Sometimes, sitting down to watch a movie at home when you have no specific title in mind can be quite difficult. To make things a bit easier for you, we've put together a list featuring the best movies streaming on Hulu (one of the best streaming services to subscribe to) right now, so that you can relax and get your stream on without spending most of your time scrolling through options and silently telling yourself, “Ehhhh… not that one tonight.”
There is already one 2024 movie release available, as well as plenty of 2023 movie releases original to the platform, like Rye Lane or No One Will Save You, as well as classics such as Heat and The Notebook, and plenty of other amazing choices, regardless of what genre will fill your heart with joy. Now, on with the best of what you can watch with your Hulu subscription!
Poor Things (2023)
Emma Stone won her second Oscar at the 2024 Academy Awards for playing Bella Baxter – a woman brought back from the dead and with the mind of a child who experiences the joys and pains of life from a one-of-a-kind perspective. Director Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel, Poor Things, is also one-of-a-kind film, with gorgeous, experimental cinematography, wondrous production design, and out-of-this-world costumes.
Thank You For Smoking (2005)
Writer and director Jason Reitman makes a stunning feature-length debut with his adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s novel, Thank You for Smoking. The boldly satirical dramedy stars Aaron Eckhart as a charismatic tobacco lobbyist who begins wrestling with the immoral complexities of his profession and his moral obligation to his 12-year-old son (Cameron Bright)
Stream Thank You for Smoking on Hulu.
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Few courtroom movies are nearly as funny as director Jonathan Lynn’s brilliant culture clash satire, My Cousin Vinny. Academy Award winner Joe Pesci stars in the title role – a New York-native attorney with a wiseguy attitude tasked with clearing his wrongfully accused cousin (Ralph Macchio) and his buddy (Mitchell Whitfield) of murder in a southern town.
Stream My Cousin Vinny on Hulu.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is considered one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, but some argue that Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 follow-up may have surpassed the 1982 classic. Harrison Ford reprises his role as Rick Deckard in the visually stunning and enduringly thought-provoking Blade Runner 2049 alongside Ryan Gosling as another Replicant hunter assigned to an earth-shattering case.
Stream Blade Runner 2049 on Hulu.
Pretty Woman (1990)
Richard Gere plays a wealthy business executive who finds more than just good company with a sex worker played by Academy Award winner Julia Roberts. Director Garry Marshall’s Pretty Woman is a charming rags-to-riches story and one of Roberts’ best rom-coms.
Anatomy Of A Fall (2023)
Had co-writer and director Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall been submitted for Best International Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards, it very likely could have won. Four other Oscar nominations – including Best Picture and Best Actress for Sandra Hüller – and a win for Best Original Screenplay were given to the captivating French-language courtroom drama detailing a woman’s struggle to prove her innocence following her husband’s mysterious death.
Stream Anatomy of a Fall on Hulu.
Dune (2021)
Visionary filmmaker Denis Villeneuve brings Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi novel, Dune, to the big screen with an all-star cast, including Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. Witness or revisit the epic before you see the follow-up, Dune: Part Two, which is now in theaters.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Director Curtis Hanson tells a classically constructed film noir from the perspective of three very different cops (played by Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, and Kevin Spacey) in 1950s California. Winner of two Academy Awards – namely Best Supporting Actress for Kim Basinger and Best Adapted Screenplay – L.A. Confidential is one of the best movies of 1990s, especially among the era‘s crime dramas.
Stream L.A. Confidential on Hulu.
All Of Us Strangers (2023)
In one of the most impactful movies of 2023, All of Us Strangers, Andrew Scott plays a writer who strikes up a romance with his downstairs neighbor (Academy Award nominee Paul Mescal). At that same time, he finds himself drawn to his childhood home where, for some bizarre reason, he is able to reconnect with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), who passed away decades earlier.
Stream All of Us Strangers on Hulu.
Next Goal Wins (2023)
Co-writer, director, and star Taika Waititi returns to his indie dramedy roots with this fun and uplifting sports biopic. Based on a 2014 documentary of the same name, Next Goal Wins follows a down-and-out soccer coach (Michael Fassbender) tasked with helping the notoriously unsuccessful American Samoa team earn their first win.
Stream Next Goal Wins on Hulu.
The Abyss (1989)
Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, and more star in The Abyss as a search and recovery team who make a startling discovery on a mission to retrieve a lost submarine. Nominated for four Academy Awards, what makes this undersea sci-fi thriller one of writer and director James Cameron’s best movies is its intense, claustrophobic suspense and cutting-edge visual effects.
Jumanji (1995)
A board game with mystical properties sounds like a wonderful time, until you see what wild dangers occur in Joe Johnston’s dark, but still fun, adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book. Academy Award winner Robin Williams leads the original Jumanji as a man forced to continue a game he started years earlier when orphaned siblings (Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce) bring him back from the game’s horrific world.
Frank (2014)
Michael Fassbender gives one of his most enigmatic performances – mostly from behind a bizarre papier-mâché mask – in the title role of Frank. However, this electric satire on musical ambition inspired by true events is told from the perspective of Frank’s hopelessly untalented new bandmate, played by Domnhall Gleeson.
Self Reliance (2024)
Jake Johnson makes his feature film debut as a writer and director with the killer Hulu exclusive dark comedy, Self Reliance. Johnson also stars in the lead role of a man given the opportunity to win an enormous fortune, with the catch that he must never be alone, or the many assassins tracking him will be allowed to strike.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
The lives of an actor struggling to transition from TV to film (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), his longtime friend and stuntman (Brad Pitt in an Academy Award-winning performance), and blossoming star Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) intersect in late 1960s Los Angeles. All Quentin Tarantino movies are love letters to cinema, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is his first time exploring what goes on behind the scenes with a dazzling spin of revisionist history.
Stream Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on Hulu.
Juno (2007)
Elliot Page gave a breakthrough, Academy Award-nominated performance in the titular role of a charmingly sarcastic teen dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. Director Jason Reitman’s Juno also earned Diablo Cody an Oscar win for her sharply funny and heartfelt screenplay.
Tombstone (1993)
Not only one of the best Kurt Russell movies but considered by many to be one of the best Western Movies of its time, if not ever, is director George P. Cosmatos’ Tombstone. Brilliant performances and breathtaking action sequences make it the favored example of two Wyatt Earp biopics which were released around the same time.
Alien (1979)
The movie that made Sigourney Weaver one of the all-time greatest horror Scream Queens is Alien, in which a commercial interplanetary freighter is stalked by a vicious, animalistic extra-terrestrial. Also one of the best space movies of all time, Ridley Scott’s slasher-style creature feature is a masterpiece in claustrophobic suspense.
The Creator (2023)
Co-writer and director Gareth Edwards finally followed up Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with an original, visually stunning sci-fi thriller called The Creator. John David Washington plays a former soldier in the middle of a war against A.I. who defies orders by opting to protect his supposed enemy: a machine in the form of a child.
Akira (1988)
Writer and director Katsuhiro Ôtomo adapts his own manga into one of the most iconic anime movies of all time. Akira follows a gang of teenage bikers who must help save Tokyo from their friend, who has been transformed into a rampaging psychic by a secret government project.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
A then-10-year-old Abigail Breslin became one of the biggest child actors of her generation when she received an Oscar-nomination for her performance as a young beauty pageant contestant in this acclaimed indie dramedy. She and the rest of the Little Miss Sunshine cast – including Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Oscar-winner Alan Arkin, and more – portray a dysfunctional family unit with touching authenticity and edgy humor.
Stream Little Miss Sunshine on Hulu.
Theater Camp (2023)
If not for its recognizable cast members – including Ben Platt, Jimmy Tatro, and co-writer Noah Galvin – you might be easily convinced that this faux documentary chronicling the goings-on at a rundown summer camp for theater prodigies was real. Co-written and co-directed by Nick Lieberman and star Molly Gordon, Theater Camp offers a hilarious, but relatively accurate, inside look at just how seriously young theater obsessives take this medium.
The Banshees Of Inisherin (2021)
For the first time since In Bruges, writer and director Martin McDonagh reunites with Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell for this story of a longtime friendship that suddenly comes to an end, and with drastic consequences for both. Set on a remote island against the backdrop of the Irish Civil War’s tail end in 1923, The Banshees of Inisherin is a beautifully acted, perfect blend of sharp, thought-provoking satire and occasional pitch black drama of a heartbreaking sort that only a writer like McDonagh could master.
Stream The Banshees of Inisherin on Hulu.
The Menu (2022)
There are some famous chefs who are known to prepare meals that hardcore foodies will claim are to die for – a concept taken quite literally in one of the best horror movies of 2022, The Menu. Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) does not know what she is in for when she attends a very special dinner event hosted by the renowned Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes) in this deliriously dark satire of elitist dining culture.
No One Will Save You (2023)
You could argue that the silent era – a time when movies relied primarily on visual storytelling – might have been the true golden age for horror cinema and, every once in a while, a modern horror movie will actually help reinforce that claim. Case in point: writer and director Brian Duffield’s alien invasion movie No One Will Save You – also one of Kaitlyn Dever’s best movies – which ingeniously favors relentless high-wire suspense over dialogue.
Stream No One Will Save You on Hulu.
Rye Lane (2023)
After two twenty-somethings (Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson) who’ve both gone through bad recent breakups meet cute, they spend an eventful day in their London neighborhood getting to know one another and helping each other through the pain. A delightful new film which is one of the few romantic comedies scoring above 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, anyone hankering for a bright, funny, slightly odd look at love can’t go wrong with Rye Lane.
Fire Island (2022)
A recent underrated rom-com with great LGBTQ+ representation, Fire Island follows a group of queer friends who head to the titular locale for their annual holiday, and find themselves confronting more questions about life and love than usual.
Summer Of Soul (2021)
In the debut film from famed musician Questlove (which won him an Oscar), we finally get a look at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which celebrated Black music, history, culture, and fashion over six weeks and was attended by thousands. Summer of Soul is a documentary that blends footage of the original festival with a modern investigation of why this massive event has become forgotten by pop culture.
Palm Springs (2020)
Two wedding guests (Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg) begin to fall in love after they both become trapped in a very strange situation. Palm Springs was one of the most joyful surprises of 2020, giving viewers a fresh, funny, and romantic take on a high-concept sci-fi trope.
This list will absolutely give you a great place to start when it comes to the best movies streaming on Hulu right now.
