Netflix has an impressively diverse array of movies streaming on its platform right now. The streamer’s best current offerings include a 2003 romantic comedy starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson that has not lost an ounce of its charm in the last 23 years. An early 2020s horror comedy send-up of the high-end culinary world is also streaming on Netflix right now, as is an acclaimed, quietly devastating 2018 drama co-written by “East of Eden” showrunner Zoe Kazan.
Here are the three best movies on Netflix you can watch this week.
“Something’s Gotta Give” (2003)
Writer-director Nancy Meyers’ “Something’s Gotta Give” is an opposites-attract romantic comedy for the ages. Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton lead the film as a lecherous male womanizer and proud female playwright, respectively, who find themselves growing increasingly attracted to each other despite their many differences.
Boasting Meyers’ best screenplay to date, “Something’s Gotta Give” is everything a Hollywood rom-com should be — namely, legitimately funny and wildly romantic. Nicholson and Keaton prove to have crackling comedic and romantic chemistry together onscreen, which only makes the joy of watching two screen legends of their caliber bounce off each other all the more potent throughout “Something’s Gotta Give.”
“The Menu” (2022)
2022’s “The Menu” is an acid-tongued horror comedy that Netflix subscribers looking for some genre entertainment that isn’t really all that scary may want to check out this weekend. Directed by Mark Mylod and written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, this satirical thriller follows a pretentious foodie (Nicholas Hoult) and his disinterested date (Anya Taylor-Joy) whose visit to a wildly expensive, remote restaurant becomes a desperate fight for survival when the head chef (Ralph Fiennes) reveals his shocking plans for the night’s guests.
Featuring a ferocious, deliciously wicked performance by Fiennes as its enigmatic villain, “The Menu” is a sharply funny and explosively violent horror comedy that offers a helluva good time.
“Wildlife” (2018)
If you enjoyed Zoe Kazan’s lush, sprawling limited series take on “East of Eden” earlier this year, you might also want to check out “Wildlife.” Directed by Paul Dano and co-written by Kazan, this adaptation of a 1990 novel by Richard Ford follows a teenage boy (Ed Oxenbould) in 1960s America who is forced to confront his parent’s unraveling marriage after his father (Jake Gyllenhaal) temporarily leaves him and his mother (Carey Mulligan) alone to take on a dangerous job putting out wildfires.
Anchored by Mulligan’s mesmerizing, quietly heartbreaking lead turn, “Wildlife” is just as keenly tuned into the complexities of familial bonds as Kazan’s “East of Eden.” It is a shattering film that uses its characters’ many, unspoken words and distant glances to gradually build a powerful, overwhelming wave of deeply felt, earned emotions.
