Something that's obvious without being obnoxious. A tall order.</br>The Other Guys is good for a laugh, though I'd imagine most people have seen it. I Heart Huckabees has that arthouse street cred on it, but is still funny and engaging. Galaxy Quest holds up.</br></br>Action division: you can't go wrong with Crimson Tide. Or strap in for the empty-calories, full-throttle rip of Den of Thieves or Den of Thieves II - which are everything that The Fast and the Furious movies want to be.</br></br>If it's a crowd who wants to watch a popcorn flick while still pretending they're smart, then try either one of those Knives Out movies.

Mr. Nobody - I think everyone can enjoy their weird pseudo-philosophical vibe it has

Withnail and I

I've never met anyone who didn't enjoy the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but I feel like most people older than 10 and younger than 50 have probably already seen it. Fury Road is a solid choice if the gang likes high-octane action, and The Big Lebowski is quite universally loved as far as dramadies go. And IMO you can never go wrong with Children of Men, Prisoners, or the OG Alien.

For me the go tos are The Nice Guys and Stand By Me.

My mind goes to Midnight in Paris. It's pretty, lighthearted and has a warm-fuzzy story. Just distract your friends when they show who wrote and directed it.

Well I don't think such a thing as "quality crowd pleasers" ever existed, as any films trying to do that eventually failed. What I usually do is that I tell them "why is this film significant to me". For example, "Plankton: The Movie" was very funny to me, and I still remember some of Plankton's lines like he reflecting on himself after Sponge Bob Square Paints told him why he was so bad, and he figured: " Oh right, because I'm a jerk...I'm a jerky jerk! Hahahaha". You know, there were couple days I couldn't help myself to laugh on this line, even when I was having a serious conversation with my mother. My mom was mad and she kept questioning me "What's so funny about, huh?" And I couldn't tell her because I was laughing on Plankton's line: "because I'm a jerky jerk..."