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The 10 Most Rewatchable Movies of 2023

By The Pajiba Staff | Film | December 26, 2023 |

By The Pajiba Staff | Film | December 26, 2023 |


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Every year, we run a best movies of the year list, and then we run a separate list that has fallen under a few different names: The 10 Best Comfort Movies, or the 10 Most Entertaining Movies. This year, as in 2012, we’re running with the 10 Most Rewatchable Movies of 2023 because, ultimately, that label seems to fit this list of 10 films the best. The thing about our best movies of the year is that, with maybe one or two exceptions, they’re not movies any of us are going to rewatch multiple times. They’re not going to be background viewing while we’re doing the laundry, not unless we find atomic bombs relaxing.

These movies, on the other hand, will be watched and rewatched in the years to come on Netflix on Disney or Max and with new people we’re dating or with kids who are finally old enough to watch. These are fun movies. They are entertaining movies. They may not be the best, but most will probably stand the test of time even more than our best movie of the year, the fantastic The Holdovers.

Here they are in no particular order. If you haven’t seen them, they’re all easy, fun, terrific movies to watch over the break. — DR

Hey God, It’s Me MargaretAre You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a lovely film adapted from a classic Judy Blume book by the talented director behind the fantastic Edge of Seventeen, Kelly Fremon Craig. It’s hard to imagine updating a beloved 1970 novel as well as Fremon Craig has here while also keeping Judy Blume’s original spirit intact. Rachel McAdams is perfectly cast as Barbara Simon, the mother of Margaret, the 12-year-old at the center of the film, played terrifically by Abby Ryder Fortson (Ant-Man’s daughter in the first film). Even Benny Safdie looks the part in the role of the dad, and Kathy Bates is so perfect as Margaret’s Jewish grandmother, Sylvia, that the movie can be forgiven for not casting a Jewish woman in the role. — Dustin Rowles

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem — If there is one question that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem answers irrevocably, it’s one that has more to do with spiders than with turtles—namely, yes, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has changed the game when it comes to big-budget studio animation, for the better. The fresh artistic flourishes of Mutant Mayhem, while not a carbon copy of Spider-Verse, show an undeniable amount of influence in its embrace of an expressive, slightly more impressionistic animation style. While studios’ dedication to franchises and other IP-based fare only grows stronger, the emerging trend towards embracing fresh, innovative artistic styles instead of blindly following a Disney/Pixar-set precedent is a delightful silver lining. If the future of animation is telling and re-telling the same library of stories, at least we can perhaps look forward to seeing these familiar stories told in creative new ways. — Melanie Fischer

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — It’s no surprise that the film succeeds so resoundingly - its directors are behind the likes of Pixar’s Soul and Star Trek: Discovery as well as the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legacy of Korra, and Netflix’s recent Voltron reboot. All of these are series renowned for being fun as hell while also tackling in-depth, varied subject matter. Pedigrees shine through here, as Across the Spider-Verse hits so many beats that it is as emotionally affecting as it is visually arresting. It’s the rare film that is hard to find fault with, a resoundingly engaging and enjoyable story that continues to up the game in terms of visual style. If there’s one real complaint, it’s that we’ll have to wait a year for the resolution of its monster cliffhanger of an ending. I suspect, however, that the wait will be worthwhile.

Barbie — Greta Gerwig and I are close enough in age, our births falling into that amorphous six-year period of time that straddles Gen-X and Millennial-hood, where the idea of “selling out” has been one of the great battle lines of our lives. Kurt Cobain came along and slapped the Cabbage Patch Dolls right out of our hands, but then a pop angel called Britney Spears floated down from heaven and handed them right back. Then Kurt killed himself, Britney shaved her head and attacked a paparazzo with an umbrella, and we were left standing here confused, clutching to our Lion-O lunchboxes for dear life. Enter Barbie. College courses, dissertations, and documentaries have bubbled up with enough conjectures and theories about what that little genital-less doll means to girls, to boys, and to other, to populate Barbieland ten times over. And Gerwig seems attuned to every single one of them. — Jason Adams

M3GAN — Move over, Tickle Me Emo. Clear out, Furby. This season’s hottest cursed toy is M3GAN. At least that’s what toy company, Funki, wants. After losing some market cap to cheaper competitors, the makers of the Perpetual Pet pivot their focus to the luxury android toy, M3GAN, the brainchild of Gemma (Allison Williams). Before Gemma can deliver on her finished design, her life is flipped and she finds herself as the guardian of her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). Struggling to parent the grief-stricken child while staying ahead in her career, Gemma mashes the two responsibilities together, letting her android invention take on some of the parenting duties. Soon, the doll, whose prime directive is to care for Cady, her primary user, gets a little too close for comfort and Gemma struggles to pry her niece out of her invention’s cold, lifeless hands. — Lindsay Traves

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Bottoms — Brad Pitt might have said the first rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club, but the first rule of Bottoms—the cocksure new queer teen comedy from Shiva Baby’s virtuoso duo of writer-director Emma Seligman and writer Rachel Sennott which just screened at NewFest in NYC—is that you will most definitely want to talk about Bottoms. You will want to sing Bottoms’ hosannas from the rooftops. You’ll want to slap your neighbor across the face while wearing a ring that has “smottoB” written on it so that when they look in the mirror they will see “Bottoms” written in their cheek-bruise. As a gay man this won’t be the first time I’ll have said this in my life, but thank heavens for Bottoms. What a picture! What a riot of entertainment! — Jason Adams

Joy Ride — I’m not someone who really likes raunchy comedy, and Joy Ride makes the R-rated promise of being raunchy as hell. I get uncomfortable watching these kinds of movies, with a wave of second-hand embarrassment filling me more than laughter. This directorial debut of Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim, however, made me laugh (and cry) more than most comedies of this kind do. Written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, Joy Ride proves to be incredibly compelling in the way it balances its comedy with immense heart. Its themes of friendship and identity hit hard and create a viewing experience that can be shared universally. It’s also refreshing representation of Asian people, women in particular, who are often the butt of sexual jokes. Now, they’re the ones telling them. — Sara Clements

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Polite SocietyPolite Society is a different kind of teen movie. Writer-director Nida Manzoor, known for her work as the creator of We Are Lady Parts, crafts an original action comedy that’s a blast from start to finish. Coming to theatres this April, its narrative contains a vibrant mash-up of sisterhood, friendship, and teenage woes, with a side of cultural and parental pressures. It’s a film that will find a relatability with the viewer thanks to all its nuances, but if that doesn’t grab you, the kick-ass fight scenes sure will. — Sara Clements

Dungeons and Dragons: Honors Among Thieves — While there are other nits that can be made about the film, they are ultimately beside the point. With a film like this, more than anything you want it to be fun. Mostly fun it is. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of your D&D awareness or lack thereof, there is plenty here to enjoy (including a delightful cameo where a big-name actor gives a surprisingly touching and, ahem, small performance). Come for the sorcery and pudgy dragon, and then stay for the jokes and performances. Or the other way around. How you play this game is entirely up to you. — Seth Freilich

No Hard Feelings — No Hard Feelings is fundamentally a fun, fleeting kind of comedy. We’re talking about an enjoyable way to kill a few hours here, not a modern classic of the genre. While there are some moments of genuinely surprising nudity, a few memorably raunchy jokes, and a remarkable degree of commitment to a bit involving a finger trap, this film is far tamer than its controversial premise might suggest. Elevated by strong performances and buoyed by the relative dearth of mainstream comedy films these past several years, No Hard Feelings is worth it for Jennifer Lawrence fans and those simply in the mood for a good laugh. It’s not the kind of movie you’ll still be thinking about a year or even a month down the line, but it’s fun. Sometimes that’s enough. — Melanie Fischer