The summer season is pretty much over. School is about to start again and the weather will hopefully become a bit cooler. At the movies, the big blockbuster releases are pretty much done, with the cinematic landscape quieting down until late September, when the holiday season starts taking shape.
What better way to say goodbye to summer than with a great film? The best movies on Netflix, Hulu, Max, and other services will surely include a healthy mix of recent hits and old-school classics, but the best part of streaming is always discovering an underappreciated hidden gem. This month, we have three suitably underrated movies that came and went without much fanfare. However, they are worthy efforts that pretty much anyone can enjoy.
Adventureland (2009)
Few movies capture the bittersweetness of the end of summer quite as accurately as Greg Mottola’s Adventureland. Set in 1987, the film follows recent college graduate Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) as he starts a summer job at the local amusement park after his plans to take a trip through Europe fall through. There, he meets and falls for his attractive, yet elusive co-worker, Em (Kristen Stewart).
In many ways, Adventureland is a typical coming-of-age dramedy that seldom steps out of the genre’s limits. However, it doesn’t need to, as it offers a sweet, melancholic, charming, and insightful story of love, maturity, and self-discovery. Eisenberg has seldom been more engaging, and his chemistry with Stewart is the stuff of YA legend. Adventureland will make adults long for an easier time and will resonate with a younger audience struggling with growing pains and the uncertainty of the future. In short, it has something for everyone.
Adventureland is available to stream on Paramount+.
August: Osage County (2013)
August: Osage County is an adaptation of the eponymous play by Tracy Letts. The film follows a dysfunctional family as they reunite when the patriarch disappears. The family is led by Violet (Streep), an erratic and drug-addicted woman with cancer and three daughters: Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), and Karen (Juliette Lewis).
Those looking for subtlety won’t find it here. August: Osage County is a movie for all those who love to see their actresses working at the top of their game. Streep is quite good, delivering an over-the-top performance that feels disingenuous at times, but never ceases to be entertaining.
The real star here, however, is perennial rom-com queen Julia Roberts, whose ferocious and confrontational portrayal earned her a richly deserved fourth Oscar nomination. Beloved character actresses Nicholson and Margo Martindale are also highlights of this film, which doesn’t do a very good job of adapting its overly stagey play onto the screen, but at least allows these acting monsters a chance to bear their sharp fangs.
August: Osage County is available to stream on Tubi.
The Shallows (2016)
Blake Lively is currently in the news; she has a certified box office hit with It Ends With Us and is at the center of a juicy scandal that gives Don’t Worry Darling a run for its money. Almost a decade before starring in the surprise hit, Lively was front and center in a more modest and infinitely superior survival drama.
The Shallows follows Nancy (Lively), a surfer who becomes stranded on a rock in the middle of the ocean at a secluded beach when a great white shark attacks her while surfing. Although Ben Affleck’s The Town had already proven her versatility, The Shallows displayed her star quality and ability to carry a film on her shoulders.
Although the film was a box office success, it tends to go unnoticed within the context of her career, overshadowed by flashier efforts like A Simple Favor and It Ends With Us. However, if you saw Lively’s latest big-screen effort and realized she is actually a very good actress, then check out The Shallows.
The Shallows is available to stream on Starz.
