Oh, summer. Sun-drenched memories of past seasons evoke the word alone. Everyone loves this last day-of-the-school feeling, no matter how long it has been since you were a student. And this summer will be especially sweet to relax with your studies and count on some of the best summer movies. Therefore, this article will present you with a closer look at the 35 Best Summer Films of all time.
We are now ready to slip on our flip-flops and load up on sunscreen after over a year of turmoil and isolation to take advantage of every summer moment. In short, summer is only one of those things on which you can count to improve everything. In this article, Charlie’s Angels (2000) is leading the list, which is best known for the performance of Bill Murray. The list was followed by Thelma & Louise (1991) in second place and E.T. (1982).
So what could be better from the law of addition than summer films? Whether you stack inside on a day of rain or in the middle of winter and you want to sunbathe on your skin, we have finished a few of the ultimate summer movies to enhance your mood and prepare you for the best summer yet.
35. Charlie’s Angels
You’ll feel good about this action-packed film – from the costumes and the soundtracks to the campiness of all of them. The cast features Bill Murray, Matt LeBlanc, LL Cool J and Luke Wilson (Stargirl Season 2), Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz as an elite crime-fighting team. The story goes around Natalie, Dylan, and Alex, three beautiful and uniquely talented tough girls. They are given the task of finding the kidnapped owner of Knox Enterprises, Eric Knox, by their millionaire boss, Charlie.
| Released Year: | 2000 |
| Director: | McG |
| IMDb Rating: | 5.6 |
34. I Know What You Did Last Summer
This spooky summer selection is a true favorite of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddy Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillip (Big Sky), among other things. This fine slasher stars a real nineties. The quartet plays friends haunted by a hook-wielding murderer, one year from a car accident in which they accidentally killed a man and covered it up. Spoiler: I shouldn’t have done that.
| Released Year: | 1997 |
| Director: | Jim Gillespie |
| IMDb Rating: | 5.7 |
33. The Inkwell
This romantic drama from the 70s tells the story of Drew Tate, a teenage kid spending his summer in the vineyard of Martha, where he sees The Inkwell, the pose of a rich and lively party love. Tate is intertwined in a romantic triangle between two women, including a young Jada Pinkett Smith.
| Released Year: | 1994 |
| Director: | Matty Rich |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.4 |
32. The River Wild
This adventure thriller is about a bickering couple whose rafting trip with their kids is a dramatic turn as they meet two dangerous criminals. Meryl Streep and David Strathairn (Kevin Bacon and Moonbase 8 cast John C. Reilly). The captivating storyline of The River Wild makes it rank on this list of best summer movies of all time.
| Released Year: | 1994 |
| Director: | Curtis Hanson |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.4 |
31. Mamma Mia!
Three great love stories are the only thing better than a great love story. Allow the sweeping views of Greece and Meryl Streep to put you all in a good mood. In addition, is something more summaries than ABBA? Watch the alarming sequel with Lily James (My Policeman) while you’re at it. Mamma Mia’s storyline makes it rank on this list of best summer movies of all time.
| Released Year: | 2008 |
| Director: | Phyllida Lloyd |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.4 |
30. Weekend at Bernie’s
Announced again in the summer, Weekend at Bernie’s is an objectively iconic American humor that follows two rookie employees who discover the alarming death of their boss just as they arrive for a weekend trip to his beach home. They’ll be the tip of the ridiculous, hilarious iceberg of their efforts to get Bernie (Terry Kiser, still alive). Overall, the entire storyline of the movie makes it rank on this list of best summer movies of all time.
| Released Year: | 1989 |
| Director: | Ted Kotcheff |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.4 |
29. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Carmen of Ferrera in America, Tibby of Tamblyn in Amber, Lena, and Bridget of Blake Lively are an intimate group of BFF teenagers who will be spending their first season in summer in the movie. They plan to stay connected by sharing a pair of second-hand jeans that magically fit all four of them. A warm and true portrait of young women’s changing friendships.
| Released Year: | 2005 |
| Director: | Ken Kwapis |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.5 |
28. Wet Hot American Summer
If you are nostalgic for the summer camp, don’t look beyond the Wet Hot American Summer, both a satirical spoof of sex comedy and a legally great movie for teenagers. There is a good reason why this film has created a culture after a couple of years – and a Netflix revival series. In the form of an A-list cast including Paul Rudd (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Molly Shannon, and Christopher Meloni (Happy Season 3).
| Released Year: | 2001 |
| Director: | David Wain |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.6 |
27. Clueless
Clueless goes around Alicia Silverstone’s lightning-in-a-ball performance as Cher Horowitz, the most benevolent popular girl, is only improving and improving with age Amy Heckerling’s razor-ship, a sweet modernizing Emma of Jane Austen (Sanditon Season 2). Although the film takes place over several years, it’s setting at Beverly Hills makes the entire atmosphere profoundly summarised.
| Released Year: | 1995 |
| Director: | Amy Heckerling |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.8 |
26. Dave
“Dave” focuses on a late-twentieth-century neurotic man who convinced himself that he was destined to be one of the best rappers ever. He needs to persuade his closest friends now because he could convince the world with their help. He wishes to leave no stone untouched in his quest to become the next superstar, simultaneously exasperating and inspiring his friends.
| Released Year: | 1993 |
| Director: | Ivan Reitman |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.8 |
25. Bridesmaids
The movie was produced by Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, and Clayton Townsend in 2012, directed by Paul Feig, Annie Mumolo, and Kristen Wiig (Bless the harts). The plot focuses on Annie (Wiig), who is subjected to some misfortunes after her best friend Lillian, played by Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth Season 4), was asked to serve as an honorary maid.
| Released Year: | 2011 |
| Director: | Paul Feig |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.8 |
24. Adventureland
Adventureland follows a recent grade in college, one of the many upcoming classicists on this list who cancel their dream trip to Europe. While it seems as if working at his town’s local entertainment park is poor comfort, he ends with Kristen Stewart’s fellow park worker finding a sense of belonging and romance.
| Released Year: | 2009 |
| Director: | Greg Mottola |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.8 |
23. Knocked Up
Alison, a host on T.V., and Ben, an unemployed man, end up standing for one night. Alison soon discovers that she’s pregnant with Ben’s child, and they have to choose their priorities. An unintentional pregnancy follows the effects of a one-night drunken stand between a slacker and a newly promoted media personality.
| Released Year: | 2007 |
| Director: | Judd Apatow |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.9 |
22. Dirty Dancing
There are few other iconic film scenes than the series at the very end of the summer classic. Johnny Castle, Patrick Swayze, finally performed the skyline with Jennifer Grey’s Baby, and her Dance Instructor slashed an inappropriate age love interest. From the idyllic setting of Catskills to the surprisingly forthcoming story of abortion, the rest of the film also holds and becomes a good summer collection movie.
| Released Year: | 1987 |
| Director: | Emile Ardolino |
| IMDb Rating: | 7 |
21. What About Bob?
What about Bob? carried out the plot around Bill Murray, who stars as a needy psychiatrist following his selfish psychiatrist Dr. Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) during his holidays, an excellent “nightmare holiday film,” “What’s Bob?.” Worse still, he famously gets along with the whole family of Marvin.
| Released Year: | 1991 |
| Director: | Frank Oz |
| IMDb Rating: | 7 |
20. Independence Day
Summer and action movies go together, like peanut butter and jelly, and the last summer blockbuster may be the 1996 alien invasion classic. The film is about the Earth’s response to the devastation of the Aliens, all leading up to a counter strike that falls, naturally, on July 4. The movie stars an incredible ensemble including Will Smith (King Richard), Bill Pullman (The Sinner Season 4), and Jeff Goldblum (What if Season 1).
| Released Year: | 1996 |
| Director: | Roland Emmerich |
| IMDb Rating: | 7 |
19. The Parent Trap
While a powerful contender is the Lindsay Lohan restoration from 1998, the original Disney movie is just as enjoyable. Two identical twins (Hayley Mills) were raised apart without knowing each other’s swap identities to try and persuade their strangers to reunite after a chance meeting makes the plot of the entire story.
| Released Year: | 1961 |
| Director: | David Swift |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.1 |
18. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Jason Segel stars as a down-on-his-luck magician (is there any other kind of magician?) in this charming rom-com. Naturally, alongside her new rockstar beau (Russell Brand), her ex (played by her former relative newcomer The Good Place Season 5 cast Kristen Bell) is there too, and there are hijinks there. But overall the best summertime movie to enjoy.
| Released Year: | 2008 |
| Director: | Nicholas Stoller |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.1 |
17. Grease
Summer loving, have you a blow with this eternal musical favor, based on the show of the same name from 1971 on Broadway. In the summer of 1958, at a fictitious high school, Grease followed a group of adolescents led by good girl Sandy and “grease” Danny Zuko. They are supposed to get more complicated when they end up in the same school unexpectedly.
| Released Year: | 1978 |
| Director: | Randal Kleiser |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.2 |
16. Summertime
As an unlucky woman drawn into a whirlwind romance during a Venetian getaway, Summertime stars Katharine Hepburn in one of the most famous filmmakers, David Lean’s less celebrated pictures. The movie is overall enchanting, but the romantic technical color is irresistible in places.
| Released Year: | 1955 |
| Director: | David Lean |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.2 |
15. Point Break
In the special role of a bad boy surfer Bodhi, Patrick Swayze makes a second strong appearance on this list. One of Katherine Bigelow’s earliest hits, the film stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix 4) and an agent of the FBI who goes undefeated in a band of surfers who are also bank robbers.
| Released Year: | 1991 |
| Director: | Kathryn Bigelow |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.3 |
14. Caddyshack
You would like to watch the film ESPN, once called “maybe the funniest movie ever made.” If you like summer films with an array of sports. The team – including the disintegrating teen Danny (Michael O’Keeffe) – must deal with the hustle and bustle of his wealthy, strange customer, following a series of comedy events in a unique goal club.
| Released Year: | 1980 |
| Director: | Harold Ramis |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.3 |
13. American Graffiti
Before Star Wars, George Lucas is a classic by himself, telling the story of a California teenager group with a series of vignettes during a single night. See a young Harrison Ford as the wisecracker and Bob Falfa in his breakout role in American Graffiti.
| Released Year: | 1973 |
| Director: | George Lucas |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.4 |
12. Thelma & Louise
Summer is the ideal time to hop in your (preferably unstolen) car, roll over the windows, and hit the wide-open road with your best friends. Thelma and Louise must be the patrons of the girls’ journey, though we would not recommend exactly following the footsteps of the stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (Glow Season 4). The troublemaking duo will inspire you on your next weekend break to drink “margaritas by the sea.”
| Released Year: | 1991 |
| Director: | Ridley Scott |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.5 |
11. Dazed and Confused
This mellow coming-of-age comedy movie from the 1970s, one of the earliest offerings of Richard Linklater, is about a large group of teenagers in Texas through their final school day. Hauser is among the future stars who appear, while Matthew McConaughey turns in an early iconic performance as David “I get older, they stay the same age” Wooderson.
| Released Year: | 1993 |
| Director: | Richard Linklater |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.6 |
10. The Endless Summer
The Endless Summer serves two surfers as they explore new surfing spots around the world. This is one of the earliest surfing films. As the title suggests, they chase the summer across the globe to pursue surf-friendly weather between hemisphere areas.
| Released Year: | 1966 |
| Director: | Bruce Brown |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.7 |
9. E.T.
Without Steven Spielberg’s classic E.T., no summer film watch list is complete, in which one boy takes over the final summer project of taking back a strange visitor to his home planet. Even if you watched it on repeat as a child, this one is sure to have you nostalgic for summers long gone.
| Released Year: | 1982 |
| Director: | Steven Spielberg (Animaniacs Reboot) |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
8. The Goonies
This beloved classic chases a group of kids who go on a treasure hunt through their Oregon neighborhood to protect their homes from foreclosure. Goonies! A group of children from the west coast, who face themselves in the last days before the development paves their homes, find evidence of the pirate’s treasure that draws the attention of the crime family.
| Released Year: | 1985 |
| Director: | Richard Donner |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
7. Little Miss Sunshine
Nothing says like an awesome road trip film during summer and this almost perfect indie comedy in Little Miss Sunshine. A young Abigail Breslin stars Olive, a girl who wants to be a Queen of Beauty and convinces her whole family to go from New Mexico to California to join the pageant by actors Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Greg Kinnear (The Stand Season 1), Alan Arkin (The Kominsky Method Season 3), and Paul Dano.
| Released Year: | 2006 |
| Director: | Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
6. The Sandlot
Sandlot also tells a touching new-age story about Little League Baseball, another ideal summer sports film. Scotty (Tom Guiry), a fifth-grader, initially had difficulty getting friends in his new city but soon was brought into a local baseball team fold.
| Released Year: | 1993 |
| Director: | David Mickey Evans |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
5. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
A 2004 fantasy movie directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is published by Warner Bros. Pictures, based on the same-name J. K. Rowling’s 1999 novel. Another unfortunate summer Harry Potter spent with the Dursleys. The plot goes around Aunt Marge Dursley, who loses his temper when he insults his parents and accidentally causes them to float like a ball.
| Released Year: | 2004 |
| Director: | Alfonso Cuarón |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.9 |
4. Call Me By Your Name
This Oscar competitor from some years ago tells the story of extraordinary, spectacular love between the 17-year-old Elio (The French Dispatch star Timothée Chalamet) and an older graduate student (Death on Nile star Armie Hammer) who lives with his family during the summer. The story is another entry in Luscious Italian views.
| Released Year: | 2017 |
| Director: | Luca Guadagnino |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.9 |
3. Jaws
A little introduction is needed for Steven Spielberg’s favorite shark thriller. The threat of a killer shark shatters a happy summer in a quiet resort town, which forces the chief of the police (Roy Scheider) to work with an ocean biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to put a stop to the bloodshed.
| Released Year: | 1975 |
| Director: | Steven Spielberg |
| IMDb Rating: | 8 |
2. Do The Right Thing
The vibrant and lively masterpiece of Spike Lee is an image on the best movie lists of all time. The film’s atmosphere, which depicts long-winded and violent ethnic tensions, the oppressive warmth of a day during the summer in Brooklyn, NY, is the central plot of Do The Right Thing.
| Released Year: | 1989 |
| Director: | Spike Lee |
| IMDb Rating: | 8 |
1. Stand By Me
Although it is based on a novel by Stephen King, this classic is not a scary movie but emotionally nostalgic and exciting. Four young boys searching for a dead body rumored to be found near Oregon town. The boy’s characters are Wil Wheaton, Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell.
| Released Year: | 1986 |
| Director: | Rob Reiner |
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
Conclusion!
Although it may only last a few fleeting months for our favorite hot, sunny beach and warm nights, summer films remain forever and can also be enjoyed all year. Whether you’re looking for mysterious films like I Know What You Did Last summer, classics like Dirty Dancing, and family comedies like National Lampoon’s vacation, the options are endless. As mentioned above, the best summer movies are presented here and can be viewed on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or in other places.
