SUNDAY VIEWING · 8 MIN READ
Best Movies to Watch on a Sunday Afternoon
Sunday afternoon is its own genre. You're not looking for something that demands everything from you. You're looking for something that rewards giving yourself over to it completely. These films earn that.
There's a specific kind of film that suits a Sunday afternoon. It's not necessarily light. It can be deep, even heavy. But it has a quality of being worth settling in for. Worth pulling a blanket over yourself. Worth letting the light change outside the window while you're somewhere else entirely.
These are films for the long, slow hours. Films that feel like an event rather than a way to pass time. Films you'll finish and feel quietly satisfied, even if they made you cry halfway through.
01
The Shawshank Redemption
A man wrongly convicted of murder builds a life inside Shawshank State Penitentiary over two decades. Shawshank is the definitive Sunday afternoon film. It's long. It takes its time. It earns every minute of it. The friendship between Andy Dufresne and Red is one of cinema's great relationships, and the final act delivers the kind of release you can feel physically. You've probably seen it. Watch it again.
02
Paddington 2
Paddington Bear is imprisoned for a theft he didn't commit and sets about making life better for everyone around him. Paddington 2 is one of the most purely joyful films ever made, and that is not faint praise. Hugh Grant delivers a career-best comic performance. The production design is extraordinary. And the film's central argument, that kindness is a form of strength, is made so earnestly and so well that it becomes genuinely moving. One of the best films of the century.
03
Interstellar
A former NASA pilot leaves Earth to find a new home for humanity, knowing he may never return to his children. Interstellar is Nolan's most ambitious and most human film. The science is genuinely engaging. The visuals are extraordinary. But the emotional core, a father and daughter separated by time and space, is what makes it something you return to. It earns its three-hour runtime completely.
04
Amélie
A shy Parisian waitress decides to secretly improve the lives of people around her while avoiding her own happiness. Amélie is the ideal Sunday afternoon film in every way. It's warm without being saccharine. It's inventive without being exhausting. Audrey Tautou's performance is a marvel of contained feeling. Jeunet's Paris is so tactile and so vivid you can almost smell the coffee. Pure comfort cinema with real craft underneath.
05
The Princess Bride
A grandfather reads his sick grandson a swashbuckling fairy tale of true love, pirates, and revenge. The Princess Bride is one of those films that seems impossible to describe without underselling. It's funny. It's romantic. It's genuinely exciting. It's self-aware without being smug. Every single performance is perfect. It works for children. It works differently for adults. It has never stopped working in nearly four decades.
06
About Time
A young man discovers he can travel back in time and uses the ability to improve his romantic life, before learning what time travel actually teaches you. About Time is Richard Curtis at his most mature. The rom-com elements are charming. But the film gradually becomes about something much larger: how to live a life consciously, with attention, with gratitude. The final twenty minutes will destroy you in the best possible way.
07
Chef
A talented chef quits his high-profile restaurant job, buys a food truck, and rebuilds his career and his relationship with his son. Chef is the most immediately pleasurable film on this list. The food looks extraordinary. The music is outstanding. The father-son dynamic is warm and honest. It asks nothing difficult of you and gives back considerably more than you expect. Perfect for a slow afternoon when you want to be transported somewhere good.
08
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
A rebellious foster child and his reluctant uncle go on the run through the New Zealand bush. Taika Waititi made Hunt for the Wilderpeople before Thor: Ragnarok made him a household name, and it remains his best film. It's hilarious. It's beautifully shot. The chemistry between Julian Dennison and Sam Neill is extraordinary. And it earns a final emotional moment that will sneak up on you completely.
09
Singin' in the Rain
Hollywood in 1927, as silent films give way to talkies and one studio scrambles to stay relevant. Singin' in the Rain is the perfect musical and one of the most technically accomplished films ever made. Gene Kelly's athleticism is staggering. The jokes are sharp. The Lina Lamont subplot is genuinely funny in a way that satirises celebrity culture just as sharply today as it did in 1952. A Sunday afternoon staple that never loses its power.
10
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
A daydreaming photo editor at Life magazine embarks on a real adventure to find a missing negative before the magazine's final print issue. Walter Mitty is a divisive film with a devoted following, and the following is right. It's visually spectacular. The Iceland and Himalaya sequences are breathtaking. Its message, that real life is worth showing up for, is delivered without irony. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, it hits exactly where you want it to.
Sunday afternoons are finite. The light starts to change around four and you remember that tomorrow is Monday. The right film makes those hours feel like a gift. Pick one of these and give yourself the afternoon properly.