Hulu may drop most of its top movies for the month on the 1st, but it does offer a selection of fresh films every week even if the streamer doesn’t always do a good job of promoting these new additions. Case in point: Babylon is coming to Hulu on March 8, and the streamer hasn’t even added a page for the movie yet. Regardless, this overlooked gem is one of our picks for the three great Hulu movies that you need to stream this weekend.
Our remaining two picks include a very strong drama that’s closing in on its 20th anniversary, as well as a comedy that fell under the radar despite its callbacks to an earlier era that make it even funnier.
Need more recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
Babylon (2022)
Audiences weren’t quite sure what to make of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, a film that starts nearly a century in Hollywood’s past. Margot Robbie leads the cast as a budding starlet, Nellie LaRoy, while Brad Pitt gets top billing as aging actor Jack Conrad. However, a good deal of this film belongs to Diego Calva’s Manny Torres, an ambitious young man who knows how to work his way into the industry.
Manny’s ambition pale in comparison to Nellie, who wants to live the life of a star with all of the excess drugs and alcohol that go with it. As the industry transitions from silent films to sound, Nellie seemingly finds her ticket to the top while Jack’s career leaves him floundering for anything that can save his career. But not everyone gets a happy ending in this Hollywood fable.
Watch Babylon on Hulu.
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Notes on a Scandal gives Judi Dench one of her meatiest roles as Barbara Covett, a teacher who doesn’t have many friends or even anyone in her life whom she can freely love and be loved by in return. Perhaps that’s why Barbara is so taken by the school’s new teacher, Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), a woman who is married to a much older man named Richard (Bill Nighy).
When Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with one of the school’s underage students, Steve Connolly (Andrew Simpson), she tells her friend to end it immediately. What Barbara doesn’t tell Sheba is that she intends to use this info to her own advantage, and she’s more than willing to manipulate the events of Sheba’s life to get the outcome she desires.
Watch Notes on a Scandal on Hulu.
The Gutter (2022)
If you’ve ever seen the Farrelly brothers at their peak in Kingpin, Dumb and Dumber, and There’s Something About Mary, then you’ll recognize the wildly over-the-top comedic tone of The Gutter. Brothers Isaiah and Yassir Lester lean into the dumbest comedy moments possible and yet it almost always draws a laugh.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s Shameik Moore stars as Walt, a loser who finally finds a place for himself among the misfits at a local bowling alley. When the bowling alley is threatened with closure by a building inspector (Adam Brody), one of the other regulars, Skunk (D’Arcy Carden), takes it upon herself to be Walt’s bowling coach as he utilizes his unexpected talent to enter competitive bowling tournaments. In keeping with the tradition of Kingpin, Susan Sarandon steps into the Bill Murray role as Linda Curson, a ruthless bowler who stands in the way of Walt and Skunk’s dreams of total victory.
Watch The Gutter on Hulu.