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When life hands you lemons, it's often your remote or streaming service that'll help you make lemonade. Hear us out: Pressing play on feel-good movies (and TV shows) like Legally Blonde, Girls Trip, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Mamma Mia! can lift your spirits when you're feeling sad—and perhaps make you more positive. At the very least, you'll definitely find yourself humming to the songs from Eurovision Song Contest.
But what is a feel-good movie, exactly? A 2021 study conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics found similarities across movies that 450 participants classified as uplifting, like Love Actually and Pretty Woman.According to the study, "feel-good" movies feature humor and an element of lightness, and don't have upsetting plot twists. They also have similar lead characters: "Outsiders in search of true love, who have to prove themselves and fight against adverse circ*mstances, and who eventually find their role in the community," Keyvan Sarkhosh, study leader and first author, said per a press release.
For the full feel-good experience, cozy up with a soft throw blanket and sweatpants. Not only are these favorites entertaining, but they'll brighten not-so-sunny days the second the opening credits roll. When the movie's done, prolong the good vibes with a book about happiness, or a heartwarming TV show.
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1
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo, the creators of Bridesmaids, reunited for this exuberant and surreal celebration of friendship and Florida. In Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Mumolo and Wiig play best friends leaving their small Nebraska town for the first time and find themselves enmeshed in adventure (and a villain's plot) in Florida. If Jamie Dornan's beach-set dance break isn't the definition of "feel good," we don't know what is.
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2
Moonstruck
Watch Moonstruck enough times, and the family in the movie might end up feeling like your family. Cher won an Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini, a woman who believes she's doomed to a life of bad luck. She settles to marry one man, but ends up falling for his brother (played by Nicolas Cage).
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3
Coming to America
In Queens, no one knows that Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is actually African royalty in his (fictional) home country of Zamunda. He and his best friend, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), travel to the United States so he can find a wife that he likes, not one that his father chooses for him.
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4
The Devil Wears Prada
In this forever delightful film, Anne Hathaway plays an aspiring writer named Andy, who scores a dream job at a Vogue-esque fashion magazine. The only catch? Her diabolical boss Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) is an absolute nightmare.
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5
The Birdcage
In this charming comedy, Robin Williams plays a gay Miami drag club owner who, along with his life partner, pretends to be straight in order to appease his son's conservative future in-laws.
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6
Bring It On
In the first of the series of raunchy, cult-classic movies, Kirsten Dunst is Torrance, the captain of her high school's esteemed cheerleading squad. But on their road to the championships, they learn that their routines are exact copies The Clovers', their rival team, led by Gabrielle Union.
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7
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
This Netflix breakout hit is the perfect feel good teen romance to better your day. It follows Lara Jean, a girl whose secret love letters somehow get sent to her five crushes, upending her high school life. The best part? There's a sequel in the works.
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8
School of Rock
Funnyman Jack Black plays a wannabe rocker who's been kicked out of his band. In need of work, he becomes a substitute music teacher at an elite private school. He teaches his students rock 'n' roll, eventually signing them up to compete in The Battle of the Bands.
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9
Love Actually
This beloved film may be a Christmas movie, but it can be watched year-round. Its huge ensemble cast makes up makes up eight different couples whose love lives are all intertwined. It all culminates in a story that will always warm your heart—no matter how many times you watch it.
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10
Elf
Yet another holiday film that can be watched 360 days a year, Will Ferrel is the precocious Buddy the Elf. Born a human, as an adult Buddy leaves the North Pole for New York City in an effort to reconnect with his birth father.
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11
The Help
Though it tackles the heavy topic of racism and segregation in the 1960s South, The Help's main characters (Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer) bring light and heart to the film. A young writer (played by Emma Stone) turns her Mississippi hometown upside down when she decides to interview the Black women who work for the community's most prominent white families. The one lesson we'll aways take away from this film? "You is smart. You is kind. You is important."
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12
The Parent Trap
A young Lindsay Lohan shines as twins that were raised without knowing of the other's existence—until fate has them meet at summer camp. They soon hatch a plan, swapping places in order to reunite their divorced parents.
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13
The Princess Bride
This beloved fantasy romance follows long-lost loves Westley and Buttercup, who in order to be reunited, must fight through the various obstacles they face in the kingdom of Florin.
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14
The Princess Diaries
Anne Hathaway makes this list, again, with this Disney film that follows a teen named Mia. Her life is disrupted when it's revealed that she's the heir to the throne of Genovia, a small European principality. As a result, she must learn the ways of royalty, whether she wants to or not.
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15
Sister Act
Whoopi Goldberg plays a lounge singer who's forced into hiding after witnessing her mobster boyfriend commit murder. She's hidden for protection at a convent, where she soon brings life to the church by taking the reigns of its sleepy choir.
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16
Mrs. Doubtfire
Expect Aerosmith's "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" to get stuck in your head after laughing as the late Robin Williams vacuums the floor as British nanny, Mrs. Doubtfire. In the 1993 comedy, Williams plays Daniel Hillard, the down-on-his-luck father who attempts to win back his wife and kids by working as their female housekeeper. Hillard's interactions with the family are so adorable, you'll forget about the fact that he's lying to them.
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17
13 Going on 30
In the uplifting 2004 flick, Jenna Rink's (Jennifer Garner) birthday wish to become "thirty, flirty, and thriving" comes true. Though she has the body and career any 30-year-old would kill for, she's still a child at heart. Watching her dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at a company party while also falling for her childhood BFF Matt Flamhaff (Mark Ruffalo) will certainly chase the blues away.
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18
The Pursuit of Happyness
Virtually every scene in this 2006 biographical drama will make you shed happy tears. The film is based on the true story of a struggling salesman named Chris Gardner (Will Smith) who is desperate to find his purpose and make a necessary career change. Oh, and if you're wondering why Chris's bond with his son, Christopher Jr., is so strong, it's because the tot is portrayed by none other than Smith's own son, Jaden Smith.
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19
Legally Blonde
Leave it to the bubbly Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) to get you out of a funk. The 2001 rom-com may teach audiences how to "bend and snap" and how to move on from a relationship, but the most important thing we could all take away from the film is to not judge a book by its scented pink cover.
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20
Bridesmaids
This hilarious and badass film features an all-star ensemble cast comprised of Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Ellie Kemper, and Wendi McLendon-Covey. You'll be doubling over in laughter at a restaurant visit gone wrong, and the movie will also make you want to phone your best friend.
