The Best Movies to Watch With Friends on Vacation
As fun as they can be, most of us are aware that any group trip comes with potential problems. Maybe you can’t agree on a restaurant for dinner, or perhaps some participants want to stick to a rigid schedule while others are more go-with-the-flow types. As exciting as it is to explore a new place with your buddies, the point of a group trip is ultimately the hang. You’re choosing to spend multiple days and nights with these people, so even if you all have different ideas of a good time and are splitting up, it’s important to pencil in some real quality time together. What could be better than watching a movie together?
Of course, the choice of film can, like all group decisions, cause mayhem. So to help you out, we here at the Cut are sharing our top crowd-pleasing suggestions for what you should watch. Enjoy!
Jaws
My friends and I recently had the time of our lives on a rainy night at the shore, all thanks to this diva shark and her paparazzi. Jaws is the perfect group-vacation movie — it’s campy, especially if you’re at the beach; you can watch it with kids and adults; and it’s the right balance of scary and funny. —Amy Rose Spiegel, features editor
Twilight
A good chunk of your friends have probably already seen Twilight, which means that you can all gleefully talk through it. And if someone hasn’t seen it? Well, then you get the pleasure of explaining to them for the first time that this whole thing was inspired by My Chemical Romance. What could be more fun? —Olivia Craighead, blogger
Shrek 2
You thought I was going to say Shrek? Ha! Listen, it’s a wonderful movie. But Shrek 2 is truly a cinematic achievement of the highest caliber, and it’s also the introduction of Puss in Boots, the best Pixar character ever created. And watching it with a group of adults is particularly fun because you get to catch all the insane lines and references you missed as a child. —Katja Vujić, writer
Clueless
It is scientifically impossible to dislike Clueless — it’s sweet, sweet eye-candy, people! — so everyone will agree to watch it and probably mouth along all the punch lines they’ve memorized from watching it hundreds of times. No? Just me? As if. —Jen Ortiz, deputy editor
Mamma Mia! (2008)
I’m drawn to Mamma Mia! for the same reason I’m drawn to a laid-back girls trip. It has no pretense, demands no introspection. It’s a sun-tanned, sweat-drenched, just-tipsy-enough joy ride that will occasionally get you up on your feet — but only to belt your heart out to ABBA. The women run the show, and, story line aside, you can truly feel how much fun the actual cast was having while filming. It sets the perfect tone for a movie night with your best friends and an even better tone when you can follow it up with your very own frolic on the beach. —Lucia Tonelli, head of social
Down With Love
Michael Clayton is the perfect movie to watch for any occasion including a group trip with friends. I’m kidding. (But I do love Michael Clayton.) My real pick for this list is Down With Love. You’d be surprised by the number of people you know who have not seen it, but it is such a delight to watch someone who’s never seen it before experience the myriad twists and turns in this send up of screwball battle-of-the-sexes romantic comedies. —Brooke Marine, culture editor
Josie and the Pussycats
Josie and the Pussycats really has no business being as good as it is — it’s such a sharp satire of the early aughts music industry and consumerism that it’s hard to believe it actually came out in 2001. The over-the-top product placement is a perfect running visual gag, and the soundtrack just fully rocks. Plus, it’s got Alan Cumming and Parker Posey as villains. —Julia Reinstein, morning blogger
Waiting to Exhale
I can’t even begin to count how many emotions you’ll go through while watching Waiting to Exhale — but I can promise you won’t regret watching it with all your girlfriends. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind experience. Angela Bassett setting a car on fire? Riveting. Whitney Houston dating a married man? Sign me up. Every single one of your friends will either say they know someone in a situationship like the women — or that they’ve dated someone like the terrible men. —Lindsay Peoples, editor-in-chief
The Parent Trap
A hugely underrated thing about The Parent Trap is that it’s a summer-camp movie. And what is a sweaty trip with your friends if not grown-up summer camp? This is another one you can talk through, since you’ve all probably seen it, and it involves a sort of inspiring array of group-trip activities. You can chase The Parent Trap with a high-stakes round of poker, a long hot hike, or a trip to the nearest vineyard. If you get really bored, you can just fight about which character has the best outfits (Natasha Richardson, obviously). —Danielle Cohen, news editor
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