Comfort Films
Summer of 1999. I've just graduated college and moved half across the country to a new town (where I knew nobody), to start a new job (which I knew nothing about), housesitting for a church family because I could not afford an apartment. It was exciting, yes, but also a lot scary. The realization that I had just left all of the great friends I'd made over five years was sinking in. Also the fact that I would be expected to get up at semi-normal hours and punch a clock (what a fun game! but more on that later). Most of my stuff was in storage. Bitter tears of lonliness spilled onto my tears each night... sniff sniff... well, as long as I'm getting the sympathetic vote.
Yet I took solice in a couple factors that hadn't changed. The first was that I was still me, and not Rush Limbaugh. That would terrify me deeply. The second was that I was able to continue working on MRFH, and in a sense this place has become my new college. But the most reassuring hug I could get was to dig out my video collection and put on a few of the classics. I wouldn't watch these films for anything new, but solely for the purpose of knowing that they were easy to watch and constantly good.
From this experience, I've discovered the concept of Comfort Films. They're movies (typically comedies) that we watch over and over again, just for the reassuring sameness and goodness they contain. Like filling up on your favorite snack food, having a comfort film playing in the background is an excellent way to relax and know that at least there is something that will end happily ever after. Now, I'm sure everyone has their own comfort films, but I thought I'd share my favorites and a few notes about each one.
1. PCU
Ah, PCU. Ever since my discovery of this video store gem in 1995, it's remained one of the most-watched videos in my library. It seems to sum up my feelings of college with the crazy antics and hilarious jokes, and it's the college movie of my generation. Goes down smooth like buttermilk, it does. Another feature of comfort films is that you should be able to quote a majority of the movie verbatim - and I could recite the entire PCU script if pressed (the entire MRFH staff begs you not to test me on this).
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Strangely enough, Holy Grail was a high school movie for me more than a college film. As fun as it is to watch, it's really one of those movies you have to have a group of friends to share in the hilarity. Still, this movie is worth noting because from high school on, quotes from this film were mandatory in my vocabulary.
It wasn't the greatest of summers, right before my first senior year of college. I drove a few states over for a friend's wedding, and then I visited a girl who I had a flaming internet romance with (cue Psycho shower theme). Yes, the adage still applies, don't fall for someone you don't see first. So anyway, she turned out to be a complete mental case, so I drove overnight to get back home. Somewhat depressed, I rooted through the video store racks and settled on this unlikely comedy. With its exuberance and pumped-up soundtrack, Empire Records lifted me out of my funk. I needed a little "Damn the Man" in my life. And it looked like a really cool place to work at. So while Empire has fallen from my list of current comfort films, I will always have fond memories.
4. Clerks
I think I'll always like Clerks for two reasons: one, because it's so naughty, and two, because it reminds me that life could be worse, I could be in New Jersey. On the surface, it's a kinda depressing movie - our hero is beat up and suppressed so many times that he never actually wins. But the zippy dialogue and outlandish circumstances the two clerks find themselves in more than makes up for any depressing notions. Always one of my favorite to show friends weened on Meg Ryan movies and who thought Indiana Jones had too much profanity.
Can't Hardly Wait is probably the first successful teen party flick since the heyday of Ferris Bueller and Sixteen Candles. Nothing new or innovative is here - your standard guy-mooning-for-girl-at-party-flick - but it's just so froot loopin' funny that I never regret popping it in the VCR. Another noted fact about comfort films: the soundtrack has to be good enough to keep you pumped up. No Sarah McGlockolin (^sp) here.
6. Mystery Science Theater 3000
Both the "movie" and the show are excellent comfort fare, since they don't require your strict attention. I don't recall the last time I actually sat down for a MST3K film without doing anything else. It's nice to have cackling voices in the background riffing on some stupid piece of cinematic tripe. And once you've seen some of the better MST3K movies, you get to memorizing the lines Crow and Tom and Mike/Joel use. Many a time did someone catch me walking around campus booming, "The amazing RANDOOOOOOOO!"
7. American Pie
I have no idea how this ended up being a comfort film. I wasn't too much in love with it the first couple times I saw it. Teen sex farce... eh. But the quiet charm that lay underneath all the nudity and crude jokes eventually grew on me, and it has now become my most-played DVD. Plus, I got a thing for that Willow chick from Buffy...
8. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
First off, this movie has tons of great 80s tunes. And while I initally thought it was a dumb fare, it's got Janeane Garafolo, and that chick makes my day. This movie is good to exorcise the demons of high school memories.
The Saga Goes On... I could mention another dozen comfort films of mine (like Encino Man, which I had a weird thing for back in high school), but it'd be more interesting to hear what comfort movies YOU enjoy. Send in a short list of your favorite-of-favorites in the realm of comfort films to bigbanana@hotmail.com, subject line: COMFORT FILMS.
