What are the best movies on Netflix? A simple question answered by a huge catalog of movies ranging from unappreciated hidden gems to most of the most celebrated, Awards-nominated movies of all time. Ranging across the decades and almost every conceivable genre, Netflix subscriptions include some of the best movies of all time, and whether you’re looking for a family film everyone will enjoy, a sci-fi to challenge you, or a comedy to just leave your face sore from laughing, we have the best Netflix movie recommendations.
Subscribers can enjoy new movies on Netflix every week, with the platform seeking to give the broadest, richest entertainment experience for its monthly cost. From Oscar-winning dramas to stunning animations and the greatest comic book movie of all time, there’s something for everyone. And we will update this article regularly to make sure all recommendations are fresh.
10 You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)
Director: Sammi Cohen Runtime: 1h 43m | Genre: Comedy
Cast: Idina Menzel (Bree Friedman), Adam Sandler (Danny Friedman), Sadie Sandler (Ronnie Friedman), Sunny Sandler (Stacy Friedman), Samantha Lorraine (Lydia Rodriguez Katz)
Adam Sandler tends to make the most at the box office when he’s surrounded by those closest to him in real life (whether the critical reception of those movies matches or not). In Netflix Original You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah he goes one step further, starring alongside his wife and daughters, with Sunny Sandler taking center stage. In fact, this is not his movie at all, though he is good in it.
Culturally informed and sensitive, You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah is a smart portrait of a landmark celebration, finding comedy and charm in its authenticity, but also in the universality of teenage life. Crucially, it understands and never talks down to the condition of adolescence, and the younger Sandler is the pick of You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah’s cast– a fledgling star who clearly learned a lot from the better comedies of her co-star father.
9 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Director: Rian Johnson | Runtime: 2h 19m | Genre: Comedy
Cast: Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc), Edward Norton (Miles Bron), Janelle Monae (Cassandra “Andi” Brand), Kathryn Hahn (Claire Debella)
The 2020s are a great time to be a fan of big movie sleuths, with Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot carving out his own surprise shared universe and Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc standing just on the other side of the parody line. Both detectives owe a lot of Agatha Christie, but Blanc is all the creation of Rian Johnson and Craig’s performance, with is joyful. After Knives Out‘s success, Netflix brought the sequel, Glass Onion, to the platform, proving that their expensive acquisition model can still include absolute gems.
Here, Blanc is back as he’s invited to a billionaire’s personal island (a thinly veiled nod to Elon Musk, played by Ed Norton), to play along with a murder mystery. Naturally, participants – and Glass Onion‘s cast is another barn-stormer, like its predecessor – start dying for real, and Blanc is called into action. An Oscar nominee, Glass Onion is a great fix for anyone looking for a complex but rewarding mystery to get their teeth into.
8 They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
Director: Juel Taylor | Runtime: 2h 2m | Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy
Cast: Jamie Foxx (Slick Charles), John Boyega (Fontaine), Teyonah Parris (Yo-Yo)
Marrying high-concept science-fiction with fantasy, satire and all manner of other genres, The Cloned Tyrone is one of the best Netflix Original movies released in 2023. Set in a drab retro-futuristic world, it stars John Boyega as the titular drug dealer, who drags himself through the same cycle of everyday life, in a grim Groundhog Day-style mundane nightmare that not even being shot repeatedly seems to interrupt.
Delightfully twisty, and featuring a walking homage to Blaxpoitation movies in Jamie Foxx’s pimp Slick Charles, They Cloned Tyrone is fast-paced, occasionally bizarre and a great way to spend a couple of hours. Come for the sci-fi, but stay for the Mary J Blige elevator scene.
7 RRR (2022)
Director: S.S. Rajamouli | Runtime: 3h 5m | Genre: Action
Cast: N.T. Rama Rao Jr (Komaram Bheem), Ram Charan (Alluri Sitarama Raju), Alia Bhatt (Sita)
One of the most hotly talked-about international movies in recent years, RRR is the bombastic, brilliant Indian action moviethat turned a lot of heads towards that part of the industry. Drawing very loosely from real history, RRR follows two politically opposite revolutionaries from different backgrounds who come together to fight the British occupation of India during the 1920s. So far, so straight-forward, but that’s really not what RRR is about, or why it’s so great.
Part Braveheart, part superhero epic, RRR was the most expensive Indian movie ever made, and glories in its opulent size and commitment to superrealism. Netflix sadly doesn’t have the original Telugu-language audio, but even dubbed it’s hard not to get swept up in the momentum of the global box office hit. And if it means more Western attention to more movies like RRR, that can only be a good thing.
6 The Deepest Breath (2023)
Director: Laura McGann | Runtime: 1h 46m | Genre: Documentary
Cast: Alessia Zecchini, Stephen Keenan
A stunning, provocative look at one of the world’s most dangerous, barely fathomable sports, documentaryThe Deepest Breath is a fascinating profile of free diver Alessia Zecchini. As well as exploring Zecchini’s quest to set a world record in freediving, the documentary chronicles her relationship with her safety diver partner, Stephen Keenan, as well as the personal toll and associated dangers with the sport. The Deepest Breath is the perfect pick for anyone looking for Netflix’s best documentary.
The documentary culminates in Zecchini’s attempt to freedive Blue Hole’s arch, a notorious tunnel 56m down into a sinkhole, which previously took the lives of other divers, including Natalia Molchanova in 2015. The shocking tragedy that unfolds is as compelling as the portrait of the sportswoman herself and the sport had been intriguing. It’s a strangely intoxicating film, whose most important message is arguably the final message Zecchini was sent before her attempt to dive through the arch: “Live for today for you never know what’s coming down the line.”
5 Paddington (2014)
Director: Paul King | Runtime: 1h 35m
Cast: Ben Whishaw (Paddington), Hugh Bonneville (Henry Brown), Sally Hawkins (Mrs. Brown), Nicole Kidman (Millicent Clyde)
Given Hollywood’s fascination with eking as much money out of nostalgic properties as possible, it was only a matter of time before someone turned their attention to the famous marmalade sandwich-loving bear from Darkest Peru. Luckily, that someone was Paul King, who made Paddington, an achingly British delight that has as much heart as it does slapstick comedy. Essentially a found family comedy, the beloved movie is the perfect answer for anyone looking for a unifying family watch.
Based on the original book series by Michael Bond, Paddington sees the wholesome bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw, invited (somewhat reluctantly by certain parties) to live with a family in Notting Hill. The very definition of a gentle, cozy comedy, Paddington carries a deeper meaning of acceptance and love, and boasts easily one of the highest rewatchability scores of all of Netflix’s best movies.
4 All Quiet On The Western Front (2022)
Director: Edward Berger | Runtime: 2h 28m | Genre: War
Cast: Felix Kammerer (Paul Bäumer), Daniel Brühl (Matthias Erzberger), Albrecht Schuch (Stanislaus “Kat” Katczinsky), Devid Streisow (General Friedrichs)
Deservedly handed a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, Netflix’s 2022 adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front is a remarkable, stark meditation on the reality of war. Telling the story of World War I from the German perspective – typically not the side of the trenches cinema’s light shines on – it is the first adaptation to be told in the original German.
It is an important movie, showing the harrowing experience of young soldiers thrown into battlefields, but it is also thoroughly entertaining thanks to its moving central performances. Even with the military genre potentially limiting wider audience interest, All Quiet on the Western Front is a genuinemust-see for Netflix subscribers.
3 Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Director: Joel Crawford | Runtime: 1h 40m | Genre: Animation
Cast: Antonio Banderas (Puss), Salma Hayek (Kitty Softpaws), Florence Pugh (Goldilocks)
It would be perilously easy to dismiss a Shrek movie spin-off from 2022 as a bit of a cash grab, but to do so would be a fatal error when it comes to Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. Directed by Joel Crawford and ingeniusly dropping the traditional Shrek animation style for something more dynamic and beautiful, The Last Wish is not only the best Shrek franchise movie, but also one of the best animated movies of all time.
It may have taken a decade to get to cinemas after the first Puss spin-off, but Puss In Boots: The Last Wish proves the age-old adage that good things come to those who wait. It’s funny, family-friendly, and packs in Paddington levels of heart, along with a surprisingly deep message about mortality. Once more starring Antonio Banderas as the perfectly-cast felien mercenary, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is the perfect propaganda for the future of the Shrek movie franchise.
2 The Dark Knight (2008)
Director: Christopher Nolan | Runtime: 2h 32m | Genre: Comic Book Movie, Thriller
Cast: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Heath Ledger (Joker), Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes)
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is so good that it’s almost a cliche to say it’s one of the best movies ever made. Long-considered the best comic book or superhero movie of all time, the second movie in Christian Bale’s Batman trilogy is a masterpiece precisely because of its willingness to challenge expectations. Yes, at its heart it’s another good vs evil story of Batman vs the Joker, but it’s way more compelling than that, weaving Bruce Wayne’s personal relationships into his heroic philosophy in a way that explores precisely the cost of superheroism.
Heath Ledger’s Joker portrait is the benchmark against which all Jokers will be ranked for everyone who watches The Dark Knight, but alongside him, Bale is measured and brilliant, Aaron Eckhart is deeply compelling, and Batman’s world is perfectly captured. And the fact that Nolan managed such a feat while making a movie that appeals to even broader demographics than most Batman movies is something that should never be overlooked.
1 Marriage Story (2019)
Director: Noah Baumbach | Runtime: 2h 16m | Genre: Drama
Cast: Scarlett Johansson (Nicole Barber), Adam Driver (Charlie Barber), Laura Dern (Nora Fanshaw)
In a close-run race, Marriage Story is the best Noah Baumbach movie, which hits all of his hallmarks as a film-maker and is an incredible advert for the craft of directing. Even beyond those achievements, which matter less to Netflix viewers than the simple question of quality, Marriage Story is an incredible, much-watch movie that is easily one of the best movies on Netflix. If not the undisputed champion.
Starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in twin career-best performances, Marriage Story is horribly compelling, showing the harrowing story of a couple whose initially amicable separation becomes a bitter divorce. It’s like watching a world crumble in slow motion, with Driver and Johansson’s on-screen son the tragic middleground of a battle that is propelled almost accidentally towards catastrophe. And while it’s very, very sad, Marriage Story‘s overall message about failure and future is a very important one.
