As the season of summer draws to a close, viewers are ready to cling to the last vestiges of that feeling in whatever way they can, including by viewing some nostalgic films that take them back in time. On Reddit, there are users who are looking for specific movies as well as those who are eager to recommend their personal favourites that make them feel good and smile the entire time. Check out some of the feel-good summer movies that Reddit chose below.
1. The Way, Way Back (2013)
Director(s)- Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Awkward teenager Duncan is forced to spend the summer in a beach house with his mother, her boyfriend Trent, and Trent’s annoying kid. Trent can’t help but harass Duncan, so the kid sneaks off to a water park and gets a job that will help him avoid Trent’s attention. At a time when he really needs a father figure, Duncan finds one in the wisecracking park manager Owen as he takes care of the ageing park’s slides and pools.
2. We’re The Millers (2013)
Director- Rawson Marshall Thurber
David, a small-time marijuana dealer, discovers the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. While attempting to assist several teenagers, he is attacked by thugs and loses his money and stash. Now that David is deeply in debt to his supplier, he needs to pick up the supplier’s most recent shipment in Mexico in order to start over. Dave comes up with a failsafe method to complete his mission: he loads up a fictitious family into a massive RV and travels south of the border for a wild weekend that is likely to end in a brawl.
3. Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
Director(s)- Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
The nearly 25-year marriage of forty-something Cal and Emily, his high school sweetheart, ends over dinner for the awful little reason that she wants a divorce so she can try her luck at love with a man who doesn’t take her for granted. Cal, who is now alone, is lost, despondent, and feels like a fish out of water until he meets Jacob, a self-assured Lothario and brilliant pickup artist, who decides to take him under his wing. Now that this has happened, nothing will ever be the same again, and as the rusty and pitiful seducer in the making rediscovers his latent manliness, something entirely unexpected occurs. Jacob too is susceptible to the heady emotion of deep affection.
4. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Director(s)- Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton
Olive Hoover, 7, is determined to become a beauty queen above all else. The entire family sets out on a long road trip from Albuquerque to California in their 1978 Volkswagen Station Wagon Type 2 when she competes for the coveted Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. However, the voyage is anything but easy. Olive’s overworked mother Sheryl is trying to be the voice of reason, while Richard, her husband, is unsuccessfully trying to promote his self-help programme, Dwayne, Sheryl’s son from a previous marriage, has made the decision to remain silent until he enrols in the Air Force Academy, and troubled Uncle Frank simply tags along. However, on the path to achievement, everything that may go wrong will.
5. Under The Tuscan Sun (2003)
Director- Audrey Wells
Frances enters a slump after her seemingly lovely San Francisco marriage ends suddenly. She embarks on a bus trip to Tuscany after being urged by her friends to leave the country, where she spontaneously decides to purchase a dilapidated property. To fix the property, she gathers a group of eccentrics and immigrants. Over the course of the following year, as they worked, she also hosted a pregnant and aimless friend from San Francisco and pursued relationships with her married real estate agent and a charming stranger. Despite the fact that love is often thwarted by reality, Frances’s wishes occasionally come true and the Tuscan sun is always there to cheer her up.
6. The Wackness (2008)
Director- Jonathan Levine
Summer of 1994 in New York City was a time of growing up, love, and friendship. Luke Shapiro, a recent high school graduate who sells marijuana, exchanges his sales of the drug for treatment sessions with Dr. Jeffrey Squires, a psychotherapist. Luke finds himself drawn to Stephanie, a stepdaughter of Squires and an out-of-his-league student. By July, he is hanging out with Stephanie and showing her about while he is peddling marijuana out of an ice-cream cart. Then, things start to change. Squires and his wife, along with Luke’s parents, are having problems in the background.
7. Whip It (2009)
Director- Drew Barrymore
Bliss Cavendar, a cute, clever, and free-spirited 17-year-old from a small Texas town, is getting ready to take home Mom’s prized Miss Bluebonnet beauty pageant. Bliss will become intrigued by an intriguing flyer for an exciting all-female roller derby in Austin, and as the bold rebel works on her justifications for leading a double life, an amazing and deep transformation will happen. But soon Bliss must make a difficult choice as her new full-contact passion finally catches up to her and two worlds meet.
8. Meatballs (1979)
Director- Ivan Reitman
Camp Northstar is a low-cost summer camp, and Tripper is the head counsellor there. Truth be told, he’s still a kid at heart and barely older than the campers. Rudy, a lone camper who struggles to fit in, is a friend of Tripper’s. Rudy acts as a matchmaker between Tripper and Roxanne, a female Northstar counsellor, while Tripper motivates his young charges to defeat rival Camp Mohawk in the annual Olympiad competition.
9. Super 8 (2011)
Director- J.J. Abrams
Six buddies use an 8mm camera to create a zombie movie throughout the course of the summer of 1979. Since Alice Dainard has just recently joined the group, Joe Lamb, who does the makeup, has taken a fancy to her. They witness one of their teachers, Dr. Woodward, wheel his truck onto the track and hit an approaching train, causing it to derail, while filming at the neighbourhood railroad depot. They discover that an extraterrestrial was on the train and is now running loose in the neighbourhood while they continue to try to produce their movie.
10. The First Time (2012)
Director- Jonathan Kasdan
A rather self-assured Dave meets Aubrey, a sophisticated and creative lady, at a friend’s house party one night. With his romantic sentiments for Jane, she offers support. They discuss Dave’s emotions, and Dave feels that he ought to express them to Jane. When the police arrive, they are shortly interrupted, but they choose to continue walking home. The new pals start to hang around as the weekend gets underway and talk about their relationship and virginity. Aubrey shows increasing interest in Dave, who returns it. Despite her relationship with Roni, she can’t help but harbour affections for Dave. However, Dave is moving away to attend college in a another city, which poses a difficulty. One more year of high school is left for Aubrey.
