Another flood of new movies arrived on Max in July 2023. Some of them are available on Max for the first time, others are returning to the streaming service after playing elsewhere.
Scrolling through the dozens of new movies on Max can feel like a daunting task. If you suffer from decision paralysis like me, you might stay up until the wee hours trying to pick something to watch on movie night. And you have better ways to spend your time.
You could go with one of the new Max movies rated highly on Rotten Tomatoes or our roundup of the overall best movies on Max. But you might need more recommendations, especially since critics can be wrong.
That’s why I’ve compiled my favorite new movies on Max this month. I’ve seen and can vouch for all of them, even if they fall short of an A-grade on RT.
20th Century Women
The time period and vibes of this dramedy are very much the counterculture of the ‘70s, even though writer/director Mike Mills made it in 2016. The coming-of-age story is inspired on his own upbringing in the hippie communities of California.
In 1979 Santa Barbara, Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening) is a single mother raising a teen son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). Concerned she isn’t connecting well with her son, she enlists the help of two people: her punk artist tenant Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and Jamie’s precocious best friend Julie (Elle Fanning). As a tangled web of relationships forms among them all, they discover new facets of each other and themselves.
Genre: Comedy/drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Stream now on Max
Election
Alexander Payne’s brilliant black comedy is eerily prescient in its portrayal of an ambitious yet “unlikable” female politician, accusations of election fraud and men in power carrying out underhanded deeds to stay in power. The acerbic satire poked sharply at American politics and culture in 1999; more than two decades later, it’s almost even more relevant and insightful.
Reese Witherspoon stars as Tracy Flick, a type-A overachieving teen running for high school president. Her campaign is sabotaged by civics teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick), who holds a grudge against her. McAllister encourages a popular football player to run against Tracy, but when she seems poised to win the race anyway, he takes matters into his own hands.
Genre: Comedy
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Stream now on Max
Far From the Madding Crowd
Before Thomas Vinterberg got a somewhat surprising Oscar nomination for directing the boozy comedy Another Round, he took a more serious turn helming this adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel, with the help of a stellar cast.
The beautiful Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is living and helping out on her aunt’s farm when she meets neighbor Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts). He falls in love, but she rejects him. Then, after he loses his sheep farm, he disappears. Later, they cross paths when Bathsheba is a wealthy farm owner with multiple suitors, including a dashing soldier (Tom Sturridge) and a prosperous older bachelor (Michael Sheen). Heartache follows, but so does hope.
Genre: Romantic drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%
Stream now on Max
Horrible Bosses
Theatrical R-rated comedies are a dying species, though the late Aughts and early Twenty-Tens could be considered their heyday thanks to titles like Horribles Bosses. Some of Hollywood’s top comedic talent anchor the cast, as it’s led by Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, who play three friends who all hate their bosses.
And these bosses are especially bad, thanks to incompetence, taunting and sexual harassment. One night, after a few too many drinks, the guys decide to kill their terrible managers. When they search for a hitman, they come across Dean (Jamie Foxx), who offers to be their murder consultant. But of course, their plans go amusingly awry.
Genre: Comedy
Rotten Tomatoes score: 69%
Stream now on Max
Serendipity
Wacky premises power romantic comedies, but Serendipity might have the most contrived of them all. Jonathan (John Cusack) meets Sara (Kate Beckinsale) one magical night in New York City. For him, it’s love at first sight, but she wants to leave it up to fate to bring them back together.
After 10 years pass, both are engaged to other people. On a whim, Sara decides to return to New York to try to find Jonathan. They nearly bump into each other, but time is running out — Jonathan is on the eve of his wedding. But destiny can’t be denied, and they’ll have one last chance to reunite.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Rotten Tomatoes score: 59%
Stream now on Max
Shakespeare in Love
Romantic comedies don’t tend to get a lot of love at the Oscars, but this period piece was an exception thanks to the use of historical figures, lavish costumes, sumptuous production design and star-studded cast.
A young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is suffering from writer’s block, but the theatre owner decides to move forward with his unfinished play. Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), the daughter of a wealthy merchant, attends the auditions — dressed as a man. Shakespeare’s experiences with Viola and her alter ego lead him to pen one of his greatest works, Romeo and Juliet.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Stream now on Max
Shoplifters
A year before Parasite stunned by winning the Best Picture Oscar, the Japanese gem Shoplifters was a critical and commercial success that still didn’t receive enough accolades. Writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda crafts a beautiful, achingly tender story of family, love and sacrifice.
In a poor Tokyo neighborhood, the Shibatu family lives on the margins of homelessness. They have no time or energy for despair, though. They live off the grandmother’s pension, some menial labor and food stolen from nearby shops. Despite their criminal lifestyle, they adhere to a code and only take what they need. But when young son Shota (Jyo Kairi) is caught, long-held secrets emerge.
Genre: Drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%
Stream now on Max
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