Feel Good Oscar Winners That Won't Put You Off Your Popcorn

‘Feelgood’ in this instance is actually more like ‘gloriously bitchy satire’, but same, right? Aspiring actress Eve (Anne Baxter) turns up backstage of stage star Margo’s (Bette Davis) play and insinuates herself into her life in order to make it. Six Oscars, including a well deserved Best Writing gong, for lines like: “I'll admit I may have seen better days... but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut.” A comedy classic.

Director Frank Capra was a master of the feel-good movie, and this is one of his most uplifting – a cute tale of an heiress who falls for a wisecracking reporter on a bus trip to New York. It won five Oscars and made a superstar of its lead actors Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

The thirties romcom (now how often does one of those win Best Picture?) stars James Stewart as the wealthy son of property developers, who becomes engaged to the daughter of an eccentric family who are refusing to sell their apartment to them. A must-see for fans of Meet the Parents farce comedy.

The ten-times nominated classic is still showing at sing-a-long screenings, and you can see why. A stirring plot involving a failed nun who becomes a governess to seven Austrian kids, belting songs from British star Julie Andrews and romance courtesy of a dashing Christopher Plummer. It's got the lot. All together now, “The hills are alive…”

The eminently quotable six time Oscar winner sees Tom Hanks playing the good-hearted Forrest, a man who by sheer chance manages to be present at almost all the key events that span his lifetime, while trying to look after his beloved Jenny (Robin Wright) and Mama (Sally Field). And let’s face it, who doesn’t yearn for a friend so close you’re like ‘peas and carrots’?

Tom Stoppard’s banter-ful script about a young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) battling writer’s block as he works on what will become Romeo and Juliet is a whip-smart comedy romance, with Gwyneth Paltrow utterly charming as his lover/muse. Like La La Land, the ending is bittersweet, but there’s plenty to keep you smiling during the journey.

Adapted from the long-running Broadway production, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger stepped into the tap shoes of Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, two showgirls who end up in jail for murder. This is the film that saved the Hollywood musical from extinction – a big hoofing, razzle-dazzle glitter-bomb that nabbed 13 nominations, including a win for Zeta-Jones.

A poor teen accused of cheating on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the story of his often brutal upbringing isn’t a LOLs-fest at times, but his route to the 20 million rupee question and why he knows each answer, breaks and then warms the cockles of your heart. Plus, the film’s central song, Jai Ho, and it’s accompanying dance routine, is catchy AF. The Academy agreed. Best song was one of its eight Oscar wins.

You wouldn’t exactly call the King of England an underdog, but in this biopic about George VI (Colin Firth) you’re rooting for him as though he is. After his older brother abdicates, the ‘spare’ George is bequeathed the throne and must overcome his stammer to speak to the nation with confidence as WW2 breaks out. Smart and moving.

It looks just like a silent black-and-white classic. It feels like a secret love letter to Hollywood’s Golden Age. The French production starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo as a movie star and a starlet who have a tumultuous affair is one that landed ten Oscar nods, more than any other French film.