Hey guys!!
Totally unrelated, here's my list of the top 10 party movies! For whatever reason, I've been in a very good mood for the past few hours - I even decided not to post my list of "Top 10 dystopian films" that I had been working on.
10. Project X (2012)
Quite the entertaining by-the-numbers house party film, Project X is no cinematic masterpiece but it is a lot of fun. A group of high school seniors throw a party that gets seriously out of hand after word of it reaches everyone imaginable, and the escalation of the gathering's size is quite amusing (there are so many people stuffed into the house that I'd imagine it would feel painful to watch this film during the corona era). The film's style is somewhat of a hybrid between found-footage and mockumentary, as the events within the plot are captured by the largely unseen character Dax (Dax Flame), which is a nice addition.
9. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
In this zany and nostalgic film, a group of middle-aged men are sent back in time to the 1980's, where they find themselves living the glory days of their youth. An appropriate soundtrack full of Mötley Crue, Poison and Autograph rocks the atmosphere as the main characters navigate their way through an eventful night at a ski resort. The cast is filled with talented comedians such as Chevy Chase, John Cusak, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke, which adds to the film's entertainment value.
8. American Reunion (2012)
One of the many instalments of the American Pie franchise to make it onto this list, the (hopefully) final film of the franchise is a surprisingly delightful viewing experience. After the spinoffs had gotten steadily worse and worse, up to the point of the dreadful The Book Of Love (2009), they made the smart move of reuniting the original cast for a sequel about their high school reunion.
Seeing classic characters like Jim (Jason Biggs), Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) and Stifler (Seann William Scott) all grown up is very fun, and the movie features exactly the sort of crude shenanigans one would expect from the series - just over-the-top enough to feel like the franchise's glory days, but not as over-the-top as the spinoff films had been.
7. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
While certain elements of this party classic haven't aged particularly gracefully, it's still a bunch of fun when viewed with a grain of salt / as a product of its time / having turned one's brain to minimum power. John Vernon is pitch perfect as the uptight and unlikable Dean Wormer, while legends such as John Belushi and Kevin Bacon are a delight as the members of the Delta Tau Chi Fraternity. Featuring classic moments like "TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!" and the texts revealing the fate of each character on top of the chaotic ending scene, Animal House is one of the quintessential films in the genre's history.
6. American Pie (1999)
There are many, many films that are just like American Pie - but less funny and sweet. This modern classic gets the viewer invested more than many purely entertainment-driven party films do, as the characters are likable and relatable at least to some point. With a soundtrack boasting alt-rock and pop-punk icons such as Blink-182, Barenaked Ladies and Goldfinger, the turn-of-the-century era house-party atmosphere is quite perfect. The main gang is a memorable bunch of hilarious characters, with just the right actors playing the roles. It's a bunch of fun.
5. Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
First of all, stoner Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) ordering pizza into class is one of the hands-down funniest moments to ever grace the silver screen. Second all, more or less everything else in this film is quite amusing as well. Classic tropes of high school party movies are played with (and new ones are created) in this film that aged surprisingly well when compared to many of its 80's party film counterparts - a fact that undoubtedly has to do with the film's female director, Amy Heckerling.
4. American Pie 2 (2001)
Yes, I prefer the first American Pie sequel to the original film. In the tradition of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Terminator: Judgement Day (1991), I find the sequel to be quite similar (but not too similar) to the first one, and that it does everything just a little bit better - and in all three cases, the franchise would go very much downhill from there on out.
American Pie 2 gains massive points for just how chill it is - there are no real stakes, and I love it. The first film is quite dramatic in its own way as the main characters are racing against the clock, but in this one, they just really want to throw a beach party and then they throw said party. That's the plot. And that plot is perfect for the film, as it leaves plenty of room for all sorts of wacky shenanigans and an all-around fun atmosphere.
3. Superbad (2007)
How on earth does a high school party comedy get a 7.6 on IMDB (for reference, that rating is shared by Laurence Olivier's Hamlet adaptation (1948) as well as Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker (2008))? The answer: by being extremely funny, appropriately self-aware, and perfectly cast.
Superbad is written by comedy masterminds Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and they based the main characters on themselves. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are phenomenal in the lead roles, as the chemistry between these two friends is off the charts. The supporting cast boasts names like Emma Stone as the central love interest, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the hilarious McLovin', and my all-time favorite comedian Bill Hader as a hilarious police officer who, along with his partner (Seth Rogen), takes an amusing role in the film's events. The film's dialogue is absolute gold, the party atmosphere is well-directed and the story is very well-written - all in all, Superbad is super-good in this category of cinema.
2. 21 Jump Street (2012)
Okay, I know this is in somewhat of a gray area, as 21 Jump Street isn't a party movie first and foremost. Still, it's a high school film (with a twist) and one of its major sequences is a house party, so I'll let it slide. The premise of the film, based on a 1980's TV show of the same name, is an exciting one: two young-looking police officers go undercover as high school students, trying to bring down a drug ring. The lead roles are played by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, whose characters are exceptionally well-developed and fleshed-out for this type of movie - their chemistry is also on par with Hill&Cera in Superbad.
The film is filled with laughs and thrills, and the aforementioned house party sequence is definitely memorable enough to put the film onto this list. While this is off-topic for a list about party movies, I just have to mention that the movie also contains one of the funniest car-chase sequences of all time, bested only by The Blues Brothers (1980).
1. The Hangover (2009)
Forbes once made a pseudo-scientific study on what the funniest movies of all time are, based on the average "laughs per minute" caused in different kinds of viewers. The Hangover came in second place, averaging at 2.4 laughs per minute. Think about that. The average minute of The Hangover makes you laugh out loud multiple separate times. That's amazing.
This absolutely hysterical film differs from most party movies in its narrative structure, as a majority of the film takes place, as you may guess from the title, on the morning after the party. The main characters wake up in a messed-up Las Vegas hotel suite after their over-the-top bachelor party, and this raises a whole lot of questions: what the hell happened during the night they don't remember, why is there a tiger in their room, and most importantly: where is the groom?
As the gang tries to retrace their steps, we see flashbacks to the actual events of the night before, as the pieces slowly start to fit together. The ridiculously funny cast consists of Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis - not to mention the amusing supporting roles by Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow and Mike Tyson as himself. All of the party films on this list are worth watching if you, like me, feel like celebrating something this week - but if I had to recommend one over the rest, it would have to be this one.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my list of the top 10 Leonardo DiCaprio performances.
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