Summer Double Features

Memorial Day is behind us, temperatures are starting to rise, and the humidity levels around here are already on their way to "bring a snorkel to go outside". We still have a few weeks before the official start of summer, but it's never too early to line up some summer movies to watch or re-watch.

This started out as a list of "favorite" or "best" summer movies, but do you really need someone else telling you to watch Jaws again?* Instead, I've lined up some double-features for an imaginary drive-in where we pair a classic summer blockbuster (about which I will say no more, because you already know that you're gonna need a bigger boat) with a lesser-known gem.

Independence Day (1996) & Monsters (2010)

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"PASSAGE TO AMERICA TICKETS - free gas mask!"

Our first double-feature is for anyone who feels that summer isn't complete without a good alien invasion. Monsters is like Independence Day on Opposite Day. Made on a shoestring budget, with improvised dialogue in lieu of a script, Monsters is quiet and slow and surprisingly thoughtful. The aliens, who have "infected" a large portion of Mexico running along the border between the United States and Mexico, are an unseen threat for most of the film.

If you recently saw A Complete Unknown and wondered how an actor playing the nearly silent, dying Woody Guthrie could steal scenes from the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Edward Norton, allow me to welcome you to the Scoot McNairy fanclub. He doesn't often get to be a leading man, so it's a treat when he does.

McNairy plays a photojournalist named Andrew Kaulder, who is hired to find his boss' daughter, Sam, played Whitney Able, and help her return to the United States. Inevitably, their journey takes them overland through the "quarantine zone". Even as they travel through increasingly dangerous territory, the film focuses more on atmosphere and the growing chemistry between Kaulder and Sam (the actors were married from 2010-19) than on alien encounters. The deeper they venture into alien territory, the more reasons they find to question the perceived monstrousness of the aliens themselves.

Monsters is the movie to see if you're less interested in watching Will Smith punch an alien in the head (not that there's anything wrong with that) than in watching the sun set over the jungle while contemplating the definition of "intelligent" life in the universe.

Overall rating: Three out of four giant squids from outer space

James Bond (your pick: 1962-2021) & Spy Game (2001)

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"I thought spies drank martinis."

Spy Game is the only movie on this list with pure Hollywood blockbuster DNA. But somehow…it wasn't. It had Robert Redford playing Nathan Muir, a cynical CIA agent on the verge of retirement, and Brad Pitt as his idealistic protégé, Tom Bishop (code name: Boy Scout). Tony Scott, king of 80's and 90's action hits including Top Gun, Crimson Tide, and Enemy of the State, directed. Yet for reasons I will never understand, not only was Spy Game not a massive hit, but many people have never heard of it. Was it Brad Pitt's 70's mullet? Was its release poorly timed, just a couple of months after 9/11? The trailer may also have played a part in its failure relative to its pedigree, having led audiences to expect more gunplay and explosions than carefully coded telephone conversations.

An ill-fated prison break has led to Bishop's capture by the Chinese. The film jumps between the present day and Muir's recollections of his history with Bishop in a variety of hot spots around the world, over multiple decades. Spy Game's overall feel is much closer to The Bourne Identity, released a year later with much greater success, than to stunt-heavy films like the Bond and Mission: Impossible series. There are some speeding cars, explosions, and a little jogging over rooftops, but the suspense primarily comes from Redford trying to rescue Bishop from a Chinese prison without ever leaving the surveilled confines of CIA headquarters.

Overall rating: Four out of four wire transfers to an account in the Caymans

Dirty Dancing (1987) & Shag (1988)

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"This was our last weekend together, and we didn't feel like going to Fort Sumter and touring goddamn colonial homes. We wanted to go to the beach and meet boys and go to wild parties and dance!"

If you're in the mood for a girls-coming-of-age-in-the-1960's film but you already know every lift and every "I carried a watermelon" of Dirty Dancing, try Shag. Shag was clearly trying to attract the same audiences who flocked to Dirty Dancing the previous summer, but audiences had moved on, missing out on a sweet and funny film that has been undeservedly forgotten. It features four friends (Phoebe Cates, Annabeth Gish, Page Hannah, & Bridget Fonda) traveling to Myrtle Beach for a bachelorette weekend. Fairly predictable hijinks ensue, with the requisite dance-offs, wild parties, and good girls falling for bad boys, but do we really mind predictability when there's a Shag contest to attend?

Overall rating: Three out of four hoop skirts

Meatballs (1979) & Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

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"There are some lower campers stuck in the ropes course. I meant to tell you about that yesterday, but could you get to it now?"

Remember that time they made a movie starring Janeane Garofalo, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks, and no one saw it?

Wet Hot American Summer made less than $300,000 of its $5 million budget. It came, it went, and then a funny thing happened: half the cast turned into major stars. Set on the last day of "Camp Firewood" in 1981, Wet Hot American Summer parodies the classic 1980's summer camp films, with the absurdity dialed way up (wait until you get to the talking can of vegetables). The film is as funny as you would expect from the makers of the MTV sketch comedy series The State, including David Wain and Michael Showalter.

Wet Hot American Summer also offers an opportunity for binging, because it was followed 14 years later by the 8-episode series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and then Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, three years after that. Its humor isn't for everyone, but you'll know within about five minutes if it's for you.** It's the kind of smart-stupid and often very crude humor that bombs with critics but builds a cult following among people with a sense of humor tuned to the same goofy frequency. And hey, if you have to spend a weekend in July knocked out by one of those incredibly annoying summer colds, Wet Hot American Summer and its prequel/sequel series may be just what you need for a couple of days spent snuffling on the couch.

Overall Rating: Three out of four s'mores

Jaws (1975) & Open Water (2003)

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"Oh God! Something's rubbing against my foot!"

Thalassophobia: the persistent and intense fear of deep bodies of water, such as the ocean, seas, or lakes.

Seems reasonable?

I am actually unsure of whether I should recommend Open Water. I saw it once, years ago, and I have no desire to see it again. Nevertheless, it kept coming back to me when I was making this list. It comes back to me when I squint at a bare blue horizon. It comes back to me when I am underwater and can't see more than a few feet into the shifting shadows. And it certainly comes back to me when a submerged something brushes against my foot.

Based on a true story, Open Water has no stars, little dialogue, and basically a single location: the open sea. The trailers make it look like much more happens in the film than what actually happens. A couple goes on a scuba diving day trip and emerge from the water to discover that their boat has accidentally departed without them. And so they wait. They float, they fight, day turns to night, night turns to day, and they are left to contemplate the distinct possibility that they might die in the vastness of the ocean.

I honestly don't know if it's a good film. I don't remember the characters' names, and the few quotes I found suggest that the script wasn't great. But I can tell you that once you've seen the film and shuddered at its ending, you will never forget it. Now, is that a recommendation or a warning?

Overall rating: Two or three out of four things that go "splash" in the night

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I hope you've enjoyed your time at the drive-in. Got any more summer double-feature recommendations? Leave 'em in the comments!

*But you should, on a regular basis. Just ask An Honest Fangirl.

**The cast were in their 30's when they were playing 16-year-olds in the first film. The same actors in their mid-40's returned to play their characters in the follow-up series…as 16-year-olds, two months before the first film, on the first day of camp. The second series featured the same 40-something cast playing their 26-year old characters. Whether you find the idea of that hilarious may indicate whether you will enjoy Wet Hot American Summer-style humor.
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Mothra saw Jaws for the first time before spending a week on Cape Cod and rates the experience zero out of four "boat accidents".