Netflix has so finely tuned its production pipeline over the years that the streamer has gotten into the routine of adding new TV and film originals to its platform every week. It has, consequently, become increasingly common for certain movies and shows to fall through the cracks of Netflix’s content library. Some of the hidden gems streaming on Netflix right now include Adam Sandler‘s most underrated ’90s comedy, a disappointingly unloved British romance and an Indonesian action movie that cuts like a recently sharpened samurai sword.
Here are the seven best hidden gems streaming on Netflix in August.
“Big Daddy” (1999)
“Big Daddy” is the film that taught an entire generation that McDonald’s transitions from breakfast to lunch at 10:30 a.m. — and not a minute later than that. It is also the most underrated of star Adam Sandler’s beloved 1990s comedies. He stars in the film as a man who gets dumped by his girlfriend and then tries to prove to her that he can be responsible by taking care of the five-year-old boy (Dylan and Cole Sprouse) who shows up on his doorstep one day.
“Big Daddy” is no less silly than “Happy Gilmore” or “Billy Madison,” but it has more heart than both of those films. Similarly, while it has not proven to be as enduring as those comedies (you probably didn’t even know it was on Netflix right now), it deserves to be remembered just as fondly as they are.
“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” (2018)
If there were just one word to describe “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” it would be “charming.” This Mike Newell-directed adaptation of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ 2008 novel is the film equivalent of a cozy sweater. Set in 1946, it follows a London writer (Lily James) who visits the members of a book club that was formed on the island of Guernsey during the Nazis’ occupation of it during World War II.
Once there, James’ Juliet finds herself drawn to the handsome but quiet Dawsey (Michiel Huisman), despite her American fiancé (Glen Powell) waiting for her back in London. A quiet, soft-spoken romantic drama, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” is less twee than its title suggests and far more absorbing than you may expect.
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More” (2024)
Few could have predicted that Wes Anderson would win his first Oscar for a short film. It is a testament to the quality of “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” though, that it gave Anderson his first golden Academy statue. Netflix compiled that film together, along with three other short Anderson-directed Roald Dahl adaptations, into a feature anthology format in 2024.
All four short films are worth your time. Not only are they all star-studded, but they also overflow with Anderson’s usual, well-established visual invention. By adapting Dahl’s work, Anderson found — for the umpteenth time in his career — the right balance between playful, clever humor and melancholic heartbreak. That balance allows the short films featured in “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More” to well and truly shine.
“The Shadow Strays” (2024)
“The Shadow Strays” does not hold back. Writer-director Timo Tjahjanto’s Indonesian crime thriller is a maximalist action film full of bloody samurai swords, bullets, makeshift weapons and nail bombs. The film follows a 17-year-old assassin (Aurora Ribero) who is temporarily suspended from her covert group of samurai-wielding, masked warriors following a botched mission.
While awaiting her next orders, she befriends an 11-year-old neighbor (Ali Fikri) and takes it upon herself to rescue him when a group of corrupt gangsters targets him and his mother. Brooding, hyper-violent and yet surprisingly soulful, “The Shadow Strays” is a 143-minute action extravaganza that frequently leaves you gasping for breath.
“Sing Street” (2016)
Writer-director John Carney‘s “Sing Street” was warmly embraced in 2016 but has become unfairly forgotten in the intervening years. Its presence on Netflix, therefore, makes now the perfect time to bring it back into the public consciousness. Set in the 1980s in Dublin, the film follows a teenage boy (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who forms a band with his friends to impress a girl (Lucy Boynton).
What starts as an ode to the 1980s and the power of music, however, quickly transforms into a moving coming-of-age story about family, growing up and forging your own path. The film’s ending will have you cheering right along with its characters. Oh, and the songs are great, too.
“The Outrun” (2024)
“The Outrun” is one of the most underrated and widely missed films of 2024. Director Nora Fingscheidt’s adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s 2016 memoir of the same name is a non-linear story of a young woman’s struggles with alcohol addiction and her difficult journey toward sobriety. Star Saoirse Ronan anchors the film and gives one of the best performances of her career as a woman struggling to find some stability — both in her life and within herself.
Understated and yet occasionally operatic, “The Outrun” is a stirring drama that painstakingly depicts how difficult it can be to have a healthy relationship with the world around you, as well as how empowering it is when you do eventually find it.
“Hanna” (2011)
Like “The Outrun,” 2011’s “Hanna” benefits greatly from Saoirse Ronan’s lead performance in it. The similarities between the two films end with their shared star, though. “Hanna” is a heavily stylized, in-your-face action thriller. It follows its eponymous heroine (Ronan), a young girl raised in the wilderness and trained as an assassin by her ex-CIA operative father (Eric Bana).
She is forced to put her deadly skills to the test when a senior CIA agent (Cate Blanchett), who is hellbent on killing Hanna and her father, becomes aware of their location. A blood-soaked cat-and-mouse game ensues, one which “Atonement” director Joe Wright executes with pulse-pounding style and unvarnished violence. The resulting film is, to put it simply, a helluva fun time.
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