I don’t like crying at movies. I don’t like crying in general, but at movies, it makes it hard to pay attention to what’s going on! So when I say that these ten movies made me choke up, tears falling and crying, then know that they are pretty sad. If you need a good tearjerker, then check out any of these movies. Make sure you bring your Kleenex and a good drink of water!
10. Up
Mostly, Pixar’s Up is an animated comedy/drama/adventure story. But Pixar did something that it hadn’t before and that is to get people sobbing in the first ten minutes of the pictures rolling. Anyone who can watch the main protagonist and his wife grow up together, overcome the loss of dreams and then the main hero lose his wife to age without sobbing is made from stone. At least it’s over with first so that you can laugh along with the rest of the movie!
9. PS, I Love You
To this day, I cannot watch this movie for fear of tears. Certainly, the plot is nothing big and everything else was standard enough, but some horrid combination of hormones, the feelings of love stretching across the void and the overcoming of a great loss conspired to put me in tears the first time I saw it. To this day, I refuse to watch it again for fear that I’ll burst into tears and everyone will tease me about crying over a sappy love story. Sheesh.
8. Marley and Me
It’s a movie about someone’s dog and we get to grow up with that dog from puppyhood to death and all of the things which Marley’s owners got into with the dog’s help. By the end, you’ll feel as though you lost your furry pal too! Of course anything with pets is bound to be a tearjerker at some point.
7. Titanic
It may be cheesy at times and a long movie, but the ending combined with the theme song is bound to get just about anyone feeling a bit stuck in the throat. It’s the sort of movie that certainly sticks with you long after you’ve seen it, whether you like to admit it or not!
6. Corpse Bride
This one had my significant other in tears by the ending. Although many people have mixed feelings about this movie, the beautiful stop motion animation, a solid and creative story and great characters culminates in an absolutely beautiful ending. Is it a happy ending? A sad one? Tim Burton leaves that up to us, but either way, it’s certainly moving.
5. The Green Mile
The Green Mile is a combination supernatural and prison movie, about a security guard who witnesses amazing events stemming from a soft-spoken black man convicted of rape. Taking place during the 1930s, this movie explores things like prejudice and judgmental behaviors. Throughout the movie, it’s hard not to feel choked up and by the ending, you’ll be out of tissue!
4. Toy Story 3
Sure it’s largely a kid’s movie (although like other Pixar movies, there are plenty of sly jokes and winks to the adults), but the tearjerker moments are for everyone. The toys nearly getting killed? Andy giving them up to another child to enjoy? The ending had the entire theatre in tears and it took a little while for me to actually bring myself to watch the movie again, even though I really enjoyed it! After all, my child does not need to see me crying into my hands when we’re watching it together!
3. A Walk to Remember
Like PS, I Love You, this is an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book and that basically ensures tear jerking. A Walk to Remember is even more so as it centers on a ‘bad boy’ and a ‘good girl’ coming together and changing each other. However, when good girl lead is diagnosed with terminal leukemia, her boyfriend has to look beyond his bad boy persona to help her cross off her bucket list and become a better man himself. Let the tears rain freely!
2. Schindler’s List
It’s a holocaust movie and hat alone will make it a tearjerker, but what makes this movie stand out is the amazing acting done by the characters, particularly Oskar Schindler who uses his business connections, cunning and care to rescue thousands of refugees. The ending where he has to flee and realizes he could have saved just a few more but can’t now is guaranteed to make you choke up and vow to find a way to ensure that history will never repeat itself.
1. Stepmom
It maybe another movie that is considered a bit cheesy, but the premise is certainly something to weep over. It’s a cancer movie, it’s a movie about a woman having to let go of her family and her life and trust another woman to take over and it’s a movie about trust and love. What more could you ask for in a tear jerker? Although it may seem a bit over-laden in terms of the ‘feels’, it is still a good movie and is pretty well guaranteed to make you shed some tears.
Have your Kleenex ready and your big drink of water and a bowl of popcorn? Get ready to let loose the waterworks and enjoy with one or many of these movies. Enjoy!
