The 20 best movies on Paramount+
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Originally launched (to some skepticism) as CBS All Access in 2014, it’s safe to say that Paramount+ was ahead of its time. It was, in fact, the first over-the-top service from an American broadcaster. In 2021, during the pandemic theatrical shakeup, Paramount+ rebranded and made a name for itself with an admirable library of films.
Picking only 20 of the best movies on Paramount+ was no easy task, but we at EW tried our best. Join us as we run through the list.
“40 Days and 40 Nights” (2002)
Miramax/courtesy Everett Collection
This stylish mid-aughts comedy follows a recently heartbroken San Franciscan (Josh Hartnett) who meets the perfect woman (Shannyn Sossamon) just as he undertakes a brief vow of celibacy for lent. The movie never addresses why this is such a problem, but it’s a breezy and likable story with some well-placed needle drops and pleasant cinematography. It makes you yearn for the days when comedies were shot, lit, and designed like real films and not television sitcoms.
Where to watch 40 Days and 40 Nights: Paramount+
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Michael Lehmann
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Shannyn Sossamon, Vinessa Shaw, Paulo Costanzo, Monet Mazur
“First Wives Club” (1996)
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A murderer’s row of acting talent — Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler — team up to exact revenge on their ex-husbands who have “upgraded” to younger models. A revenge-cum-wish fulfillment fantasy, Hugh Wilson’s breezy friend-com is both pleasantly spiky and reassuringly warm.
Where to watch First Wives Club: Paramount+
Director: Hugh Wilson
Cast: Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Berkley, Stockard Channing
“It Follows” (2014)
RADiUS-TWC/courtesy Everett Collection
David Robert Mitchell’s masterful thriller more or less birthed the unfortunately termed (but fruitful) “elevated horror” movement, and for good reason. It’s a film so stunningly unnerving that certain moments and scenes will be forever imprinted on your brain.
Maika Monroe stars as Jay, a young teen who acquires an STD (“sexually transmitted demon”) after a one-night stand. Instead of the normal maladies one might have in that situation, Jay finds herself pursued by ghoulish specters who may or may not be real. The only way she can pass it on is by sleeping with someone else, and you know how that goes...
Where to watch It Follows: Paramount+
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary, Lili Sepe, Olivia Luccardi
Related content: It Follows: The secrets behind the indie horror hit
“Last Holiday” (2006)
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
Queen Latifah and LL Cool J share an enviable chemistry in Wayne Wang’s sensitive remake of the 1950 British film of the same name. Last Holiday is about 20 percent broad comedy and 80 percent genuine pathos, which turns out to be more successful than you’d think. Latifah plays an unrealized woman who, when diagnosed with a fatal disease and given weeks to live, decides to live it up at a chalet in Europe. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but Wang’s film has a pleasingly old-school, unhurried essence, and Latifah is always a welcome dramatic presence.
Where to watch Last Holiday: Paramount+
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Wayne Wang
Cast: Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Giancarlo Esposito, Alicia Witt, Jascha Washington
“Lucky Number Slevin” (2006)
Everett Collection
One of the better guns-and-geezers riffs, Paul McGuigan’s stylish and twisty Rubik’s Cube concerns young Slevin (Josh Hartnett) in the middle of a war between rival gang bosses (Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman). Similar to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (another inspired neo-noir from the previous year), Lucky Number Slevin puts a glossy, studio-approved spin on some of the more depraved pulp fiction of the ’40s and ‘50s.
Where to watch Lucky Number Slevin: Paramount+
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Paul McGuigan
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley
“Mafia Mamma” (2023)
Catherine Hardwicke’s surprisingly weird action-comedy stars Toni Collette as a housewife who attends her grandfather's funeral in Italy only to be made the head of his substantial crime syndicate. It’s as high-concept as comedies get, and that’s the point.
Collette couldn’t put a foot wrong if she tried, performing at the exact manic pace a movie called Mafia Mamma requires. The action is admirably vicious, at times engaging in Evil Dead levels of gore. There’s also a subplot about Monica Bellucci (made for comedy, it turns out) and a prosthetic limb that is truly one of the biggest, wildest swings a studio comedy has taken in recent memory.
Where to watch Mafia Mamma: Paramount+
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Toni Collette, Monica Bellucci, Sophia Nomvete, Alessandro Bressanello, Eduardo Scarpetta
Related content: Mafia Mamma director Catherine Hardwicke unpacks The Godfather Easter eggs
“Red Eye” (2005)
DreamWorks/courtesy Everett Collection
Wes Craven’s stone-cold brilliant B-movie is so good it almost seems like a disservice to call it a B-movie. A case study in films not needing to be long or intricate to be utterly thrilling and highly cinematic, this sub-80-minute genre-hopper finds Rachel McAdams trapped on a plane with a murderous Cillian Murphy.
Red Eye moves like a bullet, jumping from disaster movie to psychological two-hander to blazing action and eventually a pretty gnarly stalker-in-the-house sequence. It’s ruthlessly structured and quite different from anything else Craven did.
Where to watch Red Eye: Paramount+
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays, Theresa Press-Marx
"Scream" (1996)
"What's your favorite scary movie?" For many horror fans, it's this loving satire of the genre, which has since spawned various sequels. But it's hard not to be nostalgic for the 1996 original, which centers on the inhabitants of the small town Woodsboro as they contend with a Ghostface mask-wearing serial killer. From the garage incident with Tatum (Rose McGowan) to its stellar reveal at the climax, Scream still satisfies decades later.
Where to watch Scream: Paramount+
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore
Related content: Scream cast: Where are they now?
“Scrooged” (1988)
Paramount Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Of the many Christmas Carol remakes and homages, Scrooged holds up as one of the most inspired. Bill Murray stars as heartless TV exec Frank Cross, who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve to show him the error of his wicked ways. Richard Donner’s movie is irreverent without being nasty, preserving the sanctity of Dickens’ original tale while giving it a quintessentially ‘80s spin.
Where to watch Scrooged: Paramount+
Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Bill Murray, Bobcat Goldthwait, Alfre Woodard, Carol Kane, David Johansen
Related content: Is Scrooged the most underrated Christmas movie of all time?
“She’s All That” (1999)
Miramax/courtesy Everett Collection
Another particularly broad ‘90s high school comedy (can you tell we love the subgenre?), this one has an admittedly problematic plot at its core. Cool guy Zack (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is dared to date super not cool (but, like, artsy and thoughtful and interesting) Lainey (Rachael Leigh Cook). We’ve all seen the scene where she walks down the stairs newly beautified, and it’s easy to roll your eyes at the concept. The chemistry between Prinze Jr. and Cook, though, as well as a smart script (polished by none other than M. Night Shyamalan), set this one well apart from the pack.
Where to watch She’s All That: Paramount+
EW grade: B- (read the review)
Director: Robert Iscove
Cast: Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Anna Paquin
Related content: She's All That stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook have a mini reunion
“World War Z” (2013)
Jaap Buitendijk/Paramount Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Initially dismissed for its inflated budget and reported reshoots, World War Z ended up as a neat, efficient thriller. Brad Pitt, as United Nations investigator Gerry Lane, goes on a quest to save the world from a zombie apocalypse. (As his homebound wife, Mireille Enos is given pitifully little to do.) The best part of the movie is ironically the reshot portion, a stripped-down stalking sequence in a laboratory that closes the film.
Where to watch World War Z: Paramount+
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Director: Mark Forester
Cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, Matthew Fox, Elyes Gabel
Related content: Brad Pitt's epic struggle to make World War Z
“Young Adult” (2011)
Phillip V. Caruso/Paramount Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
This angry and weird little movie was made by Jason Reitman after his Oscars hot streak, seeing him reunite with Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. It’s one of Reitman’s best films and definitely Cody’s most mature, a spiky and risky examination of a former cool girl (Charlize Theron) who returns to her hometown to show everyone how much better than them she is.
Where to watch Young Adult: Paramount+
EW grade: A (read the review)
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, Collette Wolf
