Nancy Meyers is one of the few filmmakers whose brand could be described as a "comfort food." The director/producer/screenwriter has fallen out of favor of late for her almost fetishistic visions of white affluence, but anyone who claims they're immune to spending a couch-bound Sunday wrapping themselves up in her oh-so-comfy cinematic world is either lying or somehow hasn't been exposed to it.
The queen of guilty pleasure entertainment, these are Nancy Meyers' best films.
I Love Trouble (1994)
Rival newspaper reporters Sabrina Peterson (Julia Roberts) and Peter Brackett (Nick Nolte) are assigned to cover a train derailment. Though they immediately detest each other, the two soon come to believe that there may be a government conspiracy behind the crash and decide to work together to uncover the truth.
Totally lacking the Meyers sparkle and saddled with two mismatched leads, I Love Trouble derails in the dead space between its chemistry-averse stars.
What Women Want (2001)
Mel Gibson stars as a chauvinistic advertising exec who, in a freak accident, acquires the ability to read women's minds. He attempts to leverage this power to bring down his boss (Helen Hunt), but as he begins to know her every thought, he starts to fall for her.
This faintly ridiculous fantasy has not aged well. Gibson is more charming than ever, but it's hard to divorce the actor from the role he plays, and though it tries to stand against sexism in the workplace, almost two decades on, What Women Want looks a good deal more regressive than it probably did in 2001.
Baby Boom (1987)
New York City businesswoman, J.C. Wiatt (Diane Keaton) finds her high-stress career at risk when she becomes the caretaker of a departed relative's baby girl. The infant not only messes up her relationship, but also her job, so J.C. up and moves to Vermont to start over. But before long, the corporate world comes calling again, and J.C. has to decide what sort of life she wants to build.
Keaton gives a winning performance here, and Baby Boom is slightly more successful in its feminist messaging than What Women Want, but it still displays why Meyers is better at cushy upper-middle-class fantasy than social commentary.
The Holiday (2006)
Recently dumped society columnist, Iris (Kate Winslet) agrees to trade homes with Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who's similarly unlucky in love, for a much-needed vacation from life. As Iris adjusts to Hollywood and Amanda loses herself in a picturesque English village, the two women encounter potential suitors that may help them out of their romantic doldrums.
A cable television staple, The Holiday wraps an all-too-rote story up in all of Meyer's trademarks for an inoffensive but forgettable time.
The Intern (2015)
Bored with retirement, septuagenarian Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) takes an intern position at a fashion website. Initially treated as a novelty, the senior intern soon becomes popular at the office and strikes up a friendship with his boss, Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway).
The Intern gets a bad rep from those insulted by the softer, post-Meet The Parents De Niro and anyone turned off by Hathaway, but this is a sweet workplace comedy with a few good things to say about the generational divide.
It's Complicated (2009)
Long-time divorcees Jane (Meryl Streep) and Jake (Alec Baldwin) rekindle their relationship after many years. The secret affair takes on new facets when Jane finds out that Jake is now remarried, making her the "other woman" in his life. And that's before Jane's amorous architect Adam (Steve Martin) enters the picture, making everything irretrievably tangled for the middle-aged love triangle.
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The floozy sister of Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated is a whitewashed shotgun blast of low-stakes romance, suburban decadence, and flaky croissants. In short: it's all the Meyers stuff without much heart. But oh, what stuff!
Father of the Bride (1991)
Overprotective father, George Banks (Steve Martin) and his wife, Nina (Dina Keaton) are thrown for a loop when their straight-arrow daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams) returns from study abroad with a fiancee in this beloved remake of the 1950 comedy.
A signature Martin role from a signature Meyers script, Father of the Bride is a fan-favorite.
Private Benjamin (1980)
When her husband drops dead on their wedding night, Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is tricked into recruiting for the Women's Army Corps. The spoiled Judy tries to treat enlistment as a vacation, but taskmaster Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) makes her life a living hell. As Judy begins to dedicate herself to training, she finds a sense of self-esteem and accomplishment she never would have achieved in civilian life.
Nabbing three Academy Award nominations, Private Benjamin is a comedy classic held aloft by Hawn's infectious performance.
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
When Marin (Amanda Peet) invites her boyfriend, geriatric Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) to the family beach house, she's surprised to discover that her mother, Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is already there. Erica is immediately turned off by Harry's sleazy behavior, but when he suffers a heart attack, the bed-bound womanizer starts falling for her.
Meyers' most mature and poignant effort, Something's Gotta Give is a both aesthetically manicured and emotionally satisfying late-life romance.
The Parent Trap (1998)
While attending summer camp, Annie and Hallie (both played by Lindsay Lohan) are shocked to discover that they're actually long-separated twins. The two hatch a plan to swap places with each other when camp ends to meet the parent that has been absent from each of their lives, and if all goes according to plan, potentially reunite the family again.
Meyers' blithe and hilarious remake of the 1961 film is so good, it's supplanted its progenitor in the cultural memory.