The 55 Best Netflix Original Movies
There are so many good ones, you never need to leave the house again.
Think about the best movie you've seen in the last few years. The Power of the Dog, Roma, Beyoncé's Homecoming. Yeah, they're all Netflix Original films. It's wild to think that Netflix only just got into the filmmaking game in 2015 with Beasts of No Nation. It feels as though it's been here since Ilsa walked into Rick's gin joint all those years ago. Okay, maybe not that long ago, but you get the idea. For about seven years, the streaming giant has showed zero signs of slowing down, elevating its slate of buzzy originals every year, with accolades getting super serious in 2019 when Roma, Marriage Story, The Irishman, and more saw legit runs on the awards circuit, culminating in Oscar nominations and wins. Which brings us to our superlative list: the best Original Netflix movies. Because the streamer has more than 1,500 Originals to peruse, we thought we'd do the curation work for you. From animated allegories and innovative horror to profound dramas and crowd-pleasing comedies, we've got the goods ahead. Keep scrolling for 55 of the very best Netflix Originals with quick links to watch each of them stat.
Always Be My Maybe
By now, you’re aware of the recent rom-com renaissance. A resurgence of the romantic comedy (and a time period we’re still actually kind of living in -> Marry Me, I Want You Back), the rebirth saw not just the genre make a comeback, but also reinventions and even innovative takes on the classic. Always Be My Maybe is precisely one of those elevated gems. Starring Ali Wong and Randall Park as Sasha and Marcus, the narrative follows two old friends as they think about maybe taking their friendship to new places.
Athlete A
The shocking and vile USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal that rocked the world is explored in depth in this award-winning documentary film. The directors follow the lead of the Indianapolis Star reporters who broke the news that Larry Nassar had been sexually abusing gymnasts for two decades, explores the coverup at the highest levels, and hears from the victims, including Maggie Nichols, Rachael Denhollander, and Jessica Howard.
Atlantics
A supernatural refugee story wrapped in a coming-of-age romance, Atlantics is a gorgeous masterpiece from French-Senegalese director Mati Diop. The story unfolds around Ada and Souleiman, lovers who are kept apart by uncontrollable forces. When Souleiman jumps a ship for Spain to leave his small coastal suburb in Dakar for a better future, Ada is crushed. That is, until she feels his ghost all around her.
Beasts of No Nation
Netflix began its movie-making journey with this wartime drama about a West African boy forced into mercenary fighting. The platform recruited big names for its inaugural undertaking, too, with Cary Fukunaga taking the wheel, Idris Elba starring, and future Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos producing. Making his feature debut, Abraham Atta, then 14 years old, doesn’t flinch while playing child soldier Agu, his emotionally demanding performance earning critical praise and film awards alike.
Bird Box
Despite the unfortunate (and dangerous) TikTok challenge the film inspired, Bird Box remains one of the best (and best-performing) originals produced by the Netflix studio. Directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, the postapocalyptic horror story watches Bullock’s Malorie and two children flee some unknown global killer—an evil that when seen causes the onlooker to commit some form of brutal suicide (hence the necessary blindfolds). Beyond the scares, Bier’s film is propelled by themes of humanity, emotion, and the disconnect both can cause.
Bo Burnham: Inside
Inside his guest house during peak pandemic days, comedian-actor-musician-wonderboy Bo Burnham crafted one of the strangest, coolest, funniest musical docs you'll ever see. The contents of the film take place over the year 2020—you remember that one; it's when we all had to stay inside every single day for fear of spreading a certain virus—and Burnham's self-produced songs cover everything from white women on Instagram to FaceTimeing with his mom.
Crip Camp
The second documentary spawned from Netflix's partnership with the Obamas' production company, Higher Ground, Crip Camp set out to do for the disability rights movement what The Times of Harvey Milk did for gay rights. And hopefully, they'll acheive their goal. Told through archival footage, interviews, and a groovy soundtrack, the doc introduces you to the trailblazers who challenged the status quo and ignited a revolutionary movement.
Da 5 Bloods
Spike Lee explores the Black Vietnam vet's experience in his latest joint. Recruiting a stellar cast including Jonathan Majors, Delroy Lindo, and Clarke Peters, Lee's film jumps around in time, as his core cast returns to the site of the war to retreive the remains of their squad leader. In true Lee form, the script doesn't flinch, attacking race, agony, and the effects of war head-on.
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Get ready to cry. Hardly the morbid watch its title might suggest, Kirsten Johnson's highly personal documentary is actually a cinematic celebration of life, and death, in particular that of her father, Richard Johnson. Instructed by his daughter, Dick enacts fantastical, sometimes brutal, ways in which he could die. Funny, thoughtful, whimsical, the documentary is the creative outlet Kirsten uses to process her father's real-life dementia. So, like we said, get ready to shed some big fat tears.
Disclosure
Laverne Cox, whose role in Orange Is the New Black catapulted her to fame, gives her fellow trans actors the spotlight with Disclosure. Chronicling 100 years of trans representation onscreen, the doc is the brainchild of Cox, Mj Rodriguez, Lilly Wachowski, Chaz Bono, and others, and tracks the evolution of trans stories in film and television. No matter your pronouns, this one is essential viewing for our modern times.
Dolemite Is My Name
Eddie Murphy makes a triumphant return to movies with Dolemite, a raucous biopic about the man, the myth, the legend who is Rudy Ray Moore. Just a refresher: Moore reinvented himself as Dolemite, a kung fu-fighting pimp who left an indelible mark on the Blaxploitation film industry. Directed by Hustle & Flow's Craig Brewer and costarring Wesley Snipes, Keegan-Michael Key, and others, the movie gives Murphy the stage to flex every fiber of his acting chops: Enjoy.
Don’t Look Up
Adam McKay is no stranger to provocative comedies—he has The Big Short’s Margot Robbie explaining mortgage-backed bonds from a bubble bath, after all—so a doomsday satire that holds a mirror up to our current sociopolitical climate is no doubt right up his alley. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence steer the ship here as astronomers who have spotted a comet heading straight for Earth. It’s a discovery some take seriously, and one that others see as just, well, fake news.
Dumplin’
Jennifer Aniston teams up with rising star Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cakes, Bird Box, Unbelievable) for a Southern-fried pageant comedy that flips the antiquated tradition on its perfectly coiffed head. Macdonald plays Willadean (a.k.a. Dumplin'), the daughter of Aniston's Rosie, a former beauty queen, and armed with the tunes of Dolly Parton and the advice from some fairy godmother drag queens, she enters a beauty pageant as a protest.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
You didn't think Jesse was just going to ride off into the night, never to be heard from again, did you? Breaking Bad fans—especially those partial to Pinkman—will be delighted to know that the story doesn't end with the fifth season finale. In El Camino, the story picks up with Jesse on the run, hoping to get a new life courtesy of a very peculiar Hoover vacuum salesman, recommended by none other than Saul Goodman.
Enola Holmes
The classic Sherlock Holmes movies get an updated installment in the form of a fast-paced action flick with a feminsit bent. Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things fame takes the lead, with Henry Cavill, a.k.a. Superman, riding shotgun. The two play siblings Enola and Sherlock Holmes, with Enola setting out on a mission to find their missing mother, outwitting every dangerous encounter along the way.
Eurovision Song Contest
A single viewing of this Will Ferrell-Rachel McAdams musical gem is simply not enough. Ferrell and McAdams play Lars and Sigrit, two Iceland singing hopefuls whose band, Fire Saga, has just been chosen to represent their country at Eurovision, a global song competition that celebrates diversity. A stellar soundtrack from Reykjavík rockers Sigur Rós and glorious cameos from real-life Eurovision alums, this one just has so much to love and celebrate.
Fear Street Trilogy
The first one. No, the third one! Good luck deciding which installment of the hit Fear Street trilogy is best. Because achieving the nearly impossible feat, all three films of this trio are great. They begin with our Shadyside crew, led by Kiana Madeira as Deena, fighting to survive a witch and end in 1666 exploring the origin of the curse, all while elevating R.L. Stein's original content with the socio-political commentary fit for today.
Gerald's Game
If you're a fan of the streaming platform's Haunting franchise, then don't miss out on this Mike Flanagan gem. A two-hander that stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood, it starts out like all Flanagan stories: benign and serene, with feelings of horror simmering just below the surface. Of course, if you're a seasoned fan, you know he's laying the groundwork for a narrative packed with twists, turns, and surprises. Such is Gerald's Game.
His House
One of the best horror movies you'll find on digital shelves, His House is a refugee story shrouded in a haunted house tale. You have Sudanese couple Bol and Rial, who survived the treacherous journey to England from war-torn Sudan and are trying to start a new life. Interrupting their adjustment: ghosts, demons, and past regrets. Remi Weekes's ambitious debut is everything you want in a late-night chiller, and more.
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
Leave it to Queen Bey to keep us entirely enthralled for two-plus hours. Way more than your conventional concert doc, Homecoming, directed by the superstar herself, along with the award-winning Ed Burke, charts Beyoncé's journey to Coachella 2018, when she became the first Black woman to headline the fest, and is a sexy, powerful, furious, euphoric tribute to Black excellence. All hail the queen.
DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.
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