Picture this: it’s a Friday night, the rain is tapping on your window, and you’re exhausted from a long week of work, studying, and other tiring activities. Well, I have the cure for you. It’s time to put all responsibilities on the backburner, pull out the fuzzy socks, and cook up some popcorn. These movies, apart from being some of my favorites of all time, are both lighthearted and can provide you with a temporary escape from reality. 

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

This one is pretty much a no-brainer. The adventure begins when Andie (Kate Hudson) is assigned to pick up a guy and make every mistake possible to drive him away and get him to dump her in under ten days. Why you ask? Oh, because she is an intrepid journalist who will do anything to enhance her “How To” column. Meanwhile, Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) is a big-shot hunky advertising guy who is looking to pick up a woman in ten days for the sole purpose of proving to his boss that he understands women enough to be able to sell diamonds to them. While Andie tries to put Ben off with stuffed toys and a pink blanket, Ben does everything in his power to make the relationship work. This jovial and comical rom-com also flaunts a very important theme: every situation is workable. 

La La Land

With arguably one of the best soundtracks of all time, La La Land will not only leave you with a visual of the joys and pains of pursuing your dreams, but it will also leave you questioning your values and perceptions of love. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are featured as star-crossed lovers in the film. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, the film features Stone and Gosling as struggling aspiring actress and jazz pianist, respectively, who meet and fall in love while pursuing their dreams. The movie opens with a musical number set in the middle of a traffic jam along a vast stretch of the L.A. Freeway, which was all done in one shot! Although the film winds up melancholy and full of reality, this masterpiece is both ardent and will lift you to a state of old-movie exaltation. 

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Feeling an 80s type of night? Well, I have the perfect movie for you. The film is simply about being smart and getting away with things. In this warm-hearted comedy, Ferris (Matthew Broderick) decides to play hooky from school. He talks his friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) into joining him, and they cleverly spring Ferris’s girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) from school. One Ferrari, German-American parade, and lip-synching performance of “Twist and Shout” later, the teens realize that the whole world in front of them is passing by, and life is sweeter if you wake up and embrace it. As Ferris explains, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you can miss it.” The film highlights a fantasy that allows its audience to experience the mastery and glory of being in control of our destiny for at least one day of carelessness and total freedom.