Top 5 Movies (and TV) Watched in 2024

My favorite new-to-me cinematic entertainment this year

Middlemarch (1994)

I had had my doubts about Middlemarch because I thought it would be a difficult novel to adapt to the screen—but while it’s true that, if you’ve read the book, you’re aware of how much more there is that doesn’t make it to the screen, it also helps you enjoy the series because you have the additional subtleties of the characters’ thoughts and motivations stored in the back of your mind. And the series on its own merits is splendid—beautifully made, an excellent cast, just satisfying enjoyment from start to finish.

Mr. Mom* (1983)

You know those movies, or specific scenes in movies, where you laugh till you practically can’t breathe? Well, that’s Mr. Mom. When the father of a young family (Michael Keaton) is laid off from work, his wife (Teri Garr) takes an office job to tide them over till he’s employed again, and he takes over the task of keeping house and wrangling their three small kids in the meantime—and his struggles with everyday things like grocery shopping, household appliances, and toddler escapades are utterly hilarious. The good-humored tone of the story is refreshing, too, in the way it goes straightforwardly for the simple humor inherent in the job-swap situation instead of making it a resentful battle-of-the-sexes affair like you would expect a modern take to do. With Clearplay to filter out a few wholly unnecessary risqué moments, it’s a laugh-out-loud delight.

*watched a version lightly edited for content

Louisa (1950)

In this lightweight but fun comedy, a widowed grandmother turns her son’s household upside-down when she acquires not one but two gentleman admirers. The situation plays out as a spoof on the typical young-love plot, with the funniest scenes involving the two elderly swains, played by Edmund Gwenn and Charles Coburn, frantically competing for the lady’s attention like love-struck schoolboys (to the point of coming to blows!) while the young people are outraged at their elders’ romantic shenanigans. (I think this could have been even funnier with a different actor as Louisa’s son—admittedly, the script doesn’t give Ronald Reagan much to work with, as his only function in the story is to growl and complain, but I think somebody like Jimmy Stewart, for instance, could have made it a little more comical and endearing.)

He Knew He Was Right (2004)

This series from what I regard as near the end of the ‘golden age’ of British costume dramas, based on an Anthony Trollope novel, seems to have largely flown under the radar. While the main storyline is centered around comparatively heavy and melancholy subject matter (and the unsympathetic central character is made even less appealing by the actor’s bringing very little subtlety to the part), it is balanced out by a lot of thoroughly nice and pleasant supporting characters, and it’s well-made and engrossing.

Relative Values (2000)

When a young English lord becomes engaged to a glamorous American actress (never the best of ideas), consternation ensues at his ancestral home—complicated by the fact that his mother’s devoted maid (Sophie Thompson) happens to be the actress’ sister. With the household scrambling to hide her secret and the film star’s jilted ex-flame turning up at the manor during the engaged couple’s visit, the stage is set for disaster in the drawing-room. While admittedly the frothiest of cinematic confections, it’s good fun, and given the cast—Julie Andrews as the lady of the manor, Stephen Fry as the butler, and Colin Firth in an unexpectedly hilarious comic role as a frivolous cousin who enjoys the drama way too much—I’m rather surprised it isn’t better-known.

Runners-up: Rain Man* (1987), Bachelor Mother (1939), Dial M For Murder (1954), The Last Hurrah (1958).

*watched a version edited for content

Worst movie of the year: The Paradine Case (1947). Hitchcock’s lost masterpiece this ain’t, folks, lost footage or not. I also have to say a dubious word for the 1999 adaptation of Great Expectations, which I quit after one episode of possibly the worst screenwriting job I have ever seen.

Previous top-5 lists: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020. (You can see top-ten lists for earlier years, plus everything else I watched during the year if you're interested, at my Letterboxd profile.)