10 Best Father's Day Movies to Watch with Dad
Looking for a cult comedy? Search no further than Airplane! The 1980 disaster comedy single-handedly put pun-based humor on the map. I usually joke that you shouldn’t show your loved ones films that you casually steal lines from, because they’ll know you didn’t make it up yourself. But Airplane! is so funny that it’s worth revealing your tricks.
Sean Connery might have only been twelve years older than Harrison Ford when the two filmed the Raiders of the Lost Ark sequel about ol’ Indy’s father, but that doesn’t make the third Indiana Jones film any less of the perfect Father’s Day film. In fact, I’m willing to bet that all father-son pairings following The Last Crusade hope to capture even a fraction of the duo’s on-screen charisma.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Field of Dreams is the perfect combo for a dad movie: Kevin Costner and ghosts of baseball’s past. The movie even mentions that the Dodgers used to play in Brooklyn. Did you know that? Damn right you did. What about the 1919 Black Sox Scandal? Read about that before? Sure you have. Field of Dreams is also Burt Lancaster’s final role. Heard of him? Yup! And hey, there’s a teenage Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in the Fenway Park scene! Did you spot that? Stop me before I talk over the entire film.
Father’s Day is as good a time as any to show your kids some good movies for once. It’s time to upgrade from the Toy Story sequels and Marvel CGI-a-paloozas and show your family some quality art. So, why not start with an absolute masterpiece?
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
OK… maybe the little ones aren’t ready for The Godfather. If your family is still sorting through the Finding Nemos of the world, let me suggest a modern animated tale that might not be on your radar: The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Produced by the team behind The LEGO Movie (2014) and 21 Jump Street (2012), the film follows a father who simply can’t connect to his daughter’s tech-savvy generation. With a little help from a technological doomsday scenario, the family is forced to come together and adapt—for the good of the world.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Switching gears with this one: There likely isn’t a more devoted father in film than Liam Neeson in Taken. Playing the ruthless, retired CIA officer, Bryan Mills, Neeson will stop at nothing to rescue his kidnapped daughter from human traffickers. This cult action film grossed $200 million at the box office and spurned an entire franchise.
Mr. Mom’s brand of comedy might feel a little dated by today’s standard, but the 1983 family film about a stay-at-home father who takes care of the kids his wife pursues a career in advertising isn’t any less funny in 2025. It certainly helps that John Hughes (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) wrote the script. Plus, the film stars Michael Keaton in his first leading role.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) recounts the life of his late father, Robert Downey Sr., in this touching documentary directed by Jim & Andy’s Chris Smith. “I needed to process this,” Downey Jr. told Esquire in 2022. “I’m processing things that have nothing to do with Sr. about my own life now because of the Sr. movie—and what it means to me now that I’m in the position he was in… All of us with a parent—mother, father, uncle, significant person in our lives—have this moment where we felt like just touching them would keep us from being pulled into this scary, unknown realm called Everything Happens in Life.”
There are plenty of films and TV shows that feature found father-daughter relationships. Just look at how successful pairing Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey is for HBO’s The Last of Us. And yet, Paper Moon is the cream of the crop. Starring the real-life father and daughter duo of Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, the 1973 film about a conman and his surprisingly swindle-savvy orphan is a real heart-warmer.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
esquire
