UPDATED: April 2020 (Removed some stuff I don't think really fits here on this list, added some glaring omissions, and updated it for films released in the last couple of years)
So, you might be asking yourself, "What *is* a SadWhitePeople™ movie?" It's not just a movie with sad white people in them. That would be every movie ever. A SadWhitePeople™ movie is a film about affluent, healthy, straight white people who are sad about emotionally abusive relationships, dead family members, and the various crises that people (mostly SadWhiteMen™) go through in their lives.
This isn't to say that I don't like these movies. Some of them are my favorite movies ever made! But they are about sad, rich, white…
UPDATED: April 2020 (Removed some stuff I don't think really fits here on this list, added some glaring omissions, and updated it for films released in the last couple of years)
So, you might be asking yourself, "What *is* a SadWhitePeople™ movie?" It's not just a movie with sad white people in them. That would be every movie ever. A SadWhitePeople™ movie is a film about affluent, healthy, straight white people who are sad about emotionally abusive relationships, dead family members, and the various crises that people (mostly SadWhiteMen™) go through in their lives.
This isn't to say that I don't like these movies. Some of them are my favorite movies ever made! But they are about sad, rich, white people, whose only problem is getting out of their own way. SadWhitePeople™ movies come in all shapes and sizes - and there are subgroups of SadWhitePeople™ movies - but the majority are romantic comedies, or at the very least comedic dramas with romance elements.
The Official SadWhitePeople™ Rules:
1. The cast must obviously be predominantly white.
2. The main characters have an odd, quirky job like art gallery manager or dog babysitter.
3. The characters make way more money than they should be and have a much nicer apartment than they deserve.
4. Their sadness stems mostly from internal or domestic issues like ennui, cheating, family deaths, and some sicknesses (cancer is permitted).
5. The male characters often have a heterosexual love interest that teaches him to "live in the moment".
6. A majority of shots are static mediums with little to no movement or background.
7. Lots of establishing helicopter shots of a major American city.
8. The median age of most characters should be somewhere between 22 and 45.
If you've seen a film that meets 5 or more of these criteria, you may have just watched a SadWhitePeople™ movie!
Feel free to add suggestions in the comments!