The 20 best movies on Freevee
Freevee — Amazon's free, ad-supported streaming platform formerly known as IMdB TV — launched in 2019 and has been a welcome alternative to the company's paid service, Amazon Prime Video. Aside from Tubi, there are few other streamers that boast the quantity and quality of material Freevee does at no charge. In addition to original shows and movies, there's also a multitude of classic films available to stream.
For your viewing pleasure, EW has compiled the 20 best movies on Freevee right now.
<i>But I'm a Cheerleader</i> (1999)
Jamie Babbit's cult classic may have received some heat upon its release, but that's just because it was ahead of its time. Natasha Lyonne heads a superb cast in the gleefully queer dark comedy, as her soft-mannered, do-gooder cheerleader is sent to a candy-colored conversion therapy program that holds a mirror up to society's most absurdly binary stereotypes. Given how revolutionary the film comes across in 2023, one struggles to grasp how radical it must have felt in 1999. —Declan Gallagher
Where to watch But I'm a Cheerleader: Freevee
Director: Jamie Babbit
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, RuPaul, Melanie Lynskey, Michelle Williams
Related content: Meet Your Maker: High School creator Clea DuVall on her pop culture inspirations
<i>Charade</i> (1963)
Stanley Donen's playful comedic thriller stars Audrey Hepburn as a widow pursued by the gang of violent thieves who murdered her husband. In the face of danger, she's aided by Cary Grant in prime late-era form. Often dismissed as a Hitchcock wannabe, Charade is, in reality, a very knowing and well-plotted nail-biter, featuring gorgeous international locations and some terrific chemistry between Hepburn and Grant. The film was remade in 2002 as The Truth About Charlie, with Mark Wahlberg in Grant's role and Thandiwe Newton standing in for Hepburn, though it doesn't hold a candle to the classic original work. —D.G.
Where to watch Charade: Freevee
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Stanley Donen
Cast: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Mathau, George Kennedy, James Coburn
Related content: Legacy: Audrey Hepburn
<i>Death Becomes Her</i> (1992)
Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn headline this macabre horror-comedy from director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future). Hawn stars as Helen Sharp, an ugly duckling who has her doctor fiancé (Bruce Willis) stolen out from under her by the seductive Off Broadway star Madeline Ashton (Streep). Years later, Helen returns for a homicidal revenge that finds the two women battling from beyond the grave. Chock-full of brilliant gallows humor, the film caps with a wonderful mic-drop ending (of the sort that rarely gets made nowadays). —D.G.
Where to watch Death Becomes Her: Freevee
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Isabella Rossellini, Mary Ellen Trainor
Related content: Meryl Streep's 22 best performances
<i>Dressed to Kill</i> (1980)
One of Brian De Palma's best movies is this pared-down exercise in slasher theatrics following a razor-killer in Manhattan. Released at the height of the sub-genres popularity, Dressed to Kill spurred protests condemning its treatment of both women and the trans community. Certainly, many of the film's twists don't hold up in today's political climate, but as a (then) modern riff on Psycho, context is key to some otherwise regrettable creative liberties. Regardless, there are a handful of show-stopping suspense sequences, but none more than Nancy Allen's midnight subway ride as she's stalked by the murderer. —D.G.
Where to watch Dressed to Kill: Freevee
Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Susanna Clemm
Related content: Angie Dickinson reflects on her best roles, from Rio Bravo to Ocean's 11 to Dressed to Kill
<i>Escape from New York</I> (1981)
John Carpenter's actioner stars Kurt Russell as prison inmate Snake Plissken, who's tasked with saving the president (Donald Pleasence) from infidels in an apocalyptic 1997. One of the director's last films from his most furtive period, Escape from New York is an assured blend of sci-fi thriller and the Howard Hawks westerns he grew up loving as a kid. —D.G.
Where to watch Escape from New York: Freevee
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes
Related content: Radio Silence filmmakers say new Escape From New York film will not be a remake
<i>Dan in Real Life</i> (2007)
A romantic comedy about a single father trying to have it all, Dan in Real Life was one of the first opportunities for Steve Carell to prove that his acting and comedic chops run so much deeper than what he showcased on The Office. Carrell plays Dan, a widowed advice columnist struggling to parent three daughters. During a family reunion in Rhode Island, Dan meets Marie, the woman of his dreams (Juliette Binoche) — as well as her boyfriend, who happens to be his younger brother (Dane Cook). Determined to support their relationship, Dan attempts to suppress his romantic feelings for Marie, concentrate on his relationship with his daughters, and get out of his own way. EW's critic writes, "The whole movie spins around Carell's inspired performance as a man who is going quietly nuts because the universe has decided to toy with him." A romantic comedy for both realists and optimists, Dan in Real Life is the perfect film to watch with family. —Ilana Gordon
Where to watch Dan in Real Life: Freevee
EW grade: A (read the review)
Director: Peter Hedges
Cast: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney, Emily Blunt, Dianne Wiest
Related content: Dan In Real Life director to make The Odd Life of Timothy Green
<i>Four Weddings and a Funeral</i> (1994)
Richard Curtis' seminal rom com sees Charles (Hugh Grant, in the role which made him a star) and Carrie (Andie MacDowell, never not radiant) encounter each other at — you guessed it — four weddings and a funeral. It's one of the classic '90s romance films, and with good reason. Curtis' writing is as sharp as ever, and the cast has rarely had a better opportunity to charm the pants off of everyone in sight. —D.G.
Where to watch Four Weddings and a Funeral: Freevee
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Director: Richard Curtis
Cast: Hugh Grant, Andie McDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rowan Atkinson, John Hannah
Related content: Read about Mindy Kaling's Hulu reboot of the film
<i>Half Nelson</i> (2006)
Ryan Gosling earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a drug-addicted teacher in this affecting social drama from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (co-directors of Captain Marvel). After a student (Shareeka Epps) catches him getting high, the two form an unlikely bond. The pat screenplay falls prey to indulgences synonymous with this era of indie filmmaking, but the two performances at its center keep Half Nelson consistently electric. —D.G.
Where to watch Half Nelson: Freevee
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Nathan Corbett, Deborah Rush
Related content: The 15 best Ryan Gosling roles
<i>Insomnia</i> (1997)
Erik Skjoldbj?rg's Norwegian thriller about a cop (Stellan Skarsg?rd) investigating a murder in an Alaskan town that never sees nighttime was remade by Christopher Nolan under the same title in 2002. Nolan's effort is quite good, but it doesn't capture the same moral ambiguity as Skjoldbj?rg's original, nor does it have the same creeping dread or inimitable atmosphere. Indeed, Insomnia gets into your bones like a vicious chill. —D.G.
Where to watch Insomnia: Freevee
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Director: Erik Skjoldbj?rg
Cast: Stellan Skarsg?rd, Maria Mathiesen, Bj?rn Floberg, Marianne O. Ulrichsen, Sverre Anker Ousdal
<i>Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates</i> (2016)
Combine Wedding Crashers and Neighbors and you get Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, a romantic comedy based on a true story executed with a side of raucous raunch. Mike (Adam DeVine) and his brother Dave (Zac Efron) are elite partiers and their family has had enough of their antics. Concerned about how the two will act at their younger sister's Hawaiian wedding, their parents issue an ultimatum: Find some nice girls to bring as dates. The brothers put out a listing on Craigslist, it goes viral, and before long they've connected with Tatiana and Alice (Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick), two degenereates cosplaying as innocents in the hopes of scoring a free Hawaiian getaway. What unfolds is a battle royale of bad behavior as the brothers and their dates do their best not to wreck the wedding. EW describes the film as "like riding a roller coaster fueled by Red Bull and grain alcohol: kind of gross but pretty fun, too." —I.G.
Where to watch Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: Freevee
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Jake Szymanski
Cast: Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam DeVine, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Root
Related content: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: How Adam Devine, Zac Efron forged film's brotherly dynamic
<i>O Brother, Where Art Thou?</i> (2000)
It's hard to pick the best Coen Brothers movie, but O Brother, Where Art Thou? made EW's top five. A loose update of Homer's The Odyssey, the film features a trio of dim-witted prisoners who escape and go in search of buried treasure. This being the Coens, they meet a variety of odd characters and extreme circumstances along the way. In addition to a stellar folk soundtrack, there's an expert juggling of immense tragedy and slapstick comedy, though the work never once confuses the two tones or bogs itself down with pieties. —D.G.
Where to watch O Brother, Where Art Thou: Freevee
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter
Related content: Read about how O Brother, Where Art Thou resurrected classic country music
<i>Open Your Eyes</i> (1997)
A man (Eduardo Noriega) who ostensibly has it all meets the perfect woman (Penelope Cruz). He's then plunged into a bizarre psychological realm after suffering a car accident and winding up in prison. Alejandro Amenábar's genre-bending odyssey is an impressive blend of horror, romance, drama, and intrigue. Brilliantly, the mystery is genuinely confounding — and when the revelations come, they escalate the suspense rather than deflate it. —D.G.
Where to watch Open Your Eyes: Freevee
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Penelope Cruz, Fele Martínez, Chete Lera, Najwa Nimri
<i>Point Break</i> (1991)
Kathryn Bigelow cemented her status as one of the best blockbuster directors in town with this breezy, iconic thriller about an FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) set to infiltrate a gang of bank robbers led by Patrick Swayze. A 2016 remake tried and failed to recapture the singular extreme sports meets heist smoothie that Bigelow concocted here, complete with surfing scenes that leave you longing for the coast. —D.G.
Where to watch Point Break: Freevee
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty, Gary Busey, James Le Gros
Related content: How Dennis Jarvis taught Point Break's cast how to ride the waves
<i>Prom Night</i> (1980)
Jamie Lee Curtis gives a predictably committed performance in the peak-era slasher Prom Night. As her father, Leslie Nielsen also assumes a straight-faced, red herring role on the heels of his comedy rebirth in Airplane. The pacing is deliberate, but as a mix of Halloween's tension and Friday the 13th's outlandish gore, you can hardly do better. We don't want to sound sick or anything, but this has one of the nastiest decapitations of all time. —D.G.
Where to watch Prom Night: Freevee
Director: Paul Lynch
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Michael Tough, Eddie Benton, Casey Stevens
Related content: Jamie Lee Curtis recalls her most famous roles, from Halloween to Everything Everywhere All at Once
<i>Promising Young Woman</i> (2020)
Emerald Fennell (who recently appeared in Barbie as the pregnant, forgotten doll Midge) wrote and directed this searing black comedy. Carrie Mulligan is superb as the eponymous character, who dropped out of medical school after a traumatic incident and now serves coffee all day. When she meets a handsome doctor (comedian and Eighth Grade director Bo Burnham), her past and future are set on a violent collision course.
Promising Young Woman is an angry film which provides no easy answers and little catharsis, but it's also tremendously entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny. (And the orchestral use of a classic Britney Spears track is nothing short of revolutionary.) Fennell won a much-deserved Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay here, and judging from her confident, stylish direction, it won't be the last Oscar in her pocket. —D.G.
Where to watch Promising Young Woman: Freevee
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Emerald Fennell
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Alfred Molina
Related content: Why Emerald Fennell cast sweet men to do bad things in Promising Young Woman
<i>Road Games</i> (1981)
Another Jamie Lee Curtis thriller from the legend's early horror tenure, this expert Australian thriller is less slasher and more Hitchcock. It concerns a long-haul trucker (Stacey Keach) and a mysterious hitchhiker (Curtis) who run afoul of a killer in the outback. The DNA of Road Games is highly evident in both Joy Ride, John Dahl's white-knuckle modern classic, and Jeepers Creepers (both 2001), two films worth revisiting if you enjoyed this one. —D.G.
Where to watch Road Games: Freevee
Director: Richard Franklin
Cast: Stacey Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Grant Page
Related content: The 14 best Jamie Lee Curtis movie and TV roles, ranked
<i>The Other Guys</i> (2010)
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg team up for a buddy cop action comedy that will be relatable to anyone who doesn't thrive under pressure. Ferrell and Wahlberg play Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz, two NYPD detectives that have been relegated to desk duty. Gamble (Ferrell) loves his orderly existence while Hoitz (Wahlberg) rages against his new assignment, which he acquired after mistakenly shooting Derek Jeter. But when the most Alpha cops on the force pass away in the line of duty, it's up to The Other Guys to investigate the biggest crime the city has seen in years. Ferrell and Wahlberg are perfectly cast as an odd couple duo and director Adam McKay is a pro at satirizing a genre that has turned law enforcement officers into superheroes. EW's critic writes that the film "is aimed at all of us out there who long for excitement yet cling to safety because we're more desk jockey than supercop ourselves." —I.G.
Where to watch The Other Guys: Freevee
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson
Related content: The Other Guys mothers take over in special Mom-entary
<i>The Post</i> (2017)
Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks collaborate for the first time on The Post, a historical thriller inspired by The Washington Post's internal debate over whether or not to publish the Pentagon Papers. Set in 1971, the film follows Katharine Graham (Streep), a D.C. socialite who has become The Post's publisher after her husband's suicide and father's death. Underestimated by the paper's board and determined to transform the outlet into a leading publication, she hires editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) — but tensions escalate when the two learn that the New York Times intends to publish papers that indicate the government has been covering up its role in Vietnam for three decades. Torn between legal and social repercussions and their desire to speak truth to power, the leaders at The Post must decide if taking a stand and publishing the papers is worth the risk to their freedoms and reputations. Featuring what EW's critic asserts is one of Streep's best performances in years, The Post is timely, educational, and fascinating. —I.G.
Where to watch The Post: Freevee
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys
Related content: Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks Q&A: The Post is about defying power in dangerous times
<i>They Came Together</i> (2014)
Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd star in this luminously silly parody of generic rom coms from Wet Hot American Summer director David Wain. Though a broader target than the summer camp comedies of his previous films, They Came Together hits an uncommon number of bull's eyes with its succession of Airplane-style gags. It limps to its conclusion, but that may be interpreted as a meta wink. After all, how many romance flicks peter out by the 75-minute mark? —D.G.
Where to watch They Came Together: Freevee
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: David Waine
Cast: Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon, Jason Mantzoukas, Christopher Meloni
Related content: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler give rom coms an Airplane! twist: Sundance
<i>West Side Story</i> (1961)
60 years before Steven Spielberg did the impossible and pulled off a successful modern remake of West Side Story, there was the original film. Premiering in 1961, four years after the iconic show — written by Arthur Laurent, scored by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim — became a hit on Broadway, this piece of celebrated theater history remains a must-see for musical lovers. Starring Natalie Wood as Maria (with vocals provided courtesy of Marni Nixon, Hollywood's acclaimed but mostly anonymous songbird) and featuring choreography by Jerome Robbins who co-directed the film with Robert Wise, this Romeo and Juliet-esque story of love, rivalries, and class wars feels just as relevant now as it did in 1961. New York City in the 1950s has never been more electric and dance has never felt as urgent or celebratory as it does in the original West Side Story. —I.G.
Where to watch West Side Story: Freevee
Director: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris
Related content: Original West Side Story stars Russ Tamblyn and George Chakiris react to Spielberg remake trailer
