The Best Easy Movies to Watch (Page 3)
Sometimes all we want is a movie that won’t eat up any brain power, but still contains the ingredients for maximum enjoyment. If that’s you, here are the best easy watches that are now available for streaming.
The mythology surrounding Sylvester Stallone: the action hero is so big and successful that many people, including myself, often forget about Sylvester Stallone: the prolific writer. He failed to bag roles as a young actor in the 1970s, so he whipped out a script (in a span of three days!) that became the iconic film […]
No one watches a romantic comedy expecting anything novel, although it’s nice to be surprised once in a while. In the past years, we’ve seen movies like Rye Lane and Palm Springs subvert expectations and give the genre a pleasant, refreshing twist. Upgraded isn’t like those movies. It’s pretty standard and formulaic, but I would […]
Viewers are familiar with cuisines around the world such as the food from France, Italy and Japan, but now it’s Filipino cuisine that takes the spotlight. Replacing Chef Chico portrays different Filipino dishes in each of its eight episodes, but these meals are great side dishes to sous chef Ella’s journey in managing the Hain […]
There are a plethora of father-son road trips in film, but rarely portrayed on the path are fathers with their trans sons. That is because most queer stories often focus on the romance, and if not the romance, the coming out process. Runs in the Family does things differently – it’s the connection between trans […]
Who among us hasn’t committed a white lie to save a relationship? And who among us hasn’t yearned for the full and brutal truth? In You Hurt My Feelings, Nicole Holofcener digs into that paradox and delivers a film that is honest and funny in equal measure. Here, the writer-director doesn’t just use a hilarious […]
If Pete Holmes’s new stand-up special comes off more like the comedian just trying out a bunch of random material instead of communicating coherent, overarching ideas, his writing is so strong that it hardly matters. You can tell Holmes is an incredibly confident performer in the way he deploys a wide range of techniques to […]
It’s one of the oldest problems in the history of mankind: can men and women be friends? Romantic comedies, since their inception, have tried to answer this question in various quirky ways, and almost always, the answer is a resounding no. The two leads must end up together because the chemistry is too strong, and […]
Rye Lane knows it’s treading familiar ground by having its charming leads fall in love as they walk and talk their way through a beautiful city. So instead of experimenting on a tried-and-tested setup, it smartly focuses on specificity. It hones in on the characters’ Gen Z woes and cranks up the British references, giving […]
Reporting for Duty is a delightfully chaotic workplace comedy that seeks nothing more than to entertain, and it fulfills this mission by packing each of its 30-minute episodes with lovable characters and silly plotlines. This alone makes it worth the watch, but it has layers to it that give it more heart and nuance than […]
The Red, White & Royal Blue film adaptation might feel familiar to some viewers, albeit with a gay twist. A rivals to hidden lovers relationship that shifted because of increased exposure to each other via PR outings is exactly the type of plot seen in romance comedies like the second Princess Diaries. However, this film […]
Vibrantly and energetically led by a lively quartet, Supa Team 4, though not wholly original, is still a refreshing children’s animated show. There is a slightly new take on the dynamics: a leader with a sense of justice, an intelligent yet shy caregiver, a level-headed athlete, and a hot-headed food lover. It keeps the Teenage […]
As a teen series, Los Billis follows a familiar structure. David, like most teen heroes, is shy, awkward, and hopelessly in love with the most popular girl in his high school. With the help of his friends, however, he learns to stand up not just against bullies but the harsh looming reality of adulthood. It […]
Familiarity breeds contempt, and Swedish Netflix’s new horror-comedy takes this idea to the extreme. Based on the novel by Mats Strandberg, who’s known as the Swedish Stephen King, The Conference is centered around a group of employees on their company retreat. With its ensemble, the film crafts a relatable dynamic, with the exact petty back-and-forth […]
It’s slower and talkier than you’d expect from a semi-erotic film, but Ehnegard lives up to its title well enough to satisfy. It’s titillating, but in a cheeky rather than provocative way. The dialogues are lengthy, but they’re alternately witty and poetic, so despite the pace they never actually bore. Ehnegard’s real delight, however, is […]
In the Great Seduction, locals of a small town trick a bigshot doctor into thinking that despite the place’s insufficiencies, it’s still worth settling into. They pretend to love American football because it’s his favorite sport. They leave paper bills to make him think he’s lucky. They eavesdrop on his calls to learn what dish […]
Much sweeter and much more bittersweet than one might expect, World’s Best does some deceptively clever things with its major themes of math and rap. Somehow, this pre-teen coming-of-age story finds a way to play with preconceived notions of equations always resulting in certain answers, and of modern hip hop being all about swagger and […]
Like some of his best roles, Bob Odenkirk plays the unlikeable but relatable lead in titular Lucky Hank. He’s a celebrated writer, but hasn’t written for years. He’s the head of the literary department, but works for an underfunded college in the middle of nowhere. He’s constantly judging other people’s lives while hating his own, […]
Erin Lee Carr, the director of Britney vs Spears, returns with a scoop. Ringleader is not just another pop culture doc, because it features a first-time interview with the young woman at the center of The Bling Ring robberies in Hollywood, Rachel Lee. But this is not the kind of film that tries to pick […]
An all-female action comedy that doesn’t get self-serious about the way it’s subverting the genre — Wingwomen feels like a breath of fresh air. It wisely grasps that plot isn’t paramount for a movie like this, and so it joyously dunks on cerebral scenarios with its unabashedly silly story convolutions, like when its professional thieves […]
Funny, refreshing, and heartwarming, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah gives the seminal girlhood film Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. a Gen Z update. Stacy and her friends are constantly on social media and watch each other for potentially politically incorrect terms, but they also struggle with period pain, crushes, […]
The scene: 1717, the Golden Age of Piracy; the people: brute criminals living on nothing but loot. Seems typical enough for a pirate story, but more than just an action-packed swashbuckling treat, Our Flag Means Death is also a raging ensemble comedy that is both modern and subversive as it dares to recast masculinity in […]
Every now and then, you get a romantic comedy that feels just right. The romance isn’t overdone, the comedy isn’t used as a crutch, and there’s no desperate need to lean into cliches. Instead, you have pure chemistry, which in turn fuels an endearing awkwardness and a natural sort of love. That’s what happens in […]
Glamorous could easily fit in the 2000s-era boom of workplace romantic comedies. Like Ugly Betty and The Bold Type before it, it follows a group of fashionable twenty-somethings hoping to climb the corporate ladder with their ideals intact, all while trying to impress their diva of a boss, who guides them with a sparkling iron […]
If the rules to The Traitors sound familiar, it’s because they’re premised on the schoolyard game Mafia (or Werewolf), which itself is based on trickery and deceit. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like much, but once you raise the stakes to a quarter of a million dollars, as the show does, then it becomes […]
Most media that plays on our hyper-usage of technology has a decidedly scary bent: think “screen-life” thrillers like Unfriended, Host, and Searching. But Still Up — which is not strictly a screen-life show, but relies heavily on FaceTime as a storytelling device — uses similar means for a romantic comedy end. Danny (Craig Roberts) and […]
At 80 minutes, Smoking Causes Coughing is another slice of perfectly paced absurdist fun from Quentin Dupieux, the zany mind behind Rubber (in which a car tire turns serial killer) and Deerskin, the tale of a motorcycle jacket that wants to rule the world. This time around, the protagonists aren’t inanimate objects: they’re Tobacco Force, […]
For a series designed to keep young children still for 10 to 12-minute chunks, Dew Drop Diaries is refreshingly thoughtful—not to mention better-crafted than other things you could be showing kids of the same age bracket. Despite the relative simplicity of the show’s animation (and certain elements that repeat in every episode), this is a […]
This Canadian drama is directed by, written by, and stars first-time director Agam Darshi. It’s a labor of love about a 30-something woman who takes care of her sick father while trying to become a writer. Mona (the character) comes from an immigrant Indian family, and she is proudly the black sheep of the bunch. […]
Hit Man is many things—a romance, neo-noir, comedy, and thriller. And though it sometimes feels like it doesn’t quite reach its full potential in all those areas, it’s hard not to be blown away by Powell’s Rolodex of characters and his palpable chemistry with Arjona. The story itself isn’t as sturdy as I hoped it […]
The animation can sometimes be distracting, but for the most part, The Billionaire is a well-edited docuseries about a deeply intriguing affair. The use of real-life tape recordings (secretly made by the Bettencourts’ butler) lends it an authentic air, while the re-enactments remain tastefully shot throughout. They’re accurate but anonymous, and never cheesy in the […]
Compared to all the meaty and daring shows coming out right now, Primo is relatively lighthearted fare. Its easygoing, PG humor hews closer to network rather than cable television, but the series isn’t without its merits. Primo is candid and charming as it tackles the realities of school, family, and work. It takes a somewhat […]
Despite their rising popularity, K-dramas have sustained a reputation for being, at times, too sentimental for their own good. Extraordinary Attorney Woo is not exempt from that tendency, but when it does shoot for schmaltz, it makes sure to aim right at your heart. Thanks to clever twists and moving performances across the board, Extraordinary […]
Part Mr. and Mrs. Smith and part Parasite, The Company You Keep follows conman Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) and CIA agent Emma (Catherine Haena Kim) as they pursue a whirlwind romance while keeping their real identities from each other. Charlie pulls off heists with the help of his family, all of whom are part of his […]
The initial charm of Hacks is in watching sparks fly between its sharp-tongued leads. Neither the elderly Deborah nor the young Ava holds back the digs, both of them cutting to the core of their insecurities. Part of what makes their tension so watchable is that they’re stand-ins for different generations. Deborah represents the all-hustle […]
This Fool is a half-hour, 10-part series following Julio Lopez (played by co-creator Chris Estrada) a self-proclaimed “punk-ass bitch” and pushover who’s still in the process of learning to stand up for himself. Julio works for a gang rehab center called Hugs Not Thugs, where he also helps his cousin Luis (Frankie Quiñones) get back […]
There’s a classic male character trope of stoic guys that don’t seem to be fazed by anything. Play It Cool, Guys has an ensemble cast of four of these cool characters, but they aren’t quite put together as others might think. While on the outside, they seemingly handle setbacks easily, the show’s short vignettes and […]
As classic children’s TV done in the same style as The Muppets, this reboot of Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock manages to thread together wacky adventures, an environmental message, lots of music, and light satire about human behavior in less-than-30-minute chunks. This show is firmly for kids first, with the carefree, somewhat naive subterranean Fraggles meant […]
Cunk on Earth is a five-episode mockumentary that takes the piss out of every single historical documentary you’ve seen. The host, Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan), asks actual experts stupid but funny questions about world history, which will often leave them stunned and speechless. That’s part of where the brilliance of this show lies really—in the […]
