Look, I get it. Sometimes you just need to turn your brain off and watch something that doesn’t require emotional labor. Last Tuesday, I had one of those days where everything went wrong—spilled coffee on my shirt, missed a deadline, got into a stupid argument about nothing. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to feel better.
That’s the thing about feel-good movies. They’re not trying to win Oscars. They’re trying to remind you that life doesn’t always suck.
The Adam Project (2022)
Ryan Reynolds teams up with his 12-year-old self to save the future. Sounds ridiculous, right? It kind of is. But it’s also weirdly affecting.
I put this on expecting a mindless action flick. Reynolds doing his usual sarcastic shtick, some time travel nonsense, boom, credits. What I got instead was this surprisingly tender story about a guy confronting his childhood self and realizing how much pain that kid was carrying around.
The action scenes are fine. Explosions, laser guns, whatever. But the quiet moments got me. When adult Adam tries to explain to young Adam that it’s okay to be scared, that being scared doesn’t make you weak—man, I felt that. We’re all just scared kids pretending we have our shit together, you know?
Mark Ruffalo shows up as their dad, and suddenly it’s not just about saving the world. It’s about getting one more conversation with someone you lost. I may have gotten something in my eye during those scenes.
Dumplin’ (2018)
Willowdean enters a beauty pageant to spite her former beauty queen mother. Except it stops being about spite pretty quickly.
Here’s what I loved: this movie refuses to be simple. Willowdean’s mom isn’t some evil witch who hates her daughter. She’s just a woman who doesn’t know how to connect with a kid who’s nothing like her. That’s real. That’s most parent-child relationships, honestly.
Jennifer Aniston brings so much to this role. You can see her struggling, wanting to do right by her daughter but not knowing how. And Danielle Macdonald as Willowdean? She’s magnetic. Not because she’s playing some stereotype, but because she feels like a real teenager—messy, insecure, brave, scared, all at once.
The Dolly Parton soundtrack is basically a character in itself. Every song lands exactly when it needs to. I’ve been a casual Dolly fan my whole life, but this movie made me really listen to her lyrics. There’s wisdom in that woman’s words.
Also, the side characters aren’t throwaways. The other girls in the pageant become actual friends, not just plot devices. Their dynamics feel genuine.
Yes Day (2021)
Parents say yes to everything for 24 hours. Madness follows.
Is this a masterpiece? No. Does it matter? Also no.
I laughed so hard during the escape room scene that my partner thought I was choking. Watching Jennifer Garner completely unravel while trying to solve puzzles with her kids screaming suggestions is peak comedy. The physical comedy in this movie doesn’t get enough credit.
But underneath the chaos, there’s something real happening. These parents have become fun-killers. They’ve forgotten how to play. Their kids don’t want stuff—they want attention, presence, joy. By the end, everyone’s crying and hugging, and yeah, it’s manipulative, but it works.
My only complaint? The movie makes me feel guilty about every time I’ve said no to something fun because I was tired. Thanks for that, Netflix.
A Castle for Christmas (2021)
Romance novelist buys Scottish castle, clashes with grumpy duke, falls in love. Tale as old as time.
This movie is cheese. Like, full-on fondue levels of cheese. And I loved every second of it.
Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes have that old-school movie star chemistry where you just believe they’re falling for each other, even when the dialogue is absolutely bonkers. The banter between them crackles. When he’s being all gruff and Scottish and she’s calling him on his bullshit—that’s the good stuff.
The Scottish countryside looks unreal. Every shot is Instagram-ready. Castles, sheep, misty highlands, the whole deal. It’s visual Xanax.
Is the plot predictable? Extremely. Do you care? Not even a little bit. Sometimes you just want to watch attractive people fall in love in a beautiful location while witty things are said. This delivers exactly that.
Fair warning: you will want to book a trip to Scotland immediately after watching. Budget accordingly.
Finding Ohana (2021)
City kids spend summer in Hawaii, find treasure map, learn about their roots.
This one sneaks up on you. It starts as a pretty standard adventure movie—kids bickering, treasure maps, caves, the usual. But then it becomes this story about what you lose when you disconnect from where you came from.
The treasure hunt stuff is fun. There’s booby traps and close calls and all that Goonies-style adventure. But the real story is about these kids understanding their Hawaiian heritage, about their mom trying to care for her sick father while keeping her family afloat, about what “home” actually means.
The young actors sell it completely. They’re not doing that annoying precocious kid thing. They feel like actual siblings—fighting one minute, having each other’s backs the next.
And the movie respects Hawaiian culture. It’s not just using Hawaii as a pretty backdrop. The land matters. The traditions matter. That groundedness makes everything else work.
None of these movies are going to change your life. They’re not supposed to. They’re here to make a rough day slightly better, to give you something warm and uncomplicated when everything else feels hard.
Next time you’re doom-scrolling through Netflix at 10 PM, feeling like garbage, just pick one. Make some popcorn. Let yourself enjoy something that doesn’t require analysis or deep thought.
Sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
