Gaston

Luke Evans plays Gaston with the gleeful self-awareness of someone who understands exactly what kind of villain he is getting to be, and "Gaston" in the 2017 film is a showcase for that energy — swaggering, chest-thumping, deeply funny in its absolute conviction. Josh Gad's LeFou provides the perfect counterweight, his fawning commentary both genuinely devoted and subtly satirical, the two performers building a comic chemistry that elevates every chorus. Alan Menken's composition is unapologetically tavern-music, a stomping waltz-inflected drinking song with brass that punches and woodwinds that tease, the rhythmic emphasis landing on exactly the beats that want you to pound your fist on a table. Evans brings real vocal power to the role — this Gaston can actually sing, which makes the narcissism funnier rather than more threatening — and the production records the ensemble's participation with enough room sound to feel genuinely communal, like a pub celebration filmed rather than assembled in a studio. The lyric is a brilliant construction of toxic masculinity as self-parody: a man celebrating himself for qualities — bicep circumference, deer consumption, spitting distance — presented entirely without irony by the character and entirely with irony by the writers. Context: pre-drinks, road trips, moments when you need something maximally and idiotically cheerful. Essentially impossible not to enjoy.