3 Underrated Netflix Movies to Stream This Weekend (March 21-23)

Spring has finally arrived and for many moviegoers, that means a new season of films to watch at the multiplex. This weekend, theaters across the nation will be showing Disney’s latest live-action remake, Snow Whiteas well as the ROBERT DE NIRO crime drama The Alto Knights.

If you’re in the mood to stay in, there are plenty of movies to watch at home, too. Peacock will be getting the 2024 hit Wicked starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande while Netflix is set to debut an intriguing new thriller, Revelations.

But there’s more available on Netflix than just new releases. The following three movies are older and vary by genre, but all of them guarantee an entertaining experience you won’t soon forget.

‘Bad Words’ (2013)

Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) isn’t the nicest guy around. He’s pushing 40, and he spends all his time entering competitive spelling bees and beating children who haven’t reached puberty yet. The other contestants and their parents are understandably mad that Guy exploited a loophole in the rules that allows him to compete, but one entrant, 10-year-old Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand), genuinely likes him. The two forge an unlikely friendship, but will the competition destroy their new bond?

Like Bad Santa and Bad Teacher before it, Bad Words spotlights an immoral adult who is faced with a choice to continue being bad or reform for the sake of another. Bateman, who also directed the film, is wonderfully nasty as the immature and petty Guy, who doesn’t mind suggesting to his pre-teen competition that he’s slept with their mothers to throw them off their game.

Bad Words is a comedy that revels in being politically incorrect, and it’s at its best when it’s gleefully offensive. If you don’t mind watching an adult make kids cry, this movie is for you.

Bad Words is streaming on Netflix.

‘Upgrade’ (2018)

It’s 2046, and technology has advanced enough for ordinary men to become super-killing fighting machines. That’s what happens to Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), an auto mechanic whose spine is severed and whose wife is killed in a sudden attack by four mysterious men. He’s implanted with a chip called STEM, which gives him super strength and agility, and he “hears” STEM’s AI in his mind. Now armed and extremely dangerous, Grey hunts down his wife’s killers to exact revenge and find out why he was marked for death.

Directed by Saw mastermind Leigh Whannell, Upgrade makes the most of its low budget and great premise. The film’s kinetic action scenes are brutal and visceral, and about as good as anything you’d see in a John Wick movie. As Grey, Marshall-Green is a great everyman hero who is both scared by, and thrilled with, the unique abilities STEM gives him. Upgrade is a cyberpunk action movie that isn’t much more than its high concept, and in this case, that’s good enough.

Upgrade is streaming on Netflix.

‘Watcher’ (2022)

After moving to Bucharest, Romania with her boyfriend Francis (Karl Glusman), Julia (Maika Monroe) begins to suspect someone is stalking her. When she walks to the supermarket, she senses a presence she can’t identify. When she gazes out of her apartment window, she sees a man watching her. With a serial killer named “The Spider” on the loose, Julia is understandably unnerved by the experience. But is it really happening? Or is it just her imagination?

Watcher is an unsettling experiencea thriller that convincingly evokes the fear and dread of being followed and watched without ever knowing for sure if it’s real or not. As Julia, Monroe expertly conveys her character’s uncertainty and helplessness without ever seeming weak or insipid.

The director, Chloe Okuno, uses the Bucharest locations to great effect. While the ending doesn’t leave any room for ambiguity, the lead-up is so good, you’ll forgive Watcher’s descent into bloodshed.

Watcher is streaming on Netflix.