We live in a world where remakes and superhero movies pretty much dominate the big screen (more than 30 TV shows and movies are getting the reboot treatment right now!), but that wasn’t the case 20 years ago, when studios released films that would become instant classics. We’re talking about There’s Something About Mary, You’ve Got Mail, Saving Private Ryan, The Big Lebowski — and the list goes on and on.
While we’re beyond grateful for the movies that have brought us to laughter and tears throughout the years, we can’t help but feel like, damn, are we getting old? It was two decades ago when Cameron Diaz (as Mary Jensen) made, um, a unique kind of hair gel completely infamous; two decades ago when Tom Hanks (as Joe Fox) and Meg Ryan (Kathleen Kelly) gave online dating with dial-up a go; two decades ago when two space cowboys (Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck in Armageddon) were sent to drill into an asteroid that was going to collide with Earth. Where does the time go?
Well, as we make our way into the fourth month of 2018, here are the movies that celebrate their 20th anniversaries this year. 1998 was a great year for films.
‘There’s Something About Mary’
This Farrelly Brothers movie has aged well, according to the American Film Institute, which placed it as No. 27 it in its list of America’s Funniest Movies. It also brought national attention to Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz, as well as a certain kind of hair gel.
‘Saving Private Ryan’
This is a gritty, gut-wrenching World War II movie, including a gnarly 27-minute Normandy beach invasion scene that is beyond stressful. A group of soldiers, led by American hero Tom Hanks, are tasked with saving the last surviving soldier out of four brothers. The film won five Oscars, including Steven Spielberg’s second for Best Director, and went on to be preserved in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its cultural significance.
‘The Truman Show’
This Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film is about a guy whose entire life is filmed for TV. A novel idea in 1998, but now it seems weirder if you don’t have a camera crew following you around. Who am I without my YouTube following? We are living in a world where we have a reality game show host for a president. Jim Carrey living a staged life doesn’t seem so unusual in 2018.
‘Armageddon’
Two asteroid disaster movies were released in 1998, and somehow Armageddon ended up being the bigger hit. It was the highest grossing film worldwide that year, even with that absurd animal cracker scene Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler got through with a straight face. Actually, let’s give props to the entire cast for getting through the movie without breaking character and saying "WTF" to Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay when they realized they were making a film about space cowboys sent to drill into an asteroid that was going to collide with Earth. Reminder, this was the top film of the year. Also? This film got nominated for four Oscars, including Best Song for Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” Insert eye roll here.
‘The Big Lebowski’
The Dude still abides, 20 years later. The movie that brought back bowling, bathrobes and (to the chagrin of bartenders everywhere) White Russians became an instant classic and is still a cult hit today. Theaters all over the country host Lebowski dress-up screenings and parties every year. The Coen Brothers have made many classic films and drawn many memorable characters, but Jeff Bridges as the Dude is one of the weirdest, most loveable slacker heroes ever to appear on screen.
‘Shakespeare in Love’
This movie has Gwyneth Paltrow, it has cross-dressing and it has bed-hopping. With that description, you wouldn’t know it was all about Shakespeare until evil Judi Dench and corsets are added in. This film, based on the popular Tom Stoppard play, won a boatload of Oscars and gave way to Paltrow's infamous "Grandpa Buster" acceptance speech, which may be even more memorable than the movie itself.
‘The Parent Trap’
Lindsay Lohan as a cute little moppet! Go back in time to enjoy Lohan's innocent days, when all she did was scheme to bring divorced parents back together. In this remake, Lohan does double duty as a set of overprivileged twins. The movie almost beat Saving Private Ryan and minted Lohan as a star way before TMZ even existed.
‘Mulan’
This animated feature was made during the “Disney Renaissance,” a decade when Disney's musical movies became giant box-office hits. Mulan, which takes place in China’s Han dynasty, is another female-oriented story where the daughter of a warrior dresses as a man in order to take her father's place. The movie was well received and was nominated for both Oscars and Golden Globes.
‘Pleasantville’
Even back in 1998, there was a group of people who only saw things in black and white and thought times were better in the 1950s. Pleasantville is a reverse Wizard of Oz where siblings played by Tobey Maguire (pre-Spider-Man) and Reese Witherspoon (pre-Legally Blonde) get sucked into a colorless world that mirrors an idyllic old-timey sitcom. By introducing their modern ways, they change the town irrevocably. This film experimented with digitizing footage and colorization, but that didn’t help it from bombing at the box office. Since then, however, it has become a cult favorite.
‘You’ve Got Mail’
Twenty years ago, it was the early days of online dating… with dial-up. Yes, this movie takes place at the height of the AOL era. There was no swiping, no ghosting and no liking. This was even before anyone had a BlackBerry. Maybe that's why it was so hard to get America’s sweethearts, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, together. Reuniting after Sleepless in Seattle for a reworking of Shop Around the Corner, this movie tackles, uh, modern dating and corporate takeovers of small businesses. It manages to squeeze in a cute love story, too.
‘The Wedding Singer’
Before careening into Y2K, Hollywood decided to pump the brakes and revisit the '80s. Why not get nostalgic for the decade with the best music before the world descends into madness? Here we meet a melancholic Adam Sandler, who falls for catering waitress Drew Barrymore while he is performing at a wedding. A lot of the appeal of the movie is the music, the costumes, and a fun bit with octogenarian Ellen Dow covering "Rapper’s Delight." Even though the movie opened at the same time the juggernaut Titanic did, it made enough of an impression that it got made into a Broadway musical in 2006. But then again, what movie hasn’t lately?
‘Rushmore’
In 1998, you had never seen a movie like Rushmore, but now it’s practically a genre. Writer/director Wes Anderson burst onto the scene with whimsical production design, quirky proscenium-style camera shots and oddball characters ping-ponging around to '60’s Brit-pop bands. The film follows the schemes of Jason Schwartzman’s teenage Max Fischer, who enlists a bored millionaire (Bill Murray) to mentor him through his delinquent career at Rushmore Academy. This isn’t a movie, it’s a film. Anderson isn’t a director, he's an auteur. Schwartzman isn’t wearing a hat, it’s a beret. You see where this is going. This film stands out and is important partially because it's so well done and partially because it broadcasts it. Either way, it works.
‘Can’t Hardly Wait’
This high school comedy is littered with stars before they were stars: Jason Segal, Jamie Pressly, Selma Blair, Peter Facinelli and more. Of course, the odds are pretty good that you're going to have a couple when your movie has a cast of thousands. It’s one of the last parties of their high school career, and everyone is going to get messed up and finally do what they've wanted to do for the past four years. Preston (Ethan Embry) wants to land his crush, Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt). In the tradition of Hollywood endings, after many hijinks, pot brownies and beers, he does end up getting the girl. The movie was popular and kicked off a slew of rather raunchy high school comedies. Fans of the film are asking for a sequel. Reunion, anyone?
‘Run Lola Run’
This groundbreaking German indie is a Choose Your Own Adventure film in three parts. It follows Lola, who has 20 minutes to come up with $100,000 and get it to a tough guy before he kills her boyfriend. Jack Bauer had a full 24 hours to save lives, and he had a car. This candy-apple redhead only has 20 minutes, and since her moped was stolen, she has to run across the city. That’s pretty fierce. Each part of the film offers a different scenario with a new possible ending. In each story, the audience is shown the various people Lola comes across and how they are affected by her Tasmanian devil-style trajectory.
‘American History X’
Back in 1998, there was an insidious, hidden scourge that pervaded American suburbs: Nazis. This film was a spotlight on angry young men and how they took to the neo-Nazi movement. Edward Norton was perfect — maybe a little too perfect — as a Nazi serving time for manslaughter who’s trying to keep his brother from following in his footsteps. The role earned Norton an Oscar nomination, but the movie had some internal strife. New Line hated director Tony Kaye’s edit and let Norton and another editor have the final whack at it. Kaye hated it and tried to have his name taken off the movie. Despite the drama, the movie was critically acclaimed as a powerful look at racism and Nazism in that generation. Good thing there's nothing like that going on now.
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