Comfort movies are the ones you put on when you’ve had a bad day, you’re inexplicably sad or you just want to revisit the world they let you into for a few hours. Read on for four staff writers’ reflections on their comfort movies or TV shows.
Julia Burks: “While You Were Sleeping”
“While You Were Sleeping” is the movie I watch when I am stressed, sad or simply don’t know what else to watch.
For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a story about the lovable, 20-something and totally alone Lucy Moderatz. She accidentally gets mistaken as her crush’s fiancée by his loud, lovable family when he is a coma patient in the hospital. I know, it sounds stupid, but just give it a chance. It’ll warm your heart, okay?
Apple TV categorizes it as a romance movie, but it is so much more than that. This isn’t your average romantic comedy where a young woman falls in love with a handsome man. The Callaghan family’s relationship with Lucy is a huge part of the story.
This movie hit the nail on the head with the portrayal of a family full of imperfect, weird people that love each other anyway. The scenes in the Callaghan house are warm, full of laughter and slightly chaotic. I feel as though I’m right there with them and can empathize with Lucy as she sits among strangers that already feel like her family.
The setting adds to the appeal of “While You Were Sleeping” as a movie to watch in order to feel better. It is set in 1995 (present day when it was made) Chicago at Christmas time. It makes me nostalgic for Christmas and time spent with family. Thankfully, it is not so in your face Christmas-y that it feels wrong to watch it at other times of the year.
“While You Were Sleeping” is my comfort movie because it is predictable in a way that only a 90s rom-com I’ve watched at least 20 times can be. The happy ending doesn’t hurt either! No matter how many times I watch it, the right guy gets the girl, the girl gets the family and the guy, and everyone is happy in the end.
Andrew Waddey: “Secondhand Lions”
Everyone is looking for something specific when watching their feel-good movie. Some could be looking for a good cry, a sense of escape from reality or a boost of happiness. For me, it’s nostalgia. I want to be teleported back to a time before streaming your movies when you had to go to the local Family Video and hope they had what you wanted.
The year was 2008; I was 10 years old. My dad had just gotten home from Family Video with a few movies he thought we might like. Scanning over the movies, I found one that I thought I might like: “Secondhand Lions.”
The movie had been out for a few years by then, but somehow, I never heard of it.
“Hey, that’s the kid from ‘The Sixth Sense,’” I said as we started the movie. Shyamalam was a treasured name in my household. To this day, I can never recall that actor’s name, just that he’s the kid from “The Sixth Sense.” This was before flat screens and HDMI cords were common. Back then it was tube TVs and those colored cords that never stayed in unless you propped them up with the remote or something. It was annoying then, but now I look back at it fondly.
The movie was so good, I watched it again before the day was over. I had nothing better to do. It brought everything you would ever want into one film: love, action, comedy, family and the list goes on. The film never really got the love it deserved, in my opinion. I borrowed the movie from my parents to show my then-girlfriend what a perfect movie looked like. Once the credits rolled, I immediately turned to find out what she thought.
“I mean, it was alright,” she said.
I was confused. A little insulted. For her, this was not a movie she was raised on. She didn’t have the emotional response that I have each time I watch it. Everyone has their nostalgic movie that they find much more valuable because of the memories it packs.
I recently bought the movie for a dollar at a yard sale. Chumps. This movie is worth so much more.
Delaney Sain: “Little House on the Prairie”
Growing up, most kids my age got home from school and immediately turned on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Not me. I would always rush home after school to make it in time to watch episodes of “Little House on the Prairie.” I would grab a bowl of coffee ice cream and cuddle up in a blanket to watch the show. “Little House” always played on the Hallmark Channel at 4 p.m. on weekdays.
My mom introduced “Little House on the Prairie” to me when I was younger, since she remembered loving the show when she was growing up. She thought I would like it as well. She was right. I loved it!
I was Laura Ingalls for Halloween two years in a row. I wore a cute little bonnet with a dress and apron. I even collected my Halloween candy in a little tin bucket, just like Laura.
When I watched “Little House on the Prairie,” it always made me feel comfortable and warm inside. I had such a close attachment to the characters, the sweet theme song and my love for Michael Landon, who plays Charles Ingalls. He will forever be my TV dad crush.
The show always brings me back to my childhood and reminds me how good my life really is. Every time I watch the show then and now, I am truly amazed by how each story that takes place has a deeper meaning. Over the years, I have learned so many lessons about life by watching “Little House.” It is one of the most wholesome shows on television. “Little House” is a show that I can always turn on to make me smile and feel at home.
Meagan Jaeger: “A Monster Calls”
When you need a comfort movie, it makes sense to go to one that will make you feel warm and maybe just a little bit fuzzy. Perhaps that is what normal people do. My favorite comfort movie, though, is “A Monster Calls,” which is story about a boy, Conor, whose mother is dying of cancer. Needless to say, it does not make me feel warm, and there are definitely no fuzzy feelings. Instead, I cry when I watch it.
“Country people have always loved the sad songs,” Wayne Erbesen wrote in “Front Porch Old-Time Songs, Jokes and Stories.” “Apparently, people get a little happier singing about someone’s miseries.”
That is the best justification that I have for why “A Monster Calls” can still count as a comfort movie. When I am feeling a little down, cheering me up is not as easy as popping in a feel-good film. Instead, it is oddly comforting to know that I am not the only one in the world that has problems or hard days. In fact, Conor’s problems help put mine into perspective. My mom is not slowly dying of cancer, I am not fighting bullies, my dad does not live in a different country and my grandma is not stuffy or obnoxious, so maybe I do not have it so bad after all.
Yet, I still relate to Conor. I feel his pain because I have also felt insignificant, I have also lost someone I love, and I have also questioned why bad things happen to the people who seem to deserve it the least. “A Monster Calls” wrestles with all these issues. It makes me feel heard and reminds me that I am not alone. If I take my eyes off my own problems for once and listen to someone else, I would see that my problems are not the only ones or even the biggest ones. It is not an especially happy film, but it reminds me that life is messy, and we all struggle, but the truth is there is still grace. There is still hope, so we keep going.
