Comforting Movies for Quarantine: Get Your Reps In

This week, we’re focused on films that feel like a warm hug every time you watch them.

By Mia Vicino

While local rep theaters are out of commission, we'll be putting together weekly watchlists of films readily available to stream. This week, we're focused on comfort movies that feel like a warm hug every time you watch them or, if you're quarantining alone, crawling under a weighted blanket.

What's Up, Doc? (1972)

After four identical plaid bags are mixed up at a hotel, a series of screwball misunderstandings and romantic high jinks ensue. Barbra Streisand is witty, playful and displays endless charm, while Ryan O'Neal's straight-man professor serves as an excellent foil. It also features one of the craziest climactic car chases in film history. Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube.


Obvious Child (2014)

In this breezy romantic comedy, a standup comic (Jenny Slate) finds herself pregnant after a drunken one-night stand with a good-hearted man (Jake Lacy). She decides to have an abortion, and director-writer Gillian Robespierre handles the tricky subject with realism, compassion and much-needed humor. Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Kanopy, Netflix, Vudu, YouTube.


Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Ryan Gosling stars as the titular Lars, a painfully shy guy who falls in love with a life-size doll in order to cope with his mental illness. Though the premise sounds far from wholesome, Nancy Oliver's empathetic script keeps their relationship strictly platonic, choosing to have Lars' small town accept and support the odd couple instead of alienating them. Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube.


Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

When a virtuous small-town tuba player named Mr. Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits $20 million during the Great Depression, he moves to New York City and soon finds that everyone wants to take advantage of his kindness—including the plucky gal reporter (screwball comedy queen Jean Arthur) he falls for. Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube.


Paddington 2 (2017)

We can't talk about comfort movies without mentioning the sweetest emotional support bear in the world. No need to see the first film to experience the joy of the sequel, which finds our hero on a quest to procure the perfect birthday present for his Aunt Lucy: a pop-up book of London stolen by a flamboyant, scheming actor (Hugh Grant). Amazon Prime, fuboTV, Google Play, Sling TV, Vudu, YouTube.

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