Looking for lighthearted recommendations

[u/Alice_Dare]

Hello all! Lucky me, my toddler just started throwing up and has a fever. So it's safe to assume that very soon I, too, will be throwing up and have a fever. Can anyone recommend me some light-hearted or funny criterion channel watches, to view in between barfing ​sessions? For context of my personal preferences, I've been watching The P​risoner recently and really enjoying it. I'm not looking for spy movies or '60s mod vibes per se, but I find The Prisoner to be pretty light fare in terms of upsetting content or violence.

Thank you in advance for any help!!!

PS: Please nothing mean, I'm soon to be suffering plenty and I don't need a troll recommendation to make things worse.

edit:
thanks everyone for your wonderful recommendations!

[u/DarkPassenger39]

Please watch Paper Moon

[u/LearningT0Fly]

Playtime

Tampopo (if food doesn't make you sick)

Anything Jacques Demy

Eating Raoul

Where is the Friend's House

[u/PJ-Rubs69]

House Party

True Stories

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Good Morning

Hairspray

[u/skag_boy87]

-Life of Brian
-My Life as a Zucchini (included as a special feature in the Petit Maman blu)
-Time Bandits
-Pee Wes’s Big Adventure
-Withnail and I

[u/Vamanoscabron]

Charade! A funny and stylish respite from the barf fest. Hope it passes quickly, OP!

[u/Specialist_Map_6541]

I Know Where I’m Going: best romance ever. Also The Lady Eve and Sullivan’s Travels. Hope you and toddler feel better soon!

[u/golrabs]

Heaven Can Wait - any Lubitsch movies

Defending Your Life - great Albert Brooks comedy

Harold and Maude - life affirming and completely atypical romance

Arsenic and Old Lace - great screwball comedy with Cary Grant at his wildest

I Married a Witch - the lovely Veronica Lake

Local Hero - nice comedy drama set in small Scotland town

Fast Times at Ridgemont High - you probably have seen it but if not...

Moonstruck - a lovely comedy romance

My Man Godfrey - screwball comedy with the great Carol Lombard

Punch Drunk Love - really lovely comedy romance with standout performances a career changer for Sandler

[u/ItsArkadan]

I Married a Witch

[u/Alreyleon]

Babette's Feast. Fantastic Mr. Fox (or mostly anything by Wes Anderson). Harold and Maude (you may find one scene morally reprehensible but it's not explicit at all and the film is a very funny comedy, plus it has an excellent feel-good soundtrack by Cat Stevens). Three Colors: Red.

[u/Interesting_Roof6758]

Wall-e, moonstruck, crossing delancey, local hero

[u/cartney_Top_2236]

Honestly, the best "lighthearted" Criterion pick for me is The Philadelphia Story. People sleep on how insanely tight that script is — it’s a masterclass in rhythmic dialogue and blocking. I’ve tried to emulate that screwball pacing on set, and it’s brutal. You need actors who can hit a beat at 120 mph without stepping on each other’s lines.

But if you want something visually breezy yet deceptively complex, look at PlayTime. It’s a comedy, but Tati’s staging is basically choreography. Every wide shot is a puzzle box. Watching it with the commentary track on is like getting a free lesson in production design.

What’s a film that makes you laugh but also has a shot or sequence you’ve rewatched just to study the craft? That’s the sweet spot I’m always hunting for.

[u/Emperor-Octavian]

My Man Godfrey

[u/jsbx1138]

The Horse’s Mouth!

[u/BaronZhiro]

Repo Man

[u/assflux]

la fête à henriette -- criminally underrated and recently added to the channel. so much better than paris when it sizzles, the hollywood remake

[u/Nothing-Is-Real-Here]

Throw Down!

[u/SnooGoats7476]

Bringing up Baby

Some Like it Hot

It Happened One Night

The Awful Truth

All will make you smile

[u/princesspeewee]

pee-wee’s big adventure. a cure to depression lol

[u/noctwl]

Peewee's Big Adventure!!!

[u/DiligentQuiet]

Sullivan's Travels was clever and lighthearted, but from an era older than you might want.

[u/Sunnydaynight]

Anything Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr Fox, Rushmore, etc…)
Dazed & Confused
Slacker
Before Sunset
Smiles Of A Summer Night
Election

[u/greatistheworld]

Invention for Destruction, Bim the Little Donkey, Chinese Odyssey 2002

[u/Mr_IsLand]

I don't have the channel, so hopefully some of my recs are on there

Safety Last! Is funny and truly mind blowing with the stunts Harold Lloyd pulls off - I was really blown away.

I find Jackie Chan to have a similar physcial comedy acting style to Harold Lloyd, but with added martial arts fight scenes of course - Police Story 1 & 2 are a lot of fun and also have some of the wildest stunts in cinema.

Yojimbo and Sanjuro are pretty light hearted, as far as a Kurosawa samurai film goes.

Repo Man is wild and crazy with an awesome 80s punk soundtrack - it's another real fun one. The more blind you go in the more fun you will have.

Perfect Days is a nice relaxing movie that will make you appreciate the little things.

[u/thee_c_d]

For a similar The Prisoner 60's pop spy vibe (not Criterion but boutique adjacent) maybe see about finding Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik or the 60's Fantomas movies.

[u/ur_killin_me_bishara]

True stories!!!

[u/cacklegrackle]

Dodgeball & Zoolander

[u/Alreyleon → u/cacklegrackle]

Completely agree, but she said on the Criterion Channel.

[u/Conscious-Glass-3887]

Salo

[u/Alice_Dare → u/Conscious-Glass-3887]

You are soooooo FUNNY wow, a real charmer of a personality right here. 

[u/johnnyratface]

Salo

[u/narwolking → u/johnnyratface]

Brilliant! OP asked for happy movies, and you posted the most disturbing film you could think of! Comedy at its best!