Weekend Watchlist | Popcorn Flicks

Film is an amazing medium, capable of telling powerful and moving stories that define a generation.

These are not those movies. These movies are the ones you watch not because they’re particularly deep, but because they make you laugh or cheer or just bring a smile to your face whenever you see them. These are the film equivalent of amusement park rides, and The Pitt News Staff has some recommendations so you can have a blast.

Bad Trip (Netflix) // Heaven Infinity, Staff Writer

This is definitely a lay back, eat popcorn kind of movie, but you may choke on your popcorn from laughter, so exercise caution. Eric Andre and Lil Rel Howery’s masterpiece “Bad Trip” seems like a typical misadventure movie at first — two guys on a wacky road trip to find true love. The catch is that the movie uses hidden cameras and the extras in the film are all real people. So while Andre and Howery pull their shenanigans — which at times are raunchy and downright unbelievable — they capture people’s reactions, for better and sometimes worse.

Andre and Howery’s characters, Chris and Bud, leave Florida to find Chris’s highschool crush in New York. To get there, they steal a car which just so happens to belong to Bud’s ex-con sister, Trina (Tiffany Haddish). Trina vows to get her car back and the boys vow to make it to NYC. Mix that with a couple of hidden cameras and you’ve got a movie. In a “What Would You Do?” kind of way, “Bad Trip” can restore your faith in humanity while also making you laugh so hard that your sides hurt. Again, just have water nearby so you don’t choke on your popcorn.

Superbad // Hayley Lesh, Staff Writer 

Some people may say that “Superbad” is overrated, but I argue it is one of the best films on this watchlist. From the McLovin scene to the early work of Emma Stone, what’s not to love? The film centers on Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) as they try to make their way to a house party in order to impress their high school crushes. But attending the party proves to be more challenging than they originally planned. The boys not only run into trouble with the law, but they also deal with the dramas of senior year.

If the plotline of “Superbad” doesn’t draw you in, the characters definitely will. Featuring mainstream actors like Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Seth Rogan, “Superbad” is both iconic and hilarious. Considering that the film hit theaters during the peak of 2000s comedies, it is difficult to even compare “Superbad” to comedies we see today. If you are looking for a dumb movie to distract you from the stress of finals, this is the movie for you.

National Treasure (Disney+) // Lucas DiBlasi, Senior Staff Writer

I feel like people view “National Treasure” as a dumb, memeworthy movie only because of Nicholas Cage. Something about Nicholas Cage’s performances as an actor and his complete inability to say no to acting in any film has caused him to become a living meme, and that aura can seem to bleed into films he was in that were actually good. I’m not saying that “National Treasure” wasn’t dumb or funny, but it was really good in addition to being dumb and funny. I don’t even mean good in the ironic way that people seem to like “All Star” by Smash Mouth or “Chug Jug With You” by Leviathan.

“National Treasure” is legitimately a solid, plot-driven, interesting movie that’s fun to watch. The premise is interesting, the acting isn’t that bad and the scene where they steal the Declaration of Independence is actually a very good heist scene (even if it is eminently meme-able). If your brain is completely fried by finals, “National Treasure” is a solid movie to throw on the TV and relax to, while being interesting enough that you won’t feel the need to also scroll through TikTok.

Speed (HBO Max) // Sinead McDevitt, Senior Staff Writer

You’ve got a bus, alright? Attached to the bus is a bomb. If the bus goes under 50 mph, the bomb goes off, and everyone inside dies, along with anyone in the immediate area probably. That’s the basic premise behind “Speed,” and Keanu Reeves stars as the cop trying to save all the passengers.

While the premise is silly on paper, the film is really good at keeping you on the edge of your seat and engrossed in the action. This film is one insane action beat after the other, and the bus can’t slow down so the characters are forced to deal with the problem by ramming into them head on. The characters aren’t particularly complex and there isn’t a lot of nuance but honestly, that would just take away from the action. Sometimes you just want to watch people barreling down the highway trying not to blow up. Or you what to see what happens when things do blow up, in which case, you won’t be disappointed either.

Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (Disney+) // Leah Mensch, Contributing Editor

Step aside Dante, because this movie is the true Divine Comedy. “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” is one of the — maybe the only — films with a sequel better than the original. The film centers around a father, Tom Baker (Steve Martin), attempting to take all 12 of his children on a lake house vacation, except the lake house is more like a cabin infested with rats with subpar indoor plumbing. Across the lake is a family living in a lake house that’s more like a mansion with a minibar. The movie centers around their father — Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) — getting into constant rifts with Tom.

It’s just absurd in every manner — though the most iconic scene is when Jimmy supervises a movie theater date with his son and Tom’s daughter to “make sure it’s appropriate.” The movie is rated G, and the two fathers get into a fight and are kicked out of the movie theatre. To quote a friend, “Is that the movie where they all jump out of the boats to help the pregnant daughter? 10/10.” Personally, I’d give it an 11/10.