I have said it forever: the 80s had the best music, the 90s had the best movies. I will die on this hill. The movie scene in the 90s was unbeatable. Action stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis brought some of the best thrill rides that are still being chased today. Comedy greats like Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller rose to stardom, and the romantic comedy reached its apex. Horror films like The Sixth Sense and Scream changed how scary movies were made. And movies like Fight Club pushed the boundaries of what audiences were ready for.
But near the end of that era, we, as a society, discovered something: the perfect movie. What made them perfect? Two and a half things. Number one: They crossed more than two genres. This wasn’t just an action comedy, a romantic adventure, or something that brought two big umbrellas together. This was something that felt like it had it all. Action. Comedy. Romance. Adventure. Maybe even a little horror. Number two: These felt like any age could watch these movies and have a good time. From twelve to twenty or fifteen to fifty, these were a good time at the theater for everyone. The half thing: Great performances by the entire cast. These weren’t led by one person at the front who brought up the median performance.
Had these happened before? Sure. On occasion, you would get the odd perfection in a movie like Raiders of the Lost Ark or Back to the Future. But from 1999-2004, Hollywood perfected this and then simply walked away to never succeed again.
The Mummy (1999)
The first place we have to start is the prototype. The Mummy was a pivotal moment for a lot of movie buffs. I was sixteen when this movie came out, and I can remember the job it did on both boys and girls in the school. We all loved Evie, and they all loved O’Connell. But it was more than that. The chemistry and magnetism of the foursome fighting Imhotep aside, this film took everything we loved about movies like Indiana Jones and dialed everything from the horror to the romance and the adventure to the action up to eleven. And they did it without sacrificing a really kickass storyline.
A Knight’s Tale (2001)
This one is another cultural moment that feels like it was lost in the annals of cinematic history until we lost Heath Ledger. Playing off The Cantaberry Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the story of William Thatcher changing his stars and becoming a knight by force of sheer will and audacity is intriguing enough. But add in some good ol’ classic rock music and the launching of careers of Alan Tudyk and Paul Bethany, and you have a movie that is hard not to go back to over and over. Another flick that took the action and comedy genres but mixed them with romance, adventure, and a good old-fashioned musical.
Ocean’s 11 (2001)
Go ahead, name a better collection of actors than this movie. I bet you can’t. Not only was this the beginning of one of the best friendships in all of guy lore in George Clooney and Brad Pitt (their only competition is Matt Damon and Ben Affleck or Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson), but it also featured a pre-Jason Bourne Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, and Scott Caan. Based on a Rat Pack movie of the same name, watching Hollywood’s biggest and brightest pull off the greatest heist of the century and the most understated comedic timing of the entire cast never gets old. And, other than the $12 million, Danny Ocean (Clooney) is doing all of this for the girl. Oh yeah, it’s only Julia Roberts.
Spider-Man (2002)
Let’s be clear, Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner gave us the prototype of what a superhero/comic book movie should be. Then Michael Keaton and Tim Burton darkened it. Then Wesley Snipes and Michael Jai White took it reeeeallly dark. Then Patrick Stewart and his ensemble lived in the dark. Finally, Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi came along and brightened everything. They gave us the perfect Spider-Man movie, and every age, whether you were a young fan of the cartoon or the father who started reading the comics decades before, flocked to the movies to watch it. To this day, Marvel is still using it. Most of the formulaic MCU origin movies pulled their process right from here. And it fell perfectly into the movie criteria with action, comedy, romance, and even a little science fiction.
Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)
One look at that picture and you are already whistling the theme song, aren’t you? Are you not? You should be. This is one of the most influential movies of this list. The first appearance of Johnny Depp‘s Jack Sparrow, this launched a massive franchise and still today is one of the greatest characters of all time. But it filled a fantasy too. That is right, ladies, we have all fantasized about being pirates. Swashbuckling miscreants chasing the freedom of the seas and the treasures they contain. High seas adventure, sword-and-ship action, romance, and some supernatural thrills just for kicks.
National Treasure (2004)
Nic Cage is a lot. There is nobody in Hollywood who goes further with less fear than Cage. He has done everything from comedy to action and from interesting to downright weird. Some of them are stinkers, but when he is good, he is really good. This is a top movie in his filmography because it takes the fun of Indiana Jones and wraps it up into American History in a way that makes all of us history nerds salivate. Riley Poole is the kind of side character that serves as both the comedic sidekick and the stand-in for the audience to ask questions about things the average viewer may not know off the top of his head. Treasure hunting adventure, romance, comedy, and not to mention, Sean Bean making it to the end of a movie; this is the movie we needed more of.
Ironically, it is also the last on the list. Hollywood stopped. Not making these movies; all but A Knight’s Tale are part of franchises. But none of them seemed to capture the same kind of mix their originals did. They all leaned heavily one way or another, losing the mix of the perfect movie. For some reason, the magic of 1999-2004 got lost when the attention started shifting to the almighty blockbuster. A focus on specific audience demographics. A niche genre. Now that that 20-year experiment is over with and the MCU no longer dominates, maybe we can go back to the perfect movie.
