2004 WAS ONE of the best years for film, like, ever. Although many of the highbrow, critically acclaimed and Oscar winning/nominated films have waned in public interest over the years (sorry, but nobody has ever said ‘Lets re-watch Million Dollar Baby tonight’), when it comes to comedy, 2004 set the standard for what we could expect in the new millennium. I read a tweet once that said, “Back in the day we didn’t have memes, we would just quote Anchorman back to each other.” Ah, sweet nostalgia.

Here are eight classics (not only comedies) that turn 20 this year, and deserve an immediate re-watch.

Napoleon Dynamite (dir. Jared Hess)

If you lived in the US at this time, you couldn’t walk two feet without seeing a ‘Vote for Pedro’ T-shirt draped over someone between the ages of 8 and 35. With a budget of $400k, it went on to gross $46 million ($71 million AUD) worldwide, and became one of the most quotable films of all time, forever tattooed across the zeitgeist of an entire generation. The tagline on the poster read “He’s out to prove he’s got nothing to prove,” which is perhaps what separates Napoleon from the horribly despondent, miserable characters that surround him, especially Uncle Rico.

Even better, the film had a PG rating, one that would never fly today because certain people deem the most innocuous words “offensive” (insert eye roll). Still, it has one of the most heartwarming, satisfying endings of all time, a climactic performance that was echoed across every elementary school talent show for years to come (and on a personal note, it also introduced me to what would become my favourite band, The White Stripes, thanks to the opening credits).

Anchorman (dir. Adam McKay)

Ah, yes, the king of the quotables. I humbly respect the older generation who salute the cinematic flags of Caddyshack (1980), Blazing Saddles (1974), or Coming to America (1988) as the most quotable, but lines like, “60% of the time, it works every time,” separate Anchorman from its predecessors, and set the standard for what a stupid-yet-brilliant comedy could be.

It made comedic superstars of Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, and paved the way for films like The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005), Step Brothers (2008), Superbad (2007), and every ensuing film that honoured the same formula. And unlike films of today, it satirised and criticised toxic masculinity without lecturing the audience. Ah, what an era, back when Hollywood respected the moviegoer.

Mean Girls (dir. Mark Waters)

Nobody was bigger than Lindsay Lohan in 2004. Basking in the success of 2003’s Freaky Friday, Lohan returned to high school the following year and starred in arguably the best high school film of all time, at least in terms of quotability (Superbad is a formidable contender). It showed how brutal high school is for teenage girls and, like the previous two films mentioned, Tina Fey’s indelible dialogue would never have been green lit today, “If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”

Many a remake have been attempted, but none come close to the original. And 20 years later, every year on October 3, Instagram is flooded with that one pic of Lindsay Lohan saying, “On October 3, he asked me what day it was.”

Eurotrip (dirs. Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, David Mandel)

Sadly, some films never get the respect they deserve, and Eurotrip is one of those films. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s about four American high-school grads who travel across Europe in the summer – naturally, disaster and hilarity ensue (my mom took me to see this in theatres, and to this day, I’ve never heard her laugh that hard). But one thing that sticks out is that in 2004 smart phones did not exist, so we still had the ability to be genuinely lost in a foreign country; assuming your phone is charged, that will never be an issue ever again, and has thereby erased an entire subgenre in film, that of “being lost”.

Highbrow critics lambasted the film upon release, and sadly none of the lead actors never made anything noteworthy ever again (although Matt Damon has a cameo and lauded the writers as some of the smartest people he’s ever met), but it remains one of the funniest, most accurate social commentaries on European and American culture ever put to screen.

Collateral (dir. Michael Man)

Michael Mann cemented his place in cinema history with the greatest heist film ever made, Heat (1995). And 9 years later, he made Collateral, arguably his second best, which features Tom Cruise in one of his few bad-guy roles, one we can only pray he returns to one day because he plays it so damn well. What separates Mann from his contemporaries is that his films aren’t about actually about bank robbers and hitmen, they’re about the loneliness of man, traits amplified by the desolate backdrop of Los Angeles at night.

Every one of his male characters, good or bad, is an intangible island: no friends, no family, no attachments to humanity, like a cinematic rendition of an Edward Hopper painting. But compared to New York, where social interaction is unavoidable due to walkability and crammed subway rides, Los Angeles reduces people to the isolated confines of their car, and the endless rivers of cement on which they drive, resulting in a nocturnal underworld in which Mann’s despondent characters are born.

Spider-Man 2 (dir. Sam Raimi)

2002’s Spider-Man paved the way for what would soon dominate Hollywood – the superhero universe. But in the early days, superhero movies were standalone stories with no tie-ins, no caped cameos, no eye-rolling political message, just good ol’ fashioned fun, and Spider-Man 2 proved even better than the first.

The initial franchise was discontinued after 2007’s Spider-Man 3, saw a reboot with Andrew Garfield in two wildly unnecessary installments, only to have Spidey come back in the shape of Tom Holland, who’s now slated to make his 600th appearance as the New York wallcrawler. Still, everybody knows Tobey Maguire is the real Spider-Man (and if you had a gaming console at this time, the eponymous video game was awesome).

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michel Gondry)

Is this the most creatively innovative screenplay of all time? Well, it definitely was that year, as it won Charlie Kaufman, Michael Gondry and Pierre Bismuth an Oscar for best original screenplay. This science fiction love story is everything the classic romance film is not, and it confirmed that Jim Carrey still had some “serious” acting chops left in him after his back-to-back Golden Globe wins for The Truman Show (1998) and Man on The Moon (1999). The film is hard to describe without sounding like a complete whacko, so, my advice is just watch it.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 (dir. Quentin Tarantino)

In reverse origin story form, the sequel to Kill Bill saw the genesis of Beatrix Kiddo, and how she became the samurai wielding killer chopping up the opps like a sushi chef in a yellow jumpsuit. As Tarantino said when discussing the film, “I didn’t know exactly how it was going to end, but I figured that she would probably have to kill Bill.” Spoiler alert: she does. But she has to deal with Michael Madsen, and many other nefarious adversaries, along the way.

Sideways (dir. Alexander Payne)

Yes, we included a 9th. Written and directed by Alexander Payne (most recently, last year’s The Holdovers), Sideways is one of the best films of the century, and its Oscar-winning (adapted) screenplay continues to be studied in film schools across the planet for its symbolism, themes, and classic storytelling tropes. Featuring the best, most random on-screen duo ever, Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti (both of whom would go on to play Spider-Man villains, Sandman and Rhino, respectively), the film reminds us of the Alfred Hitchcock mantra, “To make a great film you need three things: the script, the script and the script.” Who knew wine-tasting could be so amusing?

Honourable mentions: The Aviator, Dodgeball, Shaun of The Dead, White Chicks, 50 First Dates, Kung Fu Hustle, The Incredibles, Hellboy, and Van Helsing.

A version of this story originally appeared on Esquire UAE.

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