There are over 3,600 movies on Netflix. With such a wide selection, it can be overwhelming when it’s time to sit down and make a decision about what to watch. With thousands of possibilities, there are that slip through the cracks due to their location on the homepage. However, many of these films are quite good.
Below, we selected five underrated movies on Netflix that you need to watch in September. The selections include one of the last great studio comedies, a pandemic thriller, a reimagining of a popular film from the 1990s, an underseen crime thriller, and a delightful romantic comedy.
This Is the End (2012)
It’s been said ad nauseam, but the studio comedy is a thing of the past. It’s rare for major studios to release comedies in 2023 — and even rarer for them to gross over $100 million. It’s been about a decade since we’ve seen a year with multiple studio comedies that churned a profit, and one of those films was This Is the End.
Written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, This Is The End poses this question: What would happen if a group of comedians were locked in a house during the biblical apocalypse? The comedians playing fictionalized versions of themselves include Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson. This Is the End goes off the rails in all the best ways, providing multiple laugh-out-loud moments in one of the last truly funny studio comedies.
Stream This is the End on Netflix.
The Guilty (2021)
The pandemic forced filmmakers to get creative with how they tell stories because of the restrictions implemented on sets, including COVID testing and mask mandates. The Guilty utilized dialogue and voice acting to its advantage in a clever 90-minute thriller. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Joe Baylor, an LAPD cop working the night shift at a 911 call center who receives a disturbing call from Emily Lighton (Riley Keough).
Emily tells Joe that she’s been abducted in a white van, possibly by her ex-husband, Henry Fisher (Peter Sarsgaard). Filmed entirely in the call center, The Guilty is an emotional and edge-of-your-seat thriller carried by Gyllenhaal, who once again proves that he’s one of the most committed actors in Hollywood.
Stream The Guilty on Netflix.
River Wild (2023)
The River Wild is a 1994 film starring Meryl Streep about a white-water rafting trip gone haywire after the arrival of two armed killers. River Wild, one of the best thrillers on Netflix right now, is the 2023 reimagining of that film but it flips the formula. Leighton Meester and Taran Killam star as Joey and Gray, two estranged siblings who embark on a white-water rafting trip.
Gray is an instructor along with his childhood friend, Trevor (Adam Brody), who has a complicated history with Joey. Along with two other tourists, the five of them head downriver, and all is fine until the first night, when an accident turns the trip into a fight for survival. A killer is on the loose, but the rough waters ahead may be the deadlier challenge.
Stream River Wild on Netflix.
The Informer (2019)
It’s never a good sign when a movie is delayed multiple times. The constant release delays that plagued The Informer decimated its box office profitability. The Informer is entertaining, however, and thanks to streaming, it will find a second life where it becomes a well-received genre film. Based on the novel Three Seconds, the film stars Sympathy for the Devil‘s Joel Kinnaman as Peter Koslow, an ex-con serving as an undercover informant in the Polish mafia who is tasked with bringing down its leader, the General (Eugene Lipinski).
When a mission ends with the death of another undercover officer, Peter is sent back to prison to run the mafia’s drugs, all while continuing to serve as an informant for Special Agent Wilcox (Rosamund Pike). When the General and the FBI fail to keep their promises, Peter decides to escape from prison to save the lives of his wife and daughter.
Stream The Informer on Netflix.
No Strings Attached (2011)
You’ve heard the term “friends with benefits” before. Can two consenting friends have sexual relations without getting into a relationship? In No Strings Attached, that theory is put to the test by Emma Kurtzman (Natalie Portman) and Adam Franklin (Ashton Kutcher). After Emma and Adam have casual sex twice, they form a “no strings attached” relationship.
The duo agrees to have a physical relationship based on sex, keeping emotions out of the bedroom. They also promise to never fall in love. As the relationship progresses, Emma and Adam develop feelings for each other, jeopardizing their arrangement. Though predictable, No Strings Attached is a charming rom-com with two likable actors. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
Stream No Strings Attached on Netflix.
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