Holiday "Feel Good" films

Last Holiday (2016)

The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted saleswoman Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) to reflect on what she realizes has been an overly cautious life. So Georgia withdraws her life savings and jets off to Europe where she lives like a millionaire. Upbeat and passionate, Georgia charms everybody she meets, including renowned Chef Didier (Gérard Depardieu). The only one missing from her new life is her longtime crush Sean Matthews (LL Cool J).

Release date: January 13, 2006 (USA)

Why Him (2016)

During the holidays, loving but overprotective Ned (Bryan Cranston) travels to California to visit his daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) at Stanford University. While there, he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). Even though Laird is a multimillionaire, Ned disapproves of his freewheeling attitude and unfiltered language. His panic level escalates even further when he learns that Laird plans to ask for Stephanie's hand in marriage.

Release date: December 29, 2016

Single All The Way (2021

Desperate to avoid his family's judgment about being single, Peter persuades best friend Nick to pose as his boyfriend on a trip home for the holidays.

Release date: December 2, 2021

Christmas Twister

I've always liked Last Holiday. Never heard of the others.

The Family Stone

[quote]Never heard of the others.

Well, if you have the time, you should have a peaceful, entertaining time. and non-stressful, time watching them.

Home For the Holidays

I had a large-ish role in an actual Hallmark Christmas movie a few years ago, and as mightily as we tried, it still is pretty bad even for its genre (jandra). The reviews were hilarious and tepid at best and they were from viewers who LOVE this kind of thing!

We had a sweet, lovely group and we really tried, but oy, such a script you cannot act your way out of! Still, I loved every minute.

If you haven't seen the tv movie "The Homecoming" which spawned "The Waltons" you really should, it's wonderful.

I also like The Family Stone. Nice house and the bar scene is fun.

The "Home Alone" two movies are fun to watch during this time. I've just learned that there is a series of them (about 4-5) of which I've never seen and so I'll just stick with the first two.

Home Alone is a series of American Christmas family comedy films originally created by John Hughes. Chris Columbus directed Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Raja Gosnell directed Home Alone 3 (1997), Rod Daniel directed Home Alone 4 (2002), Peter Hewitt directed Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012) and Dan Mazer directed Home Sweet Home Alone (2021). The films revolve around the adventures of surrounding children who find themselves alone during the holiday season and faced with the challenge of defending their family's house or themselves from invading burglars and criminals.

The first three films were released theatrically by 20th Century Fox, while the following two made-for-television films were produced by Fox Television Studios and aired on the Disney-owned ABC. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, a sixth film in the franchise was produced by the newly renamed 20th Century Studios for the Disney-owned streaming service Disney+.

Candy Cane Lane (2023)

It's fun!

Candy Cane Lane is a 2023 American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin and written by Kelly Younger. The film stars Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Thaddeus J. Mixon, Ken Marino, Trevante Rhodes, David Alan Grier, and Nick Offerman. It tells the story of a laid-off corporate marketer who makes a deal with a wicked Christmas elf to win his street's house decoration contest.

"Pocketful of Miracles" with Bette Davis as a bag lady and a very young Peter Falk and exceptionally dashing Glenn Ford as well as the usual cast of midgets and miscreants from Frank Capra.

It is a remake of "Lady for a Day" it gets lousy reviews (I could never see why) and I absolutely love it.

Edward Everett Horton and Thomas Mitchell are a hoot, you can fast forward through Ann-Margret singing that dreadful "I gave my love a cherry" song

Hope Lange can do comedy, who knew? And I'll watch anything with Sheldon Leonard doing his gangster thing

It's so much fun!

Pocketful of Miracles full movie below

The Family Stone is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha.

Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) wants to bring his girlfriend, Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), to meet his bohemian Connecticut family at Christmas. Straitlaced Meredith, feeling she needs backup, asks her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to come along. Hoping to win the approval of her boyfriend's parents Sybil (Diane Keaton) and Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) and the rest of the family, instead Meredith succeeds only in highlighting her uptight personality and making Everett doubt his intentions.

The other Side of Aspen

A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986) specifically when Jezebel makes the poison apple pie.

I re-watched The Family Stone & while SJP kind of gets a bum rap for that movie, the Diane Keaton character is oh so annoying! In real life, the Craig Nelson character would've been relieved she was gone so he could get stoned in peace. What a smug judgy bunch they were!

Meet Me in St. Louis is just my all time favorite feel-good Christmas movie. Not just the scene of Tootie bawling her head off, but the Christmas dance they all go to and the mother silently crying with relief when they decide not to go to NY. Just lovely!

We're No Angels with Humphrey Bogart

R6 & R10 "The Family Stone" is only feel-good if you're progressive.

Very cringeworthy if you're moderate or conservative.

Meet Me In St. Louis is perfection.

Christmas In Connecticut is silly fun, elevated by Stanwyck and a very sexy Dennis Morgan. They have terrific chemistry.

Reckless

Its "feel-good" status is debatable, but I love an oddball film called Beyond Christmas (1940). Three rich old fags live together with Maria Ouspenskaya as their housekeeper. Feeling lonely on Christmas Eve, they each throw a wallet onto the street to see if anyone would return them. It get really weird after that. The full movie is linked.

I know DL likes to pick apart White Christmas, but I love the dance numbers, Danny Kaye, the grouchy old Colonel and Bing, who is way too old for the role.

My favorite holiday movie is The Apartment, most of which takes place between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

^^Not entirely feel good, though.

"Remember the Night" is one of the best Christmas movies I've seen.

Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray with a Preston Sturges screenplay directed by Mitchell Leisen.

It's just wonderful

LA tool and dye

Bell, Book, and Candle takes place around the holidays

The Family Stone is worth it if only for the brother yelling about his Jordan Marsh jacket and the klutzy hard fall in the lasagna

The "Home Alone" movies are vile.

I finally saw "The Holiday" last year, and it was surprisingly very sweet and funny. It's on my watch list, again, this year.

Die Hard

Miracle on 34th Street has held up well. I love watching it every now and then. Natalie Wood was such a gorgeous child who grew up to be a gorgeous looking woman.

R11 I think for any 80s born Millennial, Home Alone is the equivalent of the Wizard of Oz. The first two are just magical. Just so much fun and nostalgic. Home Alone 3 is actually the most plausible and highly underrated. I’ve never seen 4 or 5.

The Family Stone is an unintentional laff riot, but I would not classify it as "feel good"

R21 Goodness, Dennis Morgan was so sexy! I think he had a drinking problem. He was getting puffy by the end of the 1940s.