); but he’s still around.

Harry Dean Stanton, in what feels like an extension to his character Lucky, passed away a year after the film premiered in 2017. This was the last role of the legendary Alien and The Godfather actor.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Ana Mercedes, Barry Shabaka Henley, Bertila Damas, Beth Grant, David Lynch, Ed Begley Jr., Harry Dean Stanton, Hugo Armstrong, James Darren, Ron Livingston, Tom Skerritt, Yvonne Huff

Director: John Carroll Lynch

Rating: Not Rated

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