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- Groundhog Day
- Columbia Pictures
When the temperatures drop in the late months of the year, there’s no better activity than curling up on the sofa and catching up with all your favorite cozy movies. Whether you’re looking for a sappy romance, a tearjerker that somehow manages to end on a high note, a dark fantasy that lingers on the moodiness of winter, or a Christmas movie that reminds you of the joys (and struggles) of family gatherings, cozy movies come in all genres.
No matter what your plans are for this time of year, chances are you’ll need an escape from reality at some point. Here is the cinematic comfort food that you need to get you through the coldest months until spring makes the outdoors hospitable again. Vote up the films that are perfect for a day on the couch under your fuzziest blanket.
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While You Were Sleeping is one of the great unsung heroes of 1990s romantic comedies. Set during the holidays in Chicago, it stars Sandra Bullock as Lucy, a lonely metro worker who falls for a handsome passenger named Peter (Peter Gallagher). Although they never meet, she becomes intimately entwined in his personal life when he falls into a coma and she is mistaken for his fiancée. His family takes her in with open arms and she can’t bring herself to tell them the truth. Eventually, things are further complicated when she finds herself falling for Peter’s brother Jack (Bill Pullman). As plots go, it isn’t exactly a study in realism, but Bullock is at the height of her comedic charm and her chemistry with Pullman is undeniable.
It rarely appears in roundups of the greatest holiday movies, but While You Were Sleeping more than earns a place alongside It’s A Wonderful Life, Love, Actually, and Die Hard. The story of a lonely woman who is adopted by a loving family just in time for Christmas is a heartwarming variation on a familiar theme, and Peter Gallagher himself has pointed out that the scarf his character wears (not to mention the oversized sweaters favored by Lucy) single-handedly elevates the movie to quintessential holiday fare.
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There aren’t many people who claim that the first Harry Potter movie is the best in the franchise, but when it comes to feeling warm and fuzzy about characters you love, it doesn’t get much better than this. Seeing Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint as adorable 11- and 12-year-olds is enough to melt the heart of any Potter fan, and no matter how many times you’ve seen the movie, it’s impossible to resist feeling a rush of excitement when Hogwarts appears on screen for the first time or the Sorting Hat starts calling out houses.
In the first movie, Harry learns that he’s a wizard and discovers the truth behind his parents’ death. He boards the Hogwarts Express, forms life-long friendships with Ron and Hermione, and confronts Lord Voldemort for the first time since the fateful night he became an orphan. Columbus’s adaptation of JK Rowling’s first book is much lighter in tone than what future directors would do with the franchise, but it’s a perfect starting point for the young characters and their entry into the magical world. The spell of the Harry Potter franchise is unshakeable for generations of kids and adults, and there are few better ways of bringing the family together during the winter months than gathering around the TV to watch where it all began.
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The Holiday follows Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as two women on opposite sides of the Atlantic who find themselves at loose ends and decide to swap houses. Iris (Winslet) is star-struck by sunny California, while Amanda (Diaz) is charmed by the quaint English cottage she gets to call her own for a few weeks. Although both characters are expecting a welcome break from romance, they each stumble upon a love affair that throws their plans of temporary residence into chaos.
The movie takes place in the buildup to Christmas and features a scene in which characters dance around an ornamented tree, but it’s even more perfect for the holidays than these factors suggest. The Holiday is Nancy Meyers comfort food at its best. With just enough world-weary cynicism to make the sugary romance palatable, Iris and Amanda are the heroes you need to inspire your New Year’s resolutions to take the leap you’ve always been dreaming about. Jack Black and Winslet have surprisingly delightful chemistry, while Jude Law and Diaz are just about as dazzling and charming a couple as the entire genre of modern rom-coms has to offer.
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Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan demonstrated their romantic chemistry in Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle in 1993, and their reunion for the writer/director’s You’ve Got Mail five years later was worth the wait. Based on the 1940 movie The Shop Around the Corner (which was an adaptation of a Hungarian play), it centers on the relationship between Kathleen (Ryan), the owner of a struggling independent bookshop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Joe (Hanks), the heir to a national chain of bookstores. They meet in an anonymous Internet chat room where they write to each other under aliases and find themselves falling in love. In the real world, they are professional rivals who express their disdain for each other’s businesses. He belittles her modest shop while she accuses him of stomping out small businesses. Needless to say, once they realize that their online romantic interest and professional nemesis are one and the same, things get complicated.
You’ve Got Mail is a love letter not only to books, but to the most romantic time of year. “Don’t you just love New York in the fall?” Joe asks Kathleen over email before they know each other’s identities. “It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” It’s the kind of cozy, witty romance that’s perfect for fall and winter viewing.
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It takes Bill Murray’s character just shy of nine years to become a decent enough human being to convince Andy McDowell’s character that he might make an okay partner. When he finally gets there, however, his snowy declaration of love is the height of wintery romance. Murray plays Phil Connors, a grouchy TV news anchor who falls into a time loop while on a reporting trip to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for Groundhog Day. When he realizes he’s living the same day over and over again, he starts off his new existence with sex and bank robbery. After he pushes through nihilism and suicide attempts, he decides to seize the opportunity and become the best version of himself, hoping to win over Rita (McDowell), his producer, in the process.
Set in Pennsylvania in February, Groundhog Day takes place exclusively on chilly winter days that seem either harsh and inhospitable or cozy and festive depending on what’s going on in Phil’s life. At the end of the movie, he and Rita declare their love in the snow over an ice sculpture. Winter in Pennsylvania is no joke, but the scene makes sub-zero temperatures look like the ideal setting for romance.
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Holidays are few and far between in Middle-earth, and yet, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is perfect for binge-watching when the cold weather hits. What could be cozier than Hobbits, Elves (not the Santa kind, but still magical), and Wizards? The Fellowship of the Ring is all about the powerful bonds of friendship, a type of connection that is often overlooked during the winter season in favor of family ties, but which is nonetheless an integral part of feeling content and cozy around the holidays. Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin, Aragorn and Boromir, Legolas and Gimli all have to set aside their differences and navigate the struggles ahead as a team. Their triumph over evil is a timeless story of loyalty and friendship that never gets old.
The Fellowship of the Ring has something for everyone. There’s romance, action, fantasy, bromance, and the amazing New Zealand scenery. It’s an excellent choice if you’re trying to find a movie that the whole family can enjoy, and since people usually have a little more time on their hands during the winter season, the nine hours (or 12 if you’re watching the extended version) of the trilogy offer a great way to while away the hours.
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