14
ON THE SCREEN
FEBRUARY 16–23, 2022
WHAT TO WATCH WHEN
YOU’RE STAYING HOME
7 joyful films for the middle of a pandemic winter
By Chris Hewitt
Star Tribune
on an unexpected journey that
teaches them to appreciate the
steps along the way.
W
hen a reader wrote to me,
looking for a list of sunny
movies to give to a friend facing
tough times, it occurred to me:
We all need that list.
To get you thinking in that
direction, here are some sunny
suggestions.
‘THE PALM BEACH
STORY’ (1942)
Screwball comedies of the
1930s and ‘40s are an excellent
dose of cinematic cheer, and
most are available on-demand.
Look for directors such as Mitch-
ell Leisen (“Midnight”), George
Cukor (“Holiday”), Howard Hawks
(“Bringing Up Baby”) or Preston
Sturges. He wrote many of the
wittiest screwballs, including my
favorite, “The Palm Beach Story,”
in which Claudette Colbert and
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‘CLUELESS’ (1995)
Buena Vista/Chris Large/Album
Kurt Russell in “Miracle.”
Joel McCrea marry, divorce, find
other lovers, then (of course) end
up together again.
ing a team of hockey players to
Olympic gold.
‘MIRACLE’ (2004)
‘MELVIN AND HOWARD’
(1980)
There are lots of triumph-of-
the-underdog sports movies,
both nonfiction (“Heart of the
Game,” about a girl who played
high school basketball, is in-
credible) and fictionalized. “The
Rookie,” with Dennis Quaid as a
pitcher who becomes a star well
past the age of most phenoms,
would also be a sweet choice,
as would “Hoosiers.” But let’s go
with “Miracle,” with Kurt Russell,
the based-on-true story of Herb
Brooks assembling and inspir-
Things went south for both
the title characters in this tender,
fact-based comedy from Jona-
than Demme, but that doesn’t
matter because the tiny, human
details are so perfect. It begins
with an act of kindness: Melvin
Dummar (Paul Le Mat) offers a lift
to a decrepit old man who turns
out to be Howard Hughes (Jason
Robards). Then, it takes those
characters, plus Melvin’s quirky
wife (Mary Steenburgen, who
won a supporting actress Oscar),
Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is a
force for good in writer/director
Amy Heckerling’s update of Jane
Austen’s “Emma.” But the feel-
goodness of “Clueless” is goosed
up because, good intentions aside,
Cher has a tendency to get in her
own way. As a result, a decent per-
son becomes even more decent
over the course of this comedy
about a young woman who thinks
she knows what’s best for every-
one and is almost right about that.
‘SENSE AND SENSIBILITY’
(1995)
Apparently, Austen is my
security blanket because, yes,
I’m choosing two adaptations of
her classics. Filled with love and
benevolence and buoyed by Pat-
rick Doyle’s lush musical score,
it’s one of those books/movies
where everyone ends up in a
romance that’s perfect for them.
Emma Thompson, who won an
Oscar for her screenplay, also
should have won for enacting
the remarkable scene in which
Elinor Dashwood, a poor, sup-
posedly unmarriageable woman,
discovers happiness with a sud-
den rush of wild emotion.
‘PADDINGTON 2’ (2018)
You can’t go wrong with either
“Paddington” movie, both of
which lead with kindness and
generosity. They follow the
adventures of the British stuffed
toy (voiced to perfection by
Ben Whishaw) as he becomes
part of a wacky London family.
I’m slightly fonder of the sequel
because it features Hugh Grant’s
career-best performance as a
show tune-singing villain whose
nastiness crumbles under the
relentless niceness of a title char-
acter who “looks for the good in
all of us and somehow he finds it.”
‘HAPPY-GO-LUCKY’ (2008)
During the pandemic, I’ve
read a couple of self-help books
that emphasize owning one’s
emotions — not thinking, “He
made me feel guilty” but rec-
ognizing that I am responsible
for how I feel. Poppy, played by
Sally Hawkins in this Mike Leigh
drama, must have read those
books, too, because no charac-
ter in movie history is better at it
(put Hawkins high on your feel-
good playlist — she’s also in the
“Paddington” films). Poppy faces
heartbreak in the movie, which
notes that happiness needs sor-
row to exist, but Hawkins’ com-
plex, lovable characterization
embodies the idea of choosing
joy whenever you can.