While new movie and TV show releases may entice many, sometimes the occasion calls for something different: a feel-good classic that’s filmed with low-quality cameras and features strange clothing fads. Early 2000s movies can satisfy anything your heart desires, from cringy romance to stupid jokes to the adrenaline of action. No matter the genre, classics will always warm our hearts and make us wish we lived in a time with flip phones.
For the hopeless romantics, “10 Things I Hate About You” is the absolute perfect movie to make you fall in love with the characters, the plot and undoubtedly, Kat Stratford’s (Julia Stiles) ill-tempered, bold personality. The movie revolves around two sisters with clashing personalities who are unknowingly roped into a matchmaking ploy by lovestruck Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). This scheme leaves both sisters falling innocently into love and pain.
“When Harry Met Sally” is another lovable, must-watch romance movie with cinematography and acting that can overpower even the harshest of critics. This slow-burn romance follows two college students who, after sharing a ride from Chicago to New York, find themselves continuously reuniting in their adult lives, slowly becoming attached and refusing to let go.
Moving onto comedies, early 2000s movies rarely include unfunny try-hard jokes and are instead perfectly crafted to amuse. “White Chicks” firmly holds the title as many people’s go-to classic movie due to its unique jokes that seem to never get old. The movie centers around two FBI agent brothers who are forced to escort two snotty, entitled girls to the Hamptons as bait for a kidnapping case. Evidently, the girls refuse to go, leaving Marcus (Marlon Wayans) and Kevin Copeland (Shawn Wayans) to attempt to impersonate and transform themselves to fit the personalities, looks and attitudes of the girls. This movie features witty commentary and humor, including the best “Yo Mama” jokes I’ve ever heard, ensuring everyone laughs endlessly.
Another comedic masterpiece is “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, which follows Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos), a Greek American, as she falls in love with a non-Greek and wrestles with her family’s acceptance and her own cultural identity. Through multiple scenes of spraying Windex on every minor issue, refusing to accept vegetarianism and believing the root of every word is Greek, this hilarious, chaotic family will give you a look into the reality of Greek life. After the raving reviews about the movie in 2002 and its sequel in 2016, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”, which revolved around the huge family going back to Greece to fulfill Toula’s dad’s final wish, was developed and premiered in theaters in September 2023.
Moving onto classic dramas and girl fights, “Mean Girls” is as classic as it gets. Through backstabbing plans, cruelty and a “Burn Book,” the movie conveys how no matter what, even if you dress up as a blood-covered ex-wife to a Halloween party like Cady, you should embrace your true personality. We watch Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) not-so-swiftly adjust to her first public high school and be alarmingly accepted into the intimidating, A-list clique: “The Plastics,” made up of alpha Regina George (Rachel McAdams), insecure and loudmouth Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and slightly dimwitted Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried). She discovers the intricacies and malice of high school girls all while trying to take down the queen bee, Regina George. This movie is notoriously known for its humor, lovable and hateable characters and relevance to the high school environment. Awaiting viewers in January 2024 is the musical adaptation of the original movie from 2004, featuring many of the original actors like Tina Fey as Ms. Norbury and Tim Meadows as Principal Duvall.
For the cold rainy days when a good cry is necessary, “The Notebook” is at the very top of the list. As the legendary bawling-your-eyes-out film, the Notebook tracks the love story of a poor mill worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and elitist Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) as they fall in, out and back into love. “I like the plot [of “The Notebook”] because it shows how the characters and their relationship progress throughout the movie and it just perfectly shows how the events in the movie [shape their relationship and] it always makes me cry,” junior Alexandra Royzman said.
Whatever the genre, one thing is for sure: 2000s classics will always be in style and be perfect movie picks for the nights when new movies just aren’t cutting it.
