In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year. When measuring back as far as twenty years or more, I feel like “favorites” that have stood the test of time have aged to become some level of “best.” I feel like a bunch of those populate my reflective look back at the best of 2000.

It seems like every movie geek in the world never stops talking about 1999. Article after article and entire volumes of books proclaim it one of, or even the last, great year of movies. Does that make it a tough act to follow for the 2000 year of movies? I personally don’t think so. The threat of Y2K didn’t kill us and neither did the movies.

As with every year, I need to offer a personal level of clarification when I build and justify lists like the one you’re going to read below for 2000. That challenge is that there can often be a distinct difference between a movie that is considered one of the “best,” respected and revered on technical and artistic levels, and something held dear as a personal and subjective “favorite.” I find myself torn between “bests” and “favorites” all the time, every year present or past, when creating any “10 Best” list as a credentialed film critic. Call it an occupational hazard. Alright, cue the futuristic Conan O’Brien bit!

The 10 Best Movies of 2000

Back when I was “At th Movies with Don” for the Saint Joseph’s College The Observer student newspaper, I actually did make a year-end “10 Best” list like a wannabe critic. With my young eyes, my 1-2 were Cast Away and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In the two decades since, the foreign champion has overtaken the Tom Hanks classic for my #1 spot. Not only did it open a rabbit hole for me to discover more Asian cinema, I think every inch of it holds up as wuxia’s finest hour. Many imitators have tried their revolutionary wire team stunt work, but no movie has matched its drama and heft at the same time. That deeper journey into foreign film led to a #4 placement of Wong Kar-Wai’s sumptuously delicate and powerfully colorful In the Mood for Love. 

Not to knock one of my favorite Hanks pictures, but Ridley Scott’s monstrous Gladiator has aged better to pass Cast Away as well. Much like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Gladiator’s revival of the sword-and-sandal epic has not been topped by pretenders since either. Its brawn has lost little strength and it’s looking like Russell Crowe finest hour in retrospect. Cast Away is still a wonderful top film and it wasn’t going to slip far. 

Little bits of Americana fill the rest of my top 10. I was late to the Almost Famous party where I didn’t see it until 12 years later and it stuck. Hoosiers be damned, I think Love & Basketball is right there with He Got Game as arguably the best basketball movie of all-time. I value its realism in and away from the game so much. A second sports movie in the form of Remember the Titans, even with its cherry-picked dramatization, was a necessary selection as well. I know The American President is more charming and Air Force One is cooler, but Thirteen Days is one of the best presidential movies I’ve ever seen. It packs excellent history and tension solidly.

Lastly, in case of “favorites” morphing into “bests,” two romantic comedies win spots on my “10 best” list. I think Keeping the Faith is the most enjoyable romantic comedy of its entire decade and a dazzling directorial debut from Edward Norton. Maybe it’s some Chicago bias, but I find the sweet nature of the comedy/drama balance in Return to Me very difficult to pull off in its genre. For funny lady Bonnie Hunt to pair hearty laughs with tear-jerking heart like that is really special. Take a look below at the “next 10” that just missed the cut.

The Next 10 Best:

11. Unbreakable

12. Frequency

13. The Perfect Storm

14. Erin Brockovich

15. High Fidelity

16. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

17. Finding Forrester

18. Men of Honor

19. X-Men

20. What Lies Beneath