The Best Comfort Movies of 2025

This is my favorite list to put together annually. They are not necessarily the best films of the year because the best films of the year are often not very comforting. They can be very stressful. Or challenging. Or both, although I’d also put a few of this year’s best films in the comfort film list, as well (I Like Bob Trevino, Pee-Wee as Himself, and maybe even Black Bag).

But I also have to be honest: This list gets harder to put together every year because the kind of films I prefer for a list like this are rom-coms, comedies, fun mysteries, or life-affirming little dramas. They’re the kind of films that seldom get theatrical releases, and also the kind of films that streaming services like Netflix don’t do particularly well. I’ve watched around 15 films in the last week trying to fill this one out, discovering my favorite of this list on the morning of New Year’s Eve.

And here they are:

Predator: Badlands — I didn’t think that Dan Trachtenberg could follow up the near perfection action flick, Prey, while also going in a completely different direction. He proved me wrong. Trachtenberg reinvents the franchise again, blending the ferocity of Prey with what might be the most purely enjoyable entry in the series. Predator: Badlands is a blast — clever, funny, and surprisingly emotional. For the first time since Gary Busey’s death in Predator 2, Trachtenberg makes us root for the creature. DR

Wake Up Dead Man — The third addition to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series is further proof that the director is both a skilled filmmaker and puzzle nerd who knows crime fiction like the back of his hand. Where the first movie borrowed from cosy mysteries and the second was a blow-out vacation whodunit, Wake Up Dead Man takes its cues from gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, and the novels of John Dickson Carr. Here we have a good old-fashioned locked door mystery: The suspects, a corpse, and seemingly no way that the murder could have taken place. It’s perfect for everyone’s favourite musical-loving Southern dandy and his hunger for a challenge. Kayleigh Donalson

The Naked Gun — It’s tempting to just list the jokes that made me laugh the hardest, like that one annoying guy at the bar who’s drunkenly trying to recite an episode of The Simpsons, but I’ll save you that pleasure. This is a comedy that works: short, tight, fast, and efficient (that’s what she said.) The Naked Gun should have been a cheap nostalgic cash-in, but it’s a more effortful slice of smart stupidity that is offering audiences something we just don’t have enough of in pop culture right now: consistent laughs with a budget. — KD

The Threesome — This is another late-entry to the list, an indie rom-com that got a small theatrical release before quickly landing on Netflix. It stars Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, and Ruby Cruz, who have a drunken threesome one night and set off a very complicated love triangle complicated by two pregnancies. Jenny and Olivia are both pregnant, Jenny is in love with Connor, Connor is in love with Olivia, and Olivia doesn’t quite know what she wants. Directed by Chad Hartigan from a screenplay by Ethan Ogilby, the movie — set in Little Rock! — has a messy set up, but it’s surprisingly sweet and heartfelt for a movie that begins with a threesome. — DR

KPop Demon Hunters — As someone who has only a sideways knowledge of K-pop and its world, KPop Demon Hunters is truly one of the of the biggest surprises of the year for me. I was laughing out loud throughout, and felt genuinely invested in the characters and their journeys—its central theme and arc proving compelling and touching. And, it has to be said again, that soundtrack really is just wall to wall bangers. — Jessie Wallace

Caught Stealing — Darren Aronofsky’s atypically comic crime-caper Caught Stealing does what it should and needs to do. It cleanses the palette. It’s nimble and quick and just nasty enough, without any (well without much, let’s say that) of the leaden dourness that the Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan filmmaker had allowed to seize control of his recent work. One doubts this will end up being anyone’s favorite Aronofsky film when the dust settles on his career, but it’s an eccentric spin in the right direction. Best of all, it allows him to show off some easy breezy movie muscles that we’ve never seen him flex before. It’s nice to see surprises up the sleeves of those we thought we knew so well. — Jason Adams

The Roses — There is no obvious villain here, no spouse wronged worse than the other, and there are always two sides to the story. McNamara weaves those dueling perspectives effortlessly with sharp details and hilariously barbed dialogue, though it’s Colman and Cumberbatch that make you root for this couple through all the ups and downs. Colman is predictably delightful as Ivy, proud and hurt and a little batty, but it’s Cumberbatch who is the real surprise. He’s always a reliable performer, but I haven’t seen him be this magnetic since his heyday as Tumblr’s favorite internet boyfriend in Sherlock. Seeing two actors of their caliber come together in love and strife like this, with a script this strong, is really all you need for a good time. — Tori Preston

Sorry, Baby — Sorry, Baby is more than just a film about surviving a traumatic event. It explores resilience, how we rebuild ourselves piece by piece, and how life continues despite the challenges that threaten to hold us back. Agnes isn’t defined by the assault that shaped her life, but it’s clear that it has profoundly influenced who she becomes. As she steps into her new role as a professor and returns to graduate school, we witness the layers of her growth. She confronts her past, not by denying it, but by choosing to live boldly and unflinchingly despite it. — Sara Clements

Superman — It’s chaotic and often quite silly, but it’s hard to really call those negatives when it’s so clearly part of his overall intention — Gunn wants you to embrace the inherent absurdity of his story and simply enjoy the ride. And enjoy the ride we did, for Superman is a lot of fun. Its effects are dazzling but not overwrought, and its finale is one of the more satisfying superhero fights we’ve seen in a while, filled with clever plans and daring rescues.

A Little Prayer — There is a little bit of Junebug in Jane Levy’s Tammy, and as with Junebug, the film contains moments of quiet devastation. But it also shares that film’s belief in resilience, in inner strength, and in the essential goodness of its characters. A Little Prayer is not a sad film. It is a life-affirming one. Like Bob Trevino Likes It, it is a story about the power of being seen and truly seeing others in return. It lingers in the heart long after it ends, and I am deeply grateful to have found it.