The 27 Best Movies on Hulu This Week

In 2017, Hulu made television history by becoming the first streaming network to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, thanks to the phenomenon that was The Handmaid’s Tale.

While Netflix has largely cornered the streaming market on original movies—and even managed to persuade A-listers like Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Martin Scorsese to come aboard—Hulu is starting to find its footing in features too. Below are some of our top picks for the best movies (original and otherwise) streaming on Hulu right now.

Still looking for more great titles to add to your queue? Check out WIRED’s guides to the best TV shows on Hulu, best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Disney+, and the best movies on Amazon Prime. Don't like our picks, or want to offer suggestions of your own? Head to the comments below.

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It should’ve been a contender! While Oscar snubs are generally a matter of opinion, that All of Us Strangers deserved much greater consideration—and even just a single nomination—from the Academy is a matter of fact. Adam (the always superb Andrew Scott) is a television writer who largely keeps to himself, until an awkward encounter with his tipsy neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal) kickstarts a passionate new relationship. But when he’s not in London with Harry, Adam is returning to the suburban home where he grew up—and where he encounters and is able to interact with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), despite having died 30 years ago. In the hands of a lesser director, the fantastical elements could seem forced. But with Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years) behind the camera, the surreal setup only augments the emotion.

You know the story: Romeo Montague (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet Capulet (Claire Danes) are two teenagers who have fallen madly in love, but the worst kind of love: forbidden. As their families are fierce and longtime rivals, everyone knows their connection can only lead to heartbreak, but few people could probably have predicted just how tragic that heartbreak would be for everyone. Baz Luhrmann adapts Shakespeare’s story of young love and loss in the way that only Baz Luhrmann can: loudly, and full of anachronisms.

Twenty-five years ago, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) took a cue from Romeo and Juliet with their own brand of forbidden love. In this case, Edward is a vampire and Bella is not. Things worked out slightly better for this couple, both in the movie and in the best-selling book series by Stephenie Meyer. The movie turned Stewart and Pattinson into instant (albeit reluctant) A-listers, ignited the #TeamEdward vs. #TeamJacob wars, and was the first of a box-office-busting five-film series.

Director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) imagines a not-too-distant future in which the human race is at war with AI—which feels all too relatable for some. John David Washington (Tenet star/son of Denzel) is the world’s best hope for putting an end to this battle once and for all when he’s tasked with tracking down the eponymous Creator, the architect behind the technology that has created this world upheaval. While there are some undeniable plot holes, the Oscar-nominated film’s stellar set pieces and first-class acting talent make this a must-see film for sci-fi fans.

New Girl’s Jake Johnson makes his feature directorial debut with this wonderfully weird and occasionally dark meta comedy, which he also wrote and stars in. Tommy Walcott (Johnson) is living a pretty ordinary existence until he’s approached by Andy Samberg (as Andy Samberg), who offers him the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to win $1 million as part of a massive reality competition. The only thing Tommy needs to do is not get murdered for 30 days, despite being hunted by dozens of contract killers whose job is to ensure that no contestant walks away with the big prize. The catch? Contestants can only be killed when they’re entirely alone. So Tommy takes it upon himself to partner up with another contestant, which is where Maddy (Anna Kendrick) comes in. Since they both have a cool mil to gain and a lot to lose (aka their lives) if they don’t triumph, they make a pact to spend every waking moment of the next 30 days together. Just when you think you know where Self Reliance is headed, it goes ahead and surprises—and in the best ways possible.

Jodie Comer is mesmerizing (as usual) as Marguerite de Carrouges—a woman who risks her own life in order to speak out after being viciously raped by Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), a respected squire and knight and a close friend of her husband, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon). More than just a tale of he said/she said, the film explores the role women played during the late Middle Ages and the courage it took for Marguerite to stand up for herself, a decision that led to one of France’s last court-sanctioned trials by combat.

Christine (Eva Green) is a children’s fashion designer suffering from a debilitating, but undiagnosed, illness following a tick bite. She finds relief, in many forms, with the arrival of Diana (Chai Fonacier), a nanny and housekeeper who happens to possess healing gifts. Christine’s husband Felix (Mark Strong) is suspicious of Diana’s all-too-helpful demeanor, and it turns out he has every right to be. While this film operates as social commentary on the fashion industry, Nocebo is more effective as a creepy psychological thriller filled with the kind of uncomfortable close-ups that make the viewer feel the walls closing in.

Home invasion thrillers are never in short supply, but the really effective ones are hard to come by. Kaitlyn Dever shines—and proves yet again that she can shoulder the weight of an entire film—as Brynn Adams, a seamstress living a solitary existence in her childhood home and mourning the loss of her mother and closest friend. When she wakes up one night to discover that someone is in her house, that someone turns out to be something. A home invasion thriller with extraterrestrials might not have been on your must-watch Bingo card, but No One Will Save You is 93 minutes well spent.

Miguel (Tyler Dean Flores) is 17 years old and has never been in a fight. So when he learns that he’ll be moving away from the place and people he has known all his life, he enlists his pals to help him get into his first fistfight. It’s probably not the first coming-of-age ritual to spring to mind, but it’s certainly among them. A talented cast of young actors make this comedy—cowritten by Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion—immensely watchable.

David Siev paints a deeply personal portrait of the American Dream disrupted as he traces his family’s journey from the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the tiny—and overwhelmingly white—town of Bad Axe, Michigan. Shot in real time, this moving documentary shows the challenges facing Siev’s family, and the restaurant they own, amid political tension and anti-Asian sentiment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott) has just been handed the keys to the castle following the death of his hotel magnate father. Rebecca Marin (Margaret Qualley) is a dominatrix who believes she deserves some of the credit—and half the cash—that comes with Hal’s new CEO position. Sexual politics have rarely played out as twisted, or darkly funny, as they do in this mesmerizing, and often claustrophobic, thriller from Zachary Wigon.

Vicky Krieps delivers yet another top-notch performance as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who—following her 40th birthday—longs to recapture the freedom of her youth. Marie Kreutzer writes and directs this fictional biopic (Empress Elisabeth is real, though the story told within takes plenty of creative liberties), which sees the royal rebelling against her lack of power to affect any real change, despite her title. Even more so, it’s about a woman who is desperate to hold on to the power that youth and beauty entitle her to—regardless of the consequences.

Environmentalism meets heist movie in director Daniel Goldhaber's thriller about a group of young people who try to—as the title implies—expose the fragility of the oil industry. It's not often that a movie examining the fight against the climate crisis is also an edge-of-your-seat adventure, but here those elements come together beautifully. (You can give cinematographer Tehillah de Castro a bit of credit for that.) Smart, prescient, and nearly unprecedented, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is more than worth the stream.

Like Frank Abagnale (the subject of Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can) before him, Gerald Blanchard is a criminal mastermind whose sheer audacity is worthy of a Hollywood retelling. Yet the real-life Blanchard is so endlessly captivating and unafraid to share the most intimate details of his capers that it’s best to let him do the talking—which is exactly what he does in this fascinating documentary, in which even the people he duped and the authorities who pursued him seem a bit in awe of his bravado. What else would you expect from a man who allegedly parachuted onto the roof of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace in order to break in and make off with the Star of Empress Sisi, a priceless jewel that once belonged to Empress Elisabeth of Austria? (Yes, the very same woman Vicky Krieps portrays in the aforementioned Corsage.)

While the words “postapocalyptic drama” often draw groans from viewers who have tired of the trope, this one is different (yes, we know, you’ve heard that before, too). Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) is a 13-year-old with some pretty serious biohacking skills, which is particularly handy given that she and her father (Richard Brake) are attempting to survive in a world where Earth’s ecosystem is now nonexistent. Making it more of a challenge is that it’s impossible to know who to trust when even Vesper’s uncle (the always-captivating Eddie Marsan) is only looking out for himself. In addition to stellar acting, it’s a visually impressive sci-fi fairytale that plays a bit like a mash-up between Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Alien was originally released in 1979, but it has lost none of its potency in the intervening years—which isn’t something most fortysomethings could say. By now you probably know the story: The crew aboard the spacecraft Nostromo, including warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), put a presumably slight pause on their trip back to Earth in order to respond to a distress call from a nearby planetoid. But what they discover is a bizarre alien life form that seems to delight in knocking off crew members in new—and frequently terrifying—ways. Can you say Facehugger? Or Chestburster? Alien is also noteworthy for being the film that kicked off a bona fide, and legendary, sci-fi/horror franchise—and introduced the world to Ridley Scott, who changed the genre game yet again with his next feature, Blade Runner.

Also available on Disney+, Flamin’ Hot tells the story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), the Frito-Lay janitor who brought Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to the masses. Directed by Eva Longoria, the movie might come off as a little cheesy at times, but its comedy and heart transform it into something more than just a story about a beloved snack.