Carsten and I arranged a feel-good movie night last week. It’s simple: Get some nice people together and watch a movie that makes you feel good. We saw Field of dreams, which to me epitomizes the genre. It contains every single element that makes a good feel-good movie: It’s a quiet, touching movie with a positive theme, it shows people acting selflessly and it has a happy ending (essential to a feel-good movie). Also, Field of dreams is about forgiveness, redemption and second chances – themes which often figure in feel-good movies. Other excellent examples of the genre are:

A wonderful life
Amelie
Russian pizza blues
Eat drink man woman
Pane e tulipani
The fisher king
Out of Rosenheim (Bagdad Cafe)
Pleasantville
Down by law
Forrest Gump
Mifunes sidste sang

Some movies are not really feel-good per se, but still contain the feel-god factor. A few examples of these are:
Good Will Hunting
The snapper
Hable con ella
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Mitt liv som hund
Royal Tenenbaums
Shawshank redemption
Smoke
La vita e bella
What’s eating Gilbert Grape

And some movies are just so exuberant and joyful, that they can deliver that feel-good kick, through sheer pizzazz and energy:
Much ado about nothing
Moulin Rouge
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Oceans eleven

If you know a movie that should be on this list, let me know.