What’s Your Favorite Movie?

Someone recently asked me what my favorite movie was. I honestly didn’t have an answer and the more I thought about it the more I was left blank. Years ago I would answer that question with the Bette Midler & Lily Tomlin classic Big Business. It was my absolute favorite movie as a kid and I can still quote most of the dialogue to this day. However as an adult who’s now seen many more movies I’d hardly say Big Business beats all the rest. So what would it be? I’m not even sure I could pick a top three let alone an absolute #1.

I asked my roommate the same questions and he had a similar answer to mine. He said he usually told people E.T. but that was more of a stock answer rather than a true opinion. As we got talking it occurred to me that there are two kinds of favorite or great movies. First are the sophisticated well written and well acted films that you like and respect. I’ll call them the fancy movies. Second are the more cheesy sentimental movies that you might consider a guilty pleasure. I’ll call them the fun movies. The other main difference is that fun movies are the ones that you can watch over and over again and never get tired of. Fancy movies however are great and wonderful but you only need to watch them once. You walk out of the theater saying “That was amazing but I never need to see it ever again.” A great example of one of my favorite fancy movies is Her starring Joaquin Phoenix. I absolutely loved its cinematic style and how it broke the cliché movie trope that the future has to be filled with gloom and doom. On the flip side, a fun movie that I can watch over and over again is Monster In Law staring Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda. It’s not exactly an award winner but I never get tired of it. Big Business would also fall more into the fun category. Interestingly enough one of the few recent movies that fulfills both categories is The Grand Budapest Hotel. It score points for both re-watchability and artistic achievement.

I guess I don’t have a #1 favorite movie. I do have favorites though. Here are some of my favorite movies conveniently broken up between fancy and fun:

Fancy Favorites