As the seasons change, many people enjoy watching movies that match the vibes of the season. With summer starting, summer movies are going to be more popular. Below is a list of the perfect summer movies to watch or rewatch this summer.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is the perfect movie to rewatch at the end of the school year, especially if you’re a senior. Before graduation, Ferris Bueller decides to skip school and ropes his best friend, Cameron Frye, and girlfriend, Sloane Peterson, in on his plan. The three of them go on a one day adventure through Chicago with Principal Rooney determined to catch Bueller skipping. “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is a comedy written and directed by John Hughe.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
With stars like Blake Lively, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” follows four best friends as they leave their small town for their own adventures. With each character so complex and different, they’re body types are also different, which is why it’s so surprising when they find a pair of pants that not only fits all of them but flatters them as well. Because of this, they trade the pants and each girl gets them for a month as a way of staying connected to each other as it follows them and their adventures.
Call Me by Your Name
Set in the summer of 1983 in a cliffside mansion on the Italian riviera, “Call Me by Your Name” is the perfect summer romance movie. When Oliver, an intern working for Elio’s father, comes to stay with Elio and his family, they spend the summer in Italy together and their feelings for each other begin to grow. Together, they learn to embrace their growing attraction that helps them discover who they are. There are some controversies with it being a significant age gap romance, with some people viewing it as part of the story’s essence, and others seeing it as problematic.
Crossroads
Starring Britney Spears as Lucy, Zoe Saldana as Kit and Taryn Manning as Mimi, “Crossroads” follows three girls who were childhood best friends and grew up together. However, they grew apart through high school. On their graduation night, they all run into each other to dig up a box they buried when they were kids. The morning after, they reluctantly go on a cross country road trip with a guy Ben that Mimi met in order to pursue their dreams. “Crossroads” is a heartfelt movie about friendship, love, forgiveness, struggles and following your dreams.
The Notebook
“The Notebook” is a classic adaptation of one of Nicholas Sparks’ many romance books. Starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, we watch as Ali and Noah fall in love on screen. The story follows them as they grow together, split apart and find each other again and again. This heartbreaking story will make you re-examine your idea of love as you watch Noah and Ali spend their summer “learning from each other and growing in love”.
Mamma Mia
While preparing for her wedding, Sophie discovers an old diary of Donna’s, her mother. After growing up not knowing who her father is, she learns from the diary there are three possibilities: Bill, Harry and Sam. In hopes of learning who her real father is, she invites all three of them without Donna knowing, so one of them can walk her down the aisle. “Mamma Mia” is a musical that takes place in a small hotel on an island in Greece. Starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, it’s the perfect family summer movie.
The Sandlot
If you’re looking for a summer sports movie, “The Sandlot” is a classic. When Scott Smalls moves to a new town right before summer, he struggles to find friends. However, when Benny, a kid in his neighborhood, invites Smalls to play baseball at “the sandlot,” he becomes part of their team. Together they go on different adventures including when another neighborhood team challenges them to a game and when Smalls loses a signed Babe Ruth ball to “the beast.” “The Sandlot” was loosely based on the writer’s childhood memories and the team he used to play with.
Monte Carlo
After graduation, Grace and Emma leave for Paris for the summer along with Grace’s step sister Meg, even though they don’t get along. After their pre-planned excursions let them down and don’t go as planned, they get lost from their tour group. Grace is then mistaken for Cordelia Winthrop-Scott, a British heiress, leading them to travel to Monte Carlo while Grace pretends to be her. “Monte Carlo” is loosely based on the novel “Headhunters” by Jules Bass, where four women pretend to be wealthy heiresses to find wealthy husbands. The movie follows the girls as they go through this facade and learn to love one another.
Teen Beach Movie
“Teen Beach Movie” is a summer Disney channel movie. Mac and Brady are surfers and Mac was staying with Brady for the summer. However, Mac needs to leave for school by the end of the summer. The morning she has to leave, Mac sneaks out to surf one last time this summer, but she and Brady are overtaken by the storm. When they come back to the surface, they find themselves in a real life version of the “Wet Side Story.” Their presence changes the initial plot of the movie so they must find a way to set it right in order to get home.
Letters to Juliet
“Letters to Juliet” follows Sophie, a fact checker for the New Yorker, who goes to Verona, Italy with her fiance as a pre-honeymoon. With Verona being the city of “Romeo and Juliet,” Sophie visits Juliet’s house that has a wall where people can write letters to her about their loves. There, Sophie finds a group of women that write back to people from Juliet. Sophie finds an old, abandoned letter from years ago and decides to write back. When Claire, the woman who wrote the letter, comes to Verona, Sophie sets out with her and her reluctant grandson in order to find her true love.
He’s Just Not That Into You
“He’s Just Not That Into You” follows a group of people in complex romances as they struggle to come to terms with not only their feelings, but each other’s. This movie has a lot of different parts to it, but ultimately it’s about understanding when to let someone go and finding happiness and fulfillment. This is a movie anyone struggling in a relationship should watch at least once. It really helps put things in perspective and shows people actions speak louder than words.
The Parent Trap
In this remake of the 1961 original “The Parent Trap”, Annie and Hallie, both played by Lindsay Lohan, are identical twins that meet for the first time at a summer camp. After causing trouble throughout the camp, they are forced to stay together in the same cabin. There they discover they’re sisters whose parents got divorced when they were born. Each parent got full custody of one child, which caused them to be torn apart. In order for them to meet their other parents, Annie and Hallie come up with a plan to switch places and act as the other. This causes their parents to meet up in order to switch them back, forcing them together again.
Fear Street
Based on the book series by R.L. Stine, “Fear Street” follows a group of teenagers as they are faced with a centuries-long curse put on their town, Shadyside. The “Fear Street” trilogy is considered a standalone series, meaning while the stories are interconnected, with each movie taking place in a different time frame, you don’t have to watch them in order. With part two taking place at a summer camp, it is the perfect summer horror movie.
Set it Up
While most people know him from his newer roles in movies like “Anyone but You” or “Topgun: Maverick”, Glen Powell’s first major movie was the Netflix original “Set it Up”. In this movie, Powell and Zoey Dutch played two assistants, Charlie and Harper, to tough bosses in New York. When their bosses make them stay late one night, they end up meeting and make a joke on how they should set up their bosses. Harper takes this seriously and they set up a plan to get them together and keep them from breaking up and finding out. “Set it Up” is a lighthearted, fun, romantic comedy that’s perfect for summer.
White Chicks
When FBI brothers Marlon and Shawn Wayans accidentally mess up a drug bust, their punishment is escorting socialite sisters to the Hamptons. The Wayan brothers are there to protect the girls from a kidnapping threat. When the girls get injured, they refuse to go to the Hamptons. Fearing they’ll get fired if the girls aren’t there, Marlon and Shawn pose as the girls for the trip, transforming themselves from Black men to blonde, White women. “White Chicks” challenges the themes of race, gender and class expectations in an extremely comedic way.
50 First Dates
“50 First Dates” is set in Hawaii and follows Henry, played by Adam Sandler, who sets his sights on Lucy, played by Drew Barrymore. Even after he discovers she has short term memory loss and can’t remember anything that happened the day before, Henry won’t give up. Everyday Henry reintroduces himself to Lucy and as he falls more and more in love with her, Lucy falls in love with him for the first time 50 times.
Barbie
Of course, one of the best movies to watch for summer is the live action “Barbie“. Played by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, stereotypical Barbie and Ken are living their best life in Barbie World. However, when Barbie’s existence is threatened, she has to travel to the real world. There, Barbie and Ken discover the joys and struggles of human life while running from Mattel Studios. Director Greta Gerwig, who also made movies like “Little Women” and “Lady Bird”, was able to capture the idea of what it really means to be a woman while being true to yourself.
Grown Ups
“Grown Ups’ follows five childhood friends who used to play basketball together who get reconnected after their old coach dies. They gather at a cabin in the woods with all of their families and rejoin while reflecting on their past. Together they deal with their personal struggles, relationship problems and rekindle their relationship while connecting with their families and going on crazy adventures, including replaying the game they won with their late coach.
Blink Twice
When a cocktail waitress, Frita, meets tech billionaire Salter King, he invites her and her friend to come with him and his group of friends to his private island. Their experience soon becomes unsettling when they have to give up their phones, weird events occur and their memories become fragmented. “Blink Twice” follows Frita as she soon discovers the island is a sinister experiment by Slater to test the power of memory manipulation and forgetting trauma.
Happy Gilmore
Happy Gilmore, played by Adam Sandler, has only ever wanted to be a hockey player. However, after years of trying and failing, he discovers he has a talent for golf, using the same strategy he uses for his powerful slapshots. When Gilmore discovers his grandmother is about to lose her house, he reluctantly joins a golf tournament to win her money to save it. Chubbs Peterson, former gold pro, helps not only teach him how to play, but also how to control his temper. Throughout the movie he struggles with accepting the fact that he will never play hockey, while also fighting against a golf professional in order to win the money.
I hope you enjoyed this list and you take some of my recommendations. There’s at least one movie for everyone, so have fun watching and enjoy your summer.
