Summary
- Birthdays are a perfect way to showcase personal growth and the pressures of adulthood in movies.
- A character's birthday can be a catalyst for change and self-reflection.
- Birthday movies often explore conflicting feelings and expectations surrounding the day.
The best birthday movies use the joy and celebration that's supposed to come with the day to make a point about expectations, regret, and the pressures of growing up; and, of course, sometimes a birthday movie is great because birthdays are just a lot of fun. There are films for Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, and every other holiday but birthdays are more personal, as they often bring up conflicting feelings. They're celebrations of maturity but also clear reminders of time ing, so a lot of feelings surround the weeks leading up to a birthday.
A movie can use a birthday as a shortcut to conflict, giving a character a reason they need to change. New Year's Eve may be the holiday when people make promises to work out more, but it's birthdays when they decide to take stock. With so many expectations put on birthdays, they inevitably are never the day one hopes for. However, they can often lead to some breakthrough about either how a character's life needs to change or how it's fine the way it is. Less philosophically, a birthday movie also gives a convenient reason to have a bunch of characters in the same location or simply kickstart a film's story.
10 Best Birthday Episodes Of Sitcoms
From wild, drunken parties to mid-life crises to balloons and clowns, these birthday-themed sitcom episodes are the best of the bunch.
20 Wine Country (2019)
Amy Poehler's directorial debut
Wine Country is a Netflix comedy directed by and starring Amy Poehler as Abby, the best friend of Rebecca (Rachel Dratch) who's celebrating her 50th birthday. Abby plans a weekend getaway for Rebecca and their friends that starts off happy but turns unpleasant when each woman's personal problems begin to surface. With a slew of some of the best female SNL cast including Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, and Ana Gasteyer, Wine Country is a funny and heartwarming look at friendship. Though Rebecca is the only one with a birthday, it's her milestone that forces everyone to consider how their lives have shaped up.
19 This Is 40 (2012)
Judd Apatow's reflection on his own middle-age
Judd Apatow's follow-up to Knocked-Up, This is 40 may not be the best of Judd Apatow's movies, but it's still an accurate look at middle-aged malaise. The film shifts focus away from Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl to Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as Pete and Debbie, a married couple whose lives are in a rut. Both couples celebrate their 40th birthdays in This is 40 and each day brings stress and regrets that threaten to upend their tenuous marriage. Rudd and Mann have excellent chemistry together and the script is as sharp as any Apatow production, but the two-hour-plus runtime can be a drag.
18 Child’s Play (1988)
The first appearance of the killer doll
Child's Play
Cast
Catherine Hicks
Chris Sarandon
Brad Dourif-
Alex Vincent
- Release Date
- November 9, 1988
Child's Play is the first film in the Chucky horror franchise and one of the more successful movies in the up-and-down eight films in the series, scoring a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. This film introduces the "Good Guy" doll, a large animatronic doll with red hair that a young boy receives for his birthday. Little does he or his mother realize that the doll has been possessed by the spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). Unlike future films in the franchise, Child's Play does not lean as hard into the comedy aspects of the story and is an unnerving horror film with genuine scares.
17 Iron Man 2 (2010)
Tony Stark fights enemies without and within
- Release Date
- May 7, 2010
On its face, Iron Man 2 may not seem like a birthday movie, but its themes of mortality and regret are all summed up in one particular birthday party scene. The second film in MCU's Iron Man franchise sees Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) facing off against Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), an inventor with a vendetta against the Starks. A secondary plotline involves Tony Stark contending with his rapidly approaching death thanks to the battery powering his heart. Stark throws himself a birthday bash where he overindulges, embarrasses Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), and fights with Rhodey (Don Cheadle), all because he can't handle grappling with his own mortality.
16 Encanto (2021)
Disney's magical story about a fantastical family
- Release Date
- November 24, 2021
When a child in the Colombian Madrigal family has their fifth birthday in Encanto, they receive a magical power courtesy of a mystical candle. However, 15-year-old Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) has never received a power, but when she learns her family is losing theirs, she sets out to fix things. Encanto earned three Academy Award nominations and won for Best Animated Feature and was widely praised for its soundtrack and themes of generational trauma. It's a gorgeous film to look at and Mirabel's disappointment on her birthday is highly relatable for anyone expecting something to change when they reach a significant birthday milestone.
15 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
A cult hit musical with dazzling costumes and dance numbers
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is synonymous with cult movies having maintained relevance for decades after its release despite coming out to mediocre reviews upon premiere. This mashup of musical, comedy, and horror follows engaged couple Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) and Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) who are forced to take refuge in a mysterious mansion when their car breaks down. Inside, they find a wild party being thrown by Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), the occasion being the literal birthday of his creation, the titular Rocky (Peter Hinwood). Daffy, avant-garde, and totally charming, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cinematic extravaganza.
14 Liar Liar (1997)
Jim Carrey can't help but tell the truth
Jim Carrey stars in Liar Liar as Fletcher Reede, a lawyer and divorcee who never has time for his son because of his demanding job. After promising to attend his son's birthday party, a last-minute obligation stops him from coming. His son makes a wish that Fletcher is never able to lie again, resulting in Fletcher physically being unable to tell a lie. Carrey earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance and the comedy was a massive box-office success, earning $303 million (via Box Office Mojo). It's a hilarious Carrey vehicle, but it's the heartfelt moments between father and son that make the movie memorable.
13 Midsommar (2019)
A psychedelic and nightmarish movie about trauma and ritual
- Release Date
- July 3, 2019
Ari Aster's second movie, Midsommar is as unhinged and terrifying as Hereditary except that this film, unlike his first, is bathed in white, sunny light, offering a disorienting experience. Dani (Florence Pugh) is recovering from a traumatic loss when she decides to go along with her boyfriend and his friends to a Midsommar festival in Sweden where the people take ritual very seriously. Dani and Christian (Jack Reynor) have a very contentious relationship that is most easily defined by the scene when Christian forgets Dani's birthday and makes a pathetic attempt to cover for it. Even more telling, Dani lets his selfishness go without comment.
12 13 Going On 30 (2004)
A literal coming-of-age rom-com
- Release Date
- April 23, 2004
13 Going on 30 is a fantasy rom-com that follows Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) who, on her 13th birthday, wishes to be 30. The next morning, she wakes up 17 years later, successful, independent, and beautiful (and played by Jennifer Garner). However, Jenna soon learns that all the power she's gained over the years has come at the cost of a lot of happiness. 13 Going on 30 perfectly juxtaposes how many people mature through their birthdays. Young people dream about being older and are excited every step of the way, but older people often look back wistfully on birthdays happily or unhappily, considering if they used their time well.
11 The Boys In The Band (1970)
An iconic and progressive LGBTQ+ drama
Based on a musical of the same name from 1968, The Boys in the Band is one of the first Hollywood movies to primarily revolve around gay characters and is a milestone in queer cinema and representation. In the film, a group of gay friends come together for a birthday party. When the heterosexual friend of one of the attendees arrives, hidden resentments in the group begin to surface. The film has a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and is a harsh and moving look at how friendships and love change over the years and the unique challenges that LGBTQ+ people can face when having to spend time with prejudiced acquaintances.
