What's the best movie to watch on the Fourth of July?

Jaws, Do The Right Thing, Iron Man, and other film recommendations for your Independence Day

By Erik Adams, Laura Adamczyk, Alex McLevy, Katie Rife, Matt Schimkowitz, Gwen Ihnat, Saloni Gajjar, Marah Eakin, Tatiana Tenreyro, Gabrielle Sanchez, Shanicka Anderson, William Hughes | July 3, 2022 | 9:00am

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What's the best movie to watch on the Fourth of July?

Clockwise from upper left: Jaws (Screenshot), Do The Right Thing (Screenshot), and Iron Man (Screenshot)

This week, as America prepares to celebrate its independence, our question for the The A.V. Club staff is holiday-specific:

What’s the best movie to watch on the Fourth of July?

We kicked off this discussion by first posing it to readers on our Facebook page. Read on to find some of their picks along with The A.V. Club’s, and make your favorites known in the comments below. Happy Independence Day!

Men In Black

The obvious move is to go with , but you should also consider the second time Will Smith saved the world from an alien invasion in a movie released over the Fourth of July weekend: The gold standard for late-’90s special effects comedies, Men In Black. What’s more Americana than a movie that climaxes with CGI fireworks on the grounds of the 1964 New York World’s Fair—whose entire setup puts an intergalactic spin on the feel-good myth of the American melting pot? All that, plus Smith’s boundless “Gettin’ Jiggy With It”-era energy playing off of bone-dry turns from Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Fiorentino, and Vincent D’Onofrio acting his ass off from beneath “a brand new Edgar suit.” [Erik Adams]

Jaws

Imagine you’ve been at a picnic all day. You’re sunburnt and dehydrated. That’s why you’re going home instead of to a park for fireworks (which, to be clear, is what you should be doing). Back in the air conditioning, you don’t want anything too heavy. You don’t want to sink (further) into the melancholy that comes from realizing how fast the summer is passing. You also don’t want to be bombarded with deafening action-movie shit. This is no time to watch the White House get blown up. It is time to watch a great white shark get blown up. may not be the most directly related to the holiday (though it does partially take place over a Fourth of July weekend), but when Brody shoots the oxygen tank, which the shark has been chewing on absentmindedly like a mouthguard, and its flesh explodes into the air, its skin and blood and organ chunks falling into the water, the gentle arc each piece makes is familiar enough. [Laura Adamczyk]

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Anything directed by Steven Spielberg

The T. Rex Escapes the Paddock in 4K HDR | Jurassic Park

The most American thing I’ve ever done on the Fourth of July is eat too much barbecue and feel nauseous watching a Transformers sequel. But the best Independence Day programming is directed by Steven Spielberg. Whatever affection people around the world have for the United States doesn’t come from our politicians, but from our blockbuster movies, and Spielberg is one of America’s greatest ambassadors in this regard. As Laura pointed out, one of Spielberg’s more cynical movies, Jaws, is the ultimate July 4th pick. But similarly elevates B-movie pulp into popcorn entertainment with worldwide appeal, as does and . Any of Spielberg’s family-friendly blockbusters from the late ’70s through the early ’90s will do; I like to crank up the air conditioning to maximize the narcotic pull of childhood nostalgia, which I know is bad for the environment, but hey—isn’t that kind of American, too? [Katie Rife]

Live Free Or Die Hard

On Facebook, :You don’t even need to ask because it’s obviously Live Free And Die Hard!”It’s an Independence Day-based sequel to the classic, must-watch-yearly, Christmas movie.Yippie Kai Yay motherfuckers!

Do The Right Thing

On July 4 some years ago, I trekked alone to the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City went to see on 35mm. One of my favorites since high school, this was my first time seeing it on the big screen, and it was one of the best cinematic experiences I’ve ever had. Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson’s boiling red hues burn the audience with their rays, evoking the hottest day of the year and the simmering racial inequity that has plagued this country since its founding. July 4 is both a commemoration of American history and a celebration of Americans, its people, as they exist. Appropriately, Do The Right Thing has a block party feel that celebrates the communities that actually make America what it is and how those communities are still a battleground for freedom from tyranny. And that’s the truth, Ruth. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Fight Club

For years now, my significant other and I have treated the rah-rah patriotism of the Fourth of July as a chance for some contrarian counter-programming. (I believe it began the year that we used the Fourth to go see the exploitation-cinema documentary .) After all, what’s more American than sticking your head in the sand and refusing to acknowledge what’s all around you? So after a decade or so of this, I’ve settled on what seems to be the perfect antidote to jingoism: . An arrogant protagonist who thinks he knows exactly how the world works, only to learn he’s been fighting himself all along? A delightfully slick satire about the cult-like mentality of insular radicalism that nonetheless rolls with its revolutionary ideals? A gleeful evisceration of violence that’s simultaneously attracted to it? A slice of homoerotic genius? Why not all of the above? Plus, if you simply must have eye-popping spectacle on your July holiday, there’s shirtless Brad Pitt in his prime, slugging away with a bunch of other half-dressed gentlemen. [Alex McLevy]

Dick

Several months into the Biden presidency, many of us are still grappling with post-Trump stress disorder. This Fourth of July, restore your faith in democracy by watching the time a crooked commander in chief got taken down while still in office. If seems a little heady for your holiday weekend, though, check out 1999’s immensely enjoyable , in which teenaged White House dog walkers Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams manage to expose the big guy. Steered by the adorable performances of its two young leads, Dick crafts a screwball, satirical, and yes, patriotic breakdown of the Watergate scandal, with inspired (fictional) theories behind Nixon’s paranoia and the 18 missing minutes on those famous tapes. Look for a lot of your comedy favorites in cameos, like Will Ferrell as Bob Woodward, Dave Foley as Bob Haldeman, and Harry Shearer as G. Gordon Liddy, as well as dad Dan Hedaya in a spot-on portrayal of Nixon himself. [Gwen Ihnat]

Avatar

On Facebook, : Avatar. It’s a strong if allegorical indictment of American imperialism. A romantic view of our history perpetuates our bad habits.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

There is no better movie for this long weekend than 1997’s . Maybe I’m biased because the movie literally kicks off on July 4. A group of four friends head off for a holiday weekend but instead (apparently) kill someone. A year later, they’re being stalked, threatened, and killed because someone knows what they did. Is it the smartest or most meta, self-aware horror movie? Hell no. But it’s still entertaining to see Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillippe try to escape a psycho killer during the town’s Independence Day parade, among other situations. It’s the perfect low-stakes movie set in the summer to enjoy from the comfort of your home instead of being out in the sweltering heat. [Saloni Gajjar]

Wet Hot American Summer

I appreciate everyone’s action picks, but I’m going to go with something a little more light-hearted: . The perfect blend of summer camp in the literal sense and summer camp in the descriptive sense, WHAS has something for everyone. Even though I’ve seen it an estimated 10,000 times, it still makes me laugh so much. It’s even filled with life lessons about love, respect, and . It’s the perfect movie, and for my money, the absolutely perfect July Fourth watch. [Marah Eakin]

Dazed And Confused

Fourth of July isn’t really about being patriotic (or at least not to me). It’s about celebrating that it’s finally summer and we have a short break from work. That’s why besides Wet Hot American Summer, feels like the perfect comedy to celebrate having a summer break. Richard Linklater’s movie was a favorite as a teen, which made me long for the kinds of hijinks that the characters find themselves in to celebrate school being out for the summer. And while now I’m an adult without the luxury of having a couple of months of leisure time, watching Dazed And Confused during a four-day weekend feels like the closest thing to replicating that teenage holiday freedom. Keg parties aren’t my thing anymore, so I might as well live vicariously through Pink, Slater, and the rest of the gang. [Tatiana Tenreyro]

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

“Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” Damn right, it’s me six White Claws in looking for a bag of barbecue chips. In the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, two bone-head high schoolers (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) embark on a venture through time, gathering historical icons such as Abraham Lincoln and Billy The Kid, all so they don’t “flunk most heinously.” A perfect society is on the line, as Ted’s father threatens to send him to military school, a punishment that’s endured in American film for decades. Bill and Ted, along with their gang of historical figures, venture through all-American capitalist dreamscapes—places like the mall and the waterpark. Ultimately, nothing feels more American than a two teenagers who lack any understanding of U.S. history. [Gabrielle Sanchez]

The Sandlot

Several readers put in a vote for this millennial favorite with a deep boomer nostalgia streak, a Wonder Years riff that sets its most majestic scene against a backdrop of fireworks and Ray Charles.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The most—and perhaps, the only—patriotic thing about me is how much I love Captain America. Though the Fourth is the perfect time to sit outside in someone’s backyard, inhaling veggie burgers and chugging bougie craft ciders with reckless abandon, it is also the perfect excuse to rewatch . Even though dozens of Avengers films have been released since, and there are dozens more in the never-ending Marvel pipeline, The Winter Soldier is for me. It’s funny, the fight scenes are epic and satisfying, and most importantly: I can enjoy Steve, Bucky, and Sam’s storylines while blissfully ignoring the weight of my knowledge of how messy it all gets in future. [Shanicka Anderson]

Iron Man

My summer-roasted mind also immediately drifts Marvel-ward, but my pick goes for the true representative of America’s core values: Recklessly individualistic, weapons-obsessed smartass . Quick-moving, heavy on personality, and resting on the shoulders of what was, at the time, one of the freshest superhero performances in cinematic history, the very first MCU movie is perfect “too hot outside to grill” viewing. Plus: What could be more American than watching a billionaire blow up large parts of the landscape in a contradictory effort to tear apart the military-industrial complex with the fruits of the military-industrial complex? All that, plus one of the great “hell yeah” endings in superhero fiction; what’s not to love? [William Hughes]

Team America: World Police

Celebrate the holiday with a “hell yeah” or a “”—we’d be remiss if we didn’t note reader endorsements of the early ’00s’ ultimate shock-and-awe satire, . (And if you’re looking for another, earlier pick that cuts even deeper than Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s puking-puppet epic, .)