Again, I'm not claiming these are "the best," so don't wig out if you disagree. The criteria I used here was simple: These are the movies that caused me to run around telling people, "Ohmigod, you gotta see this film!"

American Dreamz

Critics didn't much embrace this movie, but I loved it. Maybe director Paul Weitz's satire tried to hit too many targets and wound up firing buckshot all over the screen, but you have to respect his intentions and those of a game cast including Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Klein, Jennifer Coolidge and Hugh Grant. Dreamz, of course, lampoons American Idol. Moore is a singer with the voice of an angel and the soul of... well, no soul at all, really. Quaid is the President of the United States, a yokel who suffers a breakdown when he (finally) reads a newspaper and discovers his country hates him. "I can't even remember why I wanted to get into politics to begin with," he says. "I think it's because my mom wanted me to, to show my dad any idiot could do it." To salvage his popularity, he volunteers as guest judge on Dreamz. Terrorists send in their own competitor