“If my films make one more person miserable, I’ll feel I have done my job.” – Woody Allen
31. The Lake House starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reaves. Sandra said in an interview that this was one of those scripts you just can’t pass up. Add in her lucky co-star and she’s got another notch on her belt. I balled my eyes out when he receives the book in the mail about his Dad who passed away. BAHHHHH.
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30. If you had a recipe for “tear jerker” stew, I’m pretty sure a movie about Jesus being crucified would be ingredient #1.
29. A down-and-out ex-professional Wrestler with a daughter who hates him and a really ugly child molester van. Sad, sad. I felt really bad for him. So bad that I used an entire box of kleenex.
28. Good Ol’ Benjamin Button is aging in reverse so he’s getting younger when all of us are growing old and getting wrinkles. Wrinkles make us all very sad.
27. Atonement has one of the most jaw dropping endings. Mr. Depression slapped me in the face. Awesome!!!!
26. The big kind prisoner is actually a good guy who despite everything Tom Hanks does to save him, has to die. The world is losing a powerful and magical being who was wrongly accused (ack! the kiss of death to those trying to hold it back!!). It’s chilling and heartbreaking. The Green Mile should be called “Get Us All Some Serotonin”.
25. I’m afraid to have kids because of this movie. Well, that and the downward spiraling economy. I don’t want to have to live in a bathroom overnight. I don’t want to have to live in a homeless shelter or study by the light of a matchstick to get ahead. Pursuit of Happiness is about a guy who does this and succeeds and I was crying my little eyes out for the last 15 minutes of this film.
26. Millions of tears…..I mean Million Dollar Baby is about a successful boxer chick who has a terrible family but lots of determination. Enter in Clint Eastwood who’s convenient B plot is that his daughter doesn’t speak to him and he feels like a loser. So, it’s a match made in tear jerker heaven.
25. Tom Hanks is just one of those actors who makes us feel a little sadder with each film he puts out, right? Saving Private Ryan was an epic film about a soldier going into the battlegrounds to bring back the only surviving son from a family who lost 3 other boys in the war. Seriously? Did they have to have all of the brothers die? Of course they did!!
24. Tom Hanks (what a surprise) plays a character who survives a plane crash but finds himself on a deserted island in Castaway. He’s gone for 4 years and his wife, played by Helen Hunt, believes he’s dead, remarries, and has a baby. The entire 10 minute reunion was one of the most emotional for me. It doesn’t matter how many times I see this film, I still cry. She says, “You told me you’d be right back”…and he responds, “I’m sorry”. This is heart wrenching to be alive after everything he’s gone through and not be able to LOVE your wife!! Ugh.
23. Tom Hanks wins again in Forrest Gump (my personal favorite film of all time). This is one of the best screenplays ever written. Forrest Gump lives an incredible life, that he hardly realizes, because all he cares about is getting close to his one true love; Jenny- played by Robin Wright Penn. When he finally gets the girl she ends up dying leaving their son for Forrest to raise. You feel even worse for Jenny who could never catch a damn break!!
22. Big Fish is also in my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Billy Crudup plays a man(Will) who’s father (played by Albert Finney/Ewan McGregor) tells gigantic tales that make him seem out of touch with reality; especially in his old age. Will has a hard time with this and feels like he’s never known who his Dad really was. Will finds out that his Dad’s tales were actually true and not only that, his life was beyond amazing and exceptional. BAHHHHHHHHH.
21. The Time Traveler’s Wife. Eric Bana plays a man who can travel through time. He meets a young girl in the woods one day who ends up becoming his wife later on. He jumps forward and backwards in time thus weaving one of the most touching romantic plots together. When he dies and his body time jumps (I know this is confusing)-he finds himself at the spot in the woods again. Turns out his family has been waiting to catch a glimpse of him. Rachel McAdams runs to him as fast as she can before he vanishes again. Seriously? I was crying in my popcorn for the last 20 minutes of the film.
20. My Life with Nikole Kidman and Michael Keaton. He’s dying of cancer and she’s pregnant. Do the math! 1+1 = CRYING.
19. Brad Pitt’s film called Tree of Life really touched me. There was also something about Jessica Chastain that really sharpened the emotions of the film for me. It’s the realization that families aren’t perfect and we’re all in this together to go thru the transformation of life. Dont be mad at mom and dad folks…it ain’t all their fault!!!
18. Philadelphia is one of those films that was meant to be made for mankind. God definitely had a hand in this one. AIDS is such a terrible disease and during the big outbreak amongst the gay community, several hundreds of thousands of people suffered in various ways. His purpose was to pave the way for others. It’s a poignant and emotional realization for the audience.
17. Not a lot of people saw this film but I encourage you to do so. Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about a huge magazine editor (living the high life) who is in a terrible car accident rendering him incapable of doing anything but blinking his eyes. He writes an entire book by blinking letters to his nurse. There are several key scenes that really pull your heart strings.
16. The list is not complete without BEACHES!!! Two girls who meet on the boardwalk many years ago end up life long friends. One develops terminal cancer and asks the other to take care of her daughter. This is some sad shit.
15. Oh good ol depressing Titanic is a must for this list. Two people who enjoy this wonderful affair on a huge fancy boat end up fighting for their lives when they hit an iceberg. Poor Leo dies. (If you haven’t seen this movie, then you probably deserve to have the ending spoiled!!). The saddest part is actually when the old lady throws the necklace off the boat with her old bony hands.
14. The Lovely Bones is a story about a girl who is murdered in a field next to her house by a neighbor. The interesting part about the film is that it takes a surreal approach and shows the girl in the “other world” before crossing over completely to heaven. It’s a place of reconciliation and coming to terms with a violent death. She can interact with the current world ever so slightly which makes for a few great scenes when she has to say goodbye and realize her life can never be again.
13. Forever Young. No need for me to explain this one.
12. Mel Gibson did a film in between all of his mega hits that isn’t as widely discussed in the media, but I for one, loved it. The Man Without A Face is about a guy who was burned and has scars all over half of his face (duh). He mentors a young kid who desperately needs a father figure. For a while they don’t see eye to eye but things change, as I’m sure you can guess. The scene that really gets to you is when the boy graduates and looks out into the crowd and waves with joy to him in the stands. Awwee. I am crying right now!
11. Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze gave us their golden performances in the movie Ghost. Who can forget when Whoopi Goldberg finally gets Demi to realize what’s happening and the two lovers are reunited; their passion still intact as if he was still alive. How darn special!!
10. First of all they are a perfect couple. Second, the heart wrenching scenes between their older counterparts was icing on the cake for this tear jerker deluxe film. Even if it’s cheesy the third or fourth time around watching it, it NEVER gets old and still makes you cry. The Notebook doesn’t disappoint. Ryan Gosling is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Rachel’s not so bad either.
9. This was one of the first films that made me cry uncontrollably. It’s really embarrassing. Reminds me of a funeral I was at around 15 years of age when I just burst out crying and scared everyone around me. Sensitive much?
8. Pretty much any movie that has to do with the terrible Jewish holocaust is going to be an extremely sad movie; some more than others. Life is Beautiful is about a family who has to endure these hardships as the trucks take them away to the concentration camps. The father is able to hold onto his little boy and he creates this magically pretend world around them so that the boy can remain calm. It won several awards for a reason.
7. Steven Speilberg knows how to turn on your heart light, doesn’t he? The kids band together and get E.T back home and it’s the greatest thing of all time.
6. A sweet girl develops Cystic Fibrosis in the TV movie, “Alex; The Life of A Child“. I remember crying my eyes out for at least an hour trying to wipe my tears away so that I could read the damn book. They made a movie about it just to keep our spirits up! How nice of them! It has to be on the list for one of the most distressing films!!
5. William Wallace is the freedom fighter we admire and love. He’s also had a bad luck streak with his girlfriend dying, his men wounded in war, and he gets gutted at the end. Braveheart has one of the most emotional intense endings I’ve seen in a film. “Freeeeeeeeedommmmm”!!!
4. Schindler’s List. You thought I forgot this one didn’t ya!!?? They had to put a little girl in the mix, didn’t they?
3. Kevin Costner makes friends with the neighbor Indians in Dances With Wolves and he falls in love with one of them (a white woman who was found and taken care of by them). I remember crying a lot in this film. Doesn’t the wolf die? Yea…that pretty much started the train right there.
2. This film has such a sad 3 minute sequence that scientists use it to test if depressed people cry MORE than non-depressed people!! Little Ricky Schroeder is introduced in The Champ.
1. Reservation Road- This is a film that is sad the entire way through. One big pot o’ depression soup. I mean, a couple’s kid is hit by a car driven by a man, who is also a father, played by Mark Ruffalo. (A side note, Blindness almost made it on this list, too). Poor guy is living in fear and trying to decide if he should give himself up while the family tries to pick up the pieces.
