There's a particular kind of film for a rainy night alone - absorbing enough to pull you fully in, good enough that you don't check your phone once.
Great comedy is harder than drama. The timing has to be precise, the characters have to be real, and the laughs have to be earned rather than demanded.
Raj is a rich, carefree, happy-go-lucky second generation NRI. Simran is the daughter of Chaudhary Baldev Singh, who in spite of being an NRI is very strict about adherence to Indian values. Simran has left for India to be married to her childhood fiancé. Raj leaves for India with a mission at his hands, to claim his lady love under the noses of her whole family. Thus begins a saga.
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events-in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
These films earn their laughs honestly. Nothing is cheap, nothing is mean-spirited, nothing is there just to get a reaction. It's all earned.
The lively João Grilo and the sly Chicó are poor guys living in the hinterland who cheat a bunch of people in a small town in Northeastern Brazil. When they die, they have to be judged by Christ, the Devil and the Virgin Mary before they are admitted to paradise.
Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.
Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.
The film tells the story of Ariel, a 21-year-old who decides to form a rock band to compete for a prize of ten thousand dollars in a musical band contest, this as a last option when trying to get money to save their relationship and reunite with his ex-girlfriend, which breaks due to the trip she must make to Finland for an internship. Ariel with her friend Ortega, decides to make a casting to find the other members of the band, although they do not know nothing about music, thus forming a band with members that have diverse and opposite personalities.
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
The best hopeful films aren't naive. They acknowledge the difficulty and find the humanity anyway. These do that.
A great comedy earns its place in memory not through jokes but through character. The funniest moments are the ones that are also somehow true.