Film Rx: Movies to Watch When You're Sick

It seems like everyone around me is sick right now. It's probably only a third of the people I work, play, and live with, but either way, that's a lot of folks lately who are stuck in bed, huddled under blankets, littering the floor with wadded tissues, and hoping to take their minds off their ills. If that sounds like you, send a friend over to the library to pick up your film Rx.

Movies have healing properties. They affect our moods. The right one can make us feel better. And recovery is often as much a psychological process as it is physical one. So any film that is familiar enough to fall asleep to and not too much of a thinker or a downer is just what the doctor ordered.

A friend of mine said he couldn't name a specific title because he'd want to use his sick time to catch up on all the movies he hasn't seen yet. That's a valid point. But as for me, when I'm sick, I can't focus and I don't want to multitask. I want my old favorites around me: my mug, my robe, my recliner, and my movies.

Most of the picks below will probably peg me as a child of the eighties, but it's really the genres that are important -- prescribing the right remedy to match what you're going through and what you need.

Classic call-in flicks:

Princess Bride
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Sick over the holidays:

Elf or Home Alone
Love Actually or It's a Wonderful Life

Too sick to follow a plot:

Top Hat or Viva Las Vegas
Overboard or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

It hurts when I laugh:

History of the World, Part 1 or A Night at the Opera
Caddyshack or Wayne's World

I want my mommy:

Tangled or Finding Nemo
Mary Poppins or The NeverEnding Story

Long term care:

All 3 Lord of the Rings or all 3 original Star Wars
All 3 Back to the Futures or all 3 Godfathers

On the mend:

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan or Top Gun
The Thin Man or O Brother Where Art Thou

Which movies do you want to watch when you're home sick?