362 Best Lighthearted Movies to Watch (Page 23)

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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331. Congrats My Ex!, 2023

It’s surreal to watch Congrats My Ex, because the Thai production feels inspired by Indian romance films, with its musical numbers, elaborate dance sequences, and maximalist sets and costumes. With both India and Thailand culturally linked for centuries, it’s interesting to see how this film celebrates their commonalities. That being said, this film isn’t too focused on this, on the difficulties of having an intercultural, long distance relationship– it knows that it wants to be an over-the-top wedding rom com. It does overly rely on the standard rom-com tropes, with a dash of slapstick shenanigans, over-the-top wedding dramatics, and one too many reckless driving accidents. It’s still a fun watch for fans of Bella and Bright though, but it’s nothing new.

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Anahita Bhooshan, Anjana Ghogar, Bright Vachirawit Chivaaree, Darina Boonchu, Mahir Pandhi, Passakorn Ponlaboon, Ranee Campen, Thongchai Thongkanthom, Vachirawit Chivaaree

Director: Prueksa Amaruji

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332. All-Time High, 2023

With every chaotic fight scene, ridiculous stunts, and crazy scheme, All-Time High is a wild ride where two scammers lie to each other and fall in love. It’s fun to see these irresponsible people reap the consequences, and it’s fun to see the way Youssef and Stéphanie recognize that they’ve met their match, made all the more fun with the natural chemistry between Nassim Lyes and Zoé Marchal. That being said, the film’s irreverent humor depends a bit too much on stereotypes and gags, and can be a bit too specific for viewers outside of France.

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Adrien Essamir, Alexandre Kominek, Ciryl Gane, Guillaume Canet, Gustave Kervern, Hakim Jemili, Hedi Bouchenafa, Ichem Bougheraba, Kenza Fortas, Nassim Lyes, Panayotis Pascot, Paul Deby, Yassine Stein, Yousef Ramal, Yovel Lewkowski, Zoé Marchal

Director: Julien Royal

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333. Pete Davidson: Turbo Fonzarelli, 2024

The new stand-up special from Pete Davidson won't win over any skeptics, but there's something to admire in how the comedian heads straight towards edgy material, tells us he's going to go there, and still manages to surprise when he follows through. Which is to say Davidson's audacity might be more impressive than any of his actual writing in this special, with a good number of his jokes highlighting the bizarre situations his fame leads him into, but little more than that. It's stoner comedy for better or worse—observations about a strange world from a hazy point of view that may not always be coherent.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Pete Davidson

Director: Jason Orley

Rating: R

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334. Polly Pocket Sparkle Cove Adventure (2023)

	
More an extended episode of the Polly Pocket TV series that started in 2018 than a self-contained movie, Sparkle Cove Adventure really only exists to showcase various adventure sequences and magical powers possessed by Polly and the other characters. It's all harmless fun, with a last-minute message about working together that could've been much more subversive in a better written story. Unfortunately, there really isn't much else in this crudely structured, one-hour film to recommend, as lots of on-screen hustle and bustle threatens to blur into white noise. It doesn't help that the animation hasn't been upgraded in any way; after 60 minutes, the Flash-animated 2D style only begins to look flatter.Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Kids
Actor: Cherlandra Estrada, Emily Tennant, Shannon Chan-Kent
Director: Brent Bouchard, Thom Mckenna

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335. Irrésistible, 2023

At first glance, Irresistible doesn’t have the toxic ex-relationships, love triangles, or melodramatics known in the romance genre. As the main couple meet organically, and they’re able to share their ideas about love, the series had a promising slow-burn romance, that might be dialogue-heavy, but could possibly give out insights that any viewer would benefit to hear from. However, the casual way the protagonist Adele gets diagnosed with PTSD makes it feel like an insincere depiction of the disorder. And knowing that the male lead Arthur is married, and that they have such a casual fling, makes it hard to care if they’ll end up together. While there’s something that could be said about certain types of healing happening only through a relationship, Irresistible’s approach doesn’t seem to be headed that way, especially when it only has six episodes to tackle its nuances.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Camélia Jordana, Corentin Fila, Salomé Dewaels, Simon Ehrlacher, Théo Navarro-Mussy

Director: Antony Cordier, Laure de Butler

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336. Family Switch, 2023

Family Switch is a film clearly built to give its ensemble fun acting opportunities, with Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms being given excuses to loosen up more than expected, and Brady Noon and Emma Myers (arguably the movie's MVP) moving beyond mere imitation into more full-bodied performances as adults seeing through their kids' eyes. Unfortunately, the rest of the film saddles them with uninteresting situations that never take the body-switching aspect to more clever territory. Whatever mutual understanding that's learned by the end feels contrived, with the Christmas setting feeling especially tacked on—leaving these otherwise talented actors little to anchor their performances on.

Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy

Actor: Adam Lustick, Alanna Fox, Andrew Bachelor, Andrew Bursiaga, Anwar Jibawi, Arjun Sriram, Austin Boyce, Bashir Salahuddin, Benjamin Flores Jr., Bob Stephenson, Brady Noon, Carl McDowell, Chloé Wepper, Connor Finnerty, Cyrus Arnold, Dan Finnerty, Ed Helms, Emma Myers, Fortune Feimster, Hannah Stocking, Helen Hong, Howie Mandel, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Jason Rogel, Jennifer Garner, Lauren Ash, Mark McGrath, Matthias Schweighöfer, Naomi Ekperigin, Ned Bellamy, Patrick Wilson, Paul Scheer, Pete Holmes, Preston Galli, Punam Patel, Ravi Kapoor, Rita Moreno, Rivers Cuomo, Ryan James, Scott Shriner, Sebastian Quinn, Vanessa Carrasco, Xosha Roquemore

Director: McG

Rating: PG

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337. Irish Wish, 2024

	
As far as destination romantic comedies go, Irish Wish is at least self-aware enough to commit to its corniness without making its characters too insufferable to follow. For once avoidable misunderstandings don't drive the conflict, as the story progresses as one extended "be careful what you wish for" journey of self-discovery. Still, one can't help but feel like this exact same message could have been told even without the central fantasy plot device—and it probably would have earned its resolutions much more this way. Every move the film makes is predictable, but it definitely still possesses the energy of a group of filmmakers who probably enjoyed their time making it.Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Actor: Alexander Vlahos, Ayesha Curry, Carl Shaaban, Dakota Lohan, Dawn Bradfield, Ed Speleers, Elizabeth Tan, Ella Cannon, Jacinta Mulcahy, James Rottger, Jane Seymour, Lindsay Lohan, Matty McCabe, Maurice Byrne, Steve Hartland, Tim Landers
Director:  Janeen Damian
Rating: PG

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338. Unicorn Academy, 2023

While it certainly has a gorgeous world to show off, with lots of colorful art direction and varied landscapes to explore, Unicorn Academy can't help but buckle under its own weight. Its first couple of episodes (starting with a feature-length premiere) want to establish fun relationships between its characters; set up an epic, world-ending conflict; reflect on its protagonist's grief; and sell merchandise all at once. But the show is both too aimless with its writing and too sluggish in its pacing to allow these disparate parts to cohere under a unified tone. It constantly feels like it's having trouble deciding what to be—which isn't helped by the fact that the first episode has two, awkwardly-placed musical numbers, and the second episode features no singing whatsoever.

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Kids, Music, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Kamaia Fairburn, Kolton Stewart, Sara Garcia

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339. Delicacies Destiny, 2022

	
Given the time period, costumes, and the sets, you would think that the first Chinese Disney+ show would be one of those stuffy period dramas with court intrigue, political maneuvering, and forbidden romance. This isn’t the case with Delicacies Destiny. Some of the aspects are delightfully refreshing, with its over-the-top goofy comedy, casual court chefs, and of course, the mouthwatering food porn of classic Chinese dishes. However, these refreshing aspects are disappointingly offset by the way the show fails to establish compelling characterization for both leads, so each time Ling Xiaoxiao tricks someone, or each time Prince Zhu Shoukui throws all his dishes around, the reaction of their understandably shocked underlings is much more relatable than the leads who were supposed to win us over.Genre: Drama
Actor: He Ruixian, Jackie Li, Liu Min, Pan Binlong, Wang Xingyue
Rating: TV-14

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340. An American in Austen, 2024

	
As exciting as it sounds to have a real person transported into a fictional story, An American an Austen really doesn't do much with its protagonist's foreknowledge of the plot, nor is it particularly clear about the rules or consequences of Harriet's situation, if any. This means that much of the film consists of watching Pride and Prejudice play out in a slightly more tongue in cheek fashion, as the main character comments on things without doing too much about them. Similar to Hallmark's other recent Jane Austen-themed movies, however, there is a thoughtful message here about learning to face reality and not idealizing fictional romances—delivered in a pretty competent visual package. It's just a shame that this is buried at the end of a plot that has no stakes to speak of.Genre: Comedy, Romance, TV Movie
Actor: Bert Seymour, Calypso Cragg, Catherine Hannay, Charlotte Wakefield, Dominic Andersen, Eliza Bennett, Erica Ford, Grace Hogg-Robinson, J.R. Esposito, JR Esposito, Kate Nichols, Nell Barlow, Nicholas Bishop, Olivia Benjamin, Richard Gibson, Robert Portal, Robin Weaver, Sarah Ferguson, Shin-Fei Chen
Director: Clare Niederpruem
Rating: G

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341. Love in Taipei (2023)

This is a textbook example of a film with all the right ingredients and the right attitude, but ultimately no game plan for what to do with its material. The first half of Love in Taipei does a good job of setting an inviting tone: a confident cast, attractive locations and production design, and dynamic direction that helps make this expensive summer school program feel more like an adventure. But once the pieces are in place and certain romantic connections are established, the film almost instantly loses its charisma and any sense of a plot. Conflict is introduced then painted over within the span of minutes, and the characters undergoing completely unearned growth without doing much of anything. Even the film's backdrop of the differences between children of the diaspora and those who remain rooted in traditional Taiwanese culture is reduced to hollow window dressing.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Ashley Liao, Chelsea Zhang, Cindy Cheung, Nico Hiraga, Ross Butler

Director: Arvin Chen

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342. Jack Whitehall: Settle Down, 2024

Jack Whitehall definitely has funny observations to make about life around him, and he clearly has a writer's ear for detail-oriented jokes. But he hardly allows his jokes to breathe during this special, constantly over-explaining the point or killing the momentum of a really smart, clever punchline with so many more unnecessary lines after the fact. This is really just Whitehall's style at this point, and those who already find his dorkiness endearing (which it really can be) should enjoy most of this. But for this writer, his jokes are just far too obvious and feel far too "performed." It feels like he's speaking at an audience, rather than for them.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Jack Whitehall

Director: Chris Howe

Rating: R

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343. Dealing with Christmas, 2023

At least you can't accuse this holiday film of being generic. Combining the incredibly incompatible elements of drug busts and figure skating (and still failing to justify this crazy idea, though not for a lack of trying), Dealing with Christmas eventually begins to feel more like a series of comedy sketches making up the rules as it goes along. This definitely leads to moments of both excitement and effective humor, but its lack of consistency ultimately makes the awkward outweigh the good. Still, the audacity on display is something to be admired, and the film is just well-made enough to keep its constant experiments worth the curiosity.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Actor: Alex Lutz, Alice Moitié, Bruno Sanches, Catherine Hosmalin, Élise Hobbé, Eric Judor, Etienne Guillou-Kervern, François Vincentelli, Guy Lecluyse, Hafid F. Benamar, Jean-Yves Tual, Jonas Dinal, Kim Higelin, Laura Felpin, Lison Daniel, Marie-Charlotte Leclaire, Monsieur Poulpe, Nicky Marbot, Paul Deby, Philippe Lacheau, Ragnar Le Breton, Tom Dingler

Director: Arthur Sanigou

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344. Sid Is Dead, 2023

The suggestion that life gets better if only you stand up for yourself is a helpful one. After all, self-confidence is something young kids could use a lot more of. But it’s also not true, and for Sid to instantly get his dream life once he starts applying himself just doesn’t ring true. Things unfold a little too smoothly and conveniently in this movie, making it less of an actual coming-of-age journey (which is complicated and messy) and more of a young boy’s simpleminded fantasy (that is, idealistic and egotistic). I just don’t buy that Sid, a kid who has been shy and avoidant all his life, gains all the wisdom, courage, and charisma of a hero overnight. And it certainly doesn’t help that everyone in his high school looks like they’ve long graduated from college. Ultimately, Sid is Dead lacks the authenticity to stand out from the wealth of excellent teen dramas we’ve been spoiled with in recent years.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Anjelica Bette Fellini, Aubrey Cleland, Audrey Whitby, Belissa Escobedo, Carla Gallo, Denisea Wilson, Eileen Galindo, Genevieve Hannelius, Helen Hong, Jack Griffo, Joey Bragg, Justin Matthews, Luke Massy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Suraj Partha, Tyler Alvarez

Director: Eli Gonda

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345. Megamind Rules!, 2024

	
With an unusual premise, unique characters, and surprising writing, the original 2010 Megamind film had a genuine message all about accepting one’s self, and doing good despite the lack of acceptance, even as a big-headed blue alien. After 14 years, Dreamworks has released the series Megamind Rules! as sequel to the hilarious superhero comedy, naturally dealing with his journey to maintain his hero status, with a new villain to defeat every episode, along with a main plotline of increasing his influence through social media. There could have been a funny thread here, showing how careers have become fodder for content, as well as the contrast between evil habits he once had versus the heroic ideals he hopes to espouse. However, the series pays out in the most generic fashion, without any of the heart or timing the original film had that made it so compelling.Genre: Animation
Actor: Emily Tunon, Josh Brener, Keith Ferguson, Laura Post, Maya Tuttle
Rating: TV-G

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