The comedies that I "grew up" on during the 90's and early aughts - raunchy, goofy, campy, cliched; at best, semi-self-aware. Brilliant.
I miss the 90's, when Ecstasy was really MDMA, 9-11 hadn't injected fear into the American bloodstream yet, and simple, happy endings seemed attainable for all.
This list is populated by movies that my brothers and I had on DVD, which we would pop in a few times a year when we wanted reliable, low-effort laughs.
Fair warning: Recreational substance use is pretty in-your-face in Half Baked (go figure), Dazed and Confused, and a couple of other selections. If you're looking for sober humor, I'd start with Mrs. Doubtfire.
As a quick cultural aside (because I can't help myself), I'm appalled by how recently it was considered mainstream humor to call someone gay - accuse them of sucking d*ck, being "butt buddies" with another guy, et cetera.
That's it; that was the joke. We were the joke.
I grew up immersed in this toxic, moronic attitude. During the 90's and most of the aughts in the U.S., the heterosexual paranoia about homosexuality was all-pervading; literally anything negative was referred to as gay.
Homework was gay; popular heterosexual couples breaking up with gay; even being gay was gay, but typically only if you took it.
Even though I brushed this nonsense off as casual ignorance at the time, I realized later on in life the extent to which the manifold negative associations of the word "gay" had been programmed into me by sheer force of repetition.
Needless to say, I'm so glad that we're doing better with this these days. /Rant over.
On the whole, there's something soothing about these films. They're filled with low-stakes humor geared around social and romantic / sexual situations, and they hit simple, good-natured notes.
The tropes are basic but well-developed, and they work - young rebels vs. older authority figures; geeks or alternate social outcasts vs. jocks or other cool kids; virgins vs. crushes who are impregnable fortresses.
This vein of humor is bright, untroubled as a summer sky. (I did sneak in Almost Famous and Cruel Intentions for viewers who want more depth and drama).
With the world hurting as badly as it is right now, it can be nice just to press play and escape for an hour or two.
Without further ado, enjoy.
Flick #1 - Dazed and Confused
This coming-of-age classic takes place in a small town in Texas on the last day of school in 1976. Featuring keggers, stereotypical meathead jocks, and terrified rising freshman who are trying to duck Fred O'Bannion (young Ben Affleck), who plays a believable bully with a penchant for paddling underclassmen.
The soundtrack is an homage to 70's rock and roll. It features Alice Cooper, Foghat, Nazareth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Kiss.
Flick #2 - Out Cold
The slacker employees at a salt-of-the-earth Alaskan ski resort smell trouble when a ritzy developer with two beautiful daughters acquires the property with a plan to develop it in a bougie direction.
Hilarious hijinks ensue as charismatic, conflicted employee leader Rick falls hard for Anna, his new boss' daughter.
Eric Montclare: "Welcome to your first random drug test!"
Pig Pen: "I don't have to write a test to tell you I do drugs..."
Flick #3 - Clueless
Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is the quintessential Beverly Hills blonde. She lives in a Greek Revival mansion with her father, a prominent litigator, and uses a custom computer program to organize her closet and visualize outfit ideas.
Cher takes on spastic misfit Tai (Brittany Murphy) as a charity case while she assists her ex-stepbrother Josh, a sort of proto-social justice warrior, with trial preparation for one of her father's cases.
As Tai supersedes Cher socially and Josh castigates Cher for her Valley-Girl vapidity, Cher's perfect year is blemished by an identity crisis that calls into question everything that she thought she wanted for herself.
Flick #4 - American Pie
This is the first in a series of movies that generated quite a bit of controversy due to their graphic depictions of sexual acts ("This one time, at band camp..."; if you know about the flute, then you know).
This bildungsroman, which takes place at a high school in Michigan, centers on four friends who vow to lose their virginity within three weeks: Jim Levenstein, an awkward but cute everyman; "Oz" Ostreicher, a bro-ish lacrosse player; the cerebral Paul Finch; and Kevin Myers, who already has a girlfriend named Vicky.
Flick #5 - Anchorman
Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy, the reigning TV anchorman whose career in the chauvinistic world of 1970s broadcast news is upended by Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate).
Burgundy's frustration over their rivalry leads to a serious faux pas on air. With his career hanging in the balance, he chases down a story involving the San Diego Zoo, which has the potential to put him back on top.
Flick #6 - Half Baked
Three stoners sell pot stolen from a pharmaceutical lab to raise bail money for a fourth friend who is arrested for killing a diabetic New York City Police Department horse named Buttercup by feeding it junk food from his own munchie stash.
Dave Chappelle owns in these high-humor escapades, which involve drug dealing, love, and enduring friendship.
Jerry Garcia's ghost makes an appearance, too.
Flick #7 - Mrs. Doubtfire
This heartwarming, family-friendly flick features Robin Williams as Daniel Hillard, a divorced dad who masquerades as a female, British housekeeper in order to spend time with his children, 14-year-old Lydia, 12-year-old Chris, and 5-year-old Natalie.
His new role in the family gives Daniel fresh perspective on his hardworking ex-wife Miranda, leading him to reconsider her complaints about his parenting style and general unreliability. From behind his mask, Daniel learns how his children feel about their parents, as well.
Flick #8 - Billy Madison
No list of 90's comedies would be complete without an Adam Sandler movie (and in some ways, if you've seen one from this era, you've seen them all, to be honest).
In this flick, grown party boy / nepo baby Billy Madison must retake and pass every grade in six months - or lose the family hotel empire to a conniving rival named Eric.
Flick #9 - Almost Famous
One of my all-time favorites. This coming-of-age film, which takes place in 1973, centers upon introverted aspiring writer William (Patrick Fugit), a 15-year-old who lies about his age in order to obtain a gig from Rolling Stone that has him touring with burgeoning rock band Stillwater.
"Never meet your heroes" applies as William gets to know the band's lead guitarist and lead singer, who don't just play rock n roll - they live it.
William's head is further done in by a gorgeous groupie who goes by Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), who urges him to shed his inhibitions and revel in the now.
Flick #10 - Cruel Intentions
For those who appreciate humor as bitchy rich kid social commentary, I present this intriguing remake of French writer Choderlos de Laclos' oft-banned, 18th-century epistolary Dangerous Liaisons.
Conniving social queen and cokewhore Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) makes a bet with her stepbrother, the insatiable Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe), that he won't be able to corrupt Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), the somewhat ingenuous daughter of their new headmaster.
As Sebastian catches feelings for Annette, however, Kathryn becomes enraged, and their twisted games spiral out of control.
Don’t forget to let me know what you think!
Drop a comment with your favorite quotes / scenes as well as movie picks that I missed!
As always, thank you for reading.
If you're looking to get in touch, I'm most easily reached via Instagram (concreteconfessional) these days.
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