Netflix adds a slew of new movies each month, and they usually have high Rotten Tomatoes scores.
But not all films are created equal, and there are some good – or at least entertaining – pictures that have the dreaded green splat that conveys critical disapproval.
Watch With Us is here to shine a spotlight on several good Netflix movies that have unjustly bad Rotten Tomatoes scores.
At the top of our watchlist is Sex Tape, a suggestive comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel and Rob Lowe.
‘Sex Tape’ (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 16 percent
Jay and Annie Hargrove (Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz) are a married couple who love each other, but their sex life has become boring. To spice things up, they film themselves having sex, but they panic when they mistakenly upload the video on several iPads they gave away as gifts. To keep the video from being made public, they have to secretly retrieve the iPads from family, friends and co-workers before anyone finds out what’s on them.
Sex Tape is a bawdy comedy made at a time when Hollywood still made bawdy comedies. Even though it was only released 12 years ago, it feels like a relic from another time when comedies could be both naughty and nice at the same time. Diaz is a pro at movies like these; she suggests a woman who still has a wild streak in her, even though her life consists of PTA meetings and scheduled dates with her schlubby hubby. Segel is good too as a husband who is down for all sorts of fun, from re-enacting the Kama Sutra to breaking into a porn website’s headquarters to destroy its servers.
‘Snowden’ (2016)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 61 percent
About 15 years ago, everyone was talking about Edward Snowden. The NSA intelligence contractor blew the whistle on the U.S. government’s pervasive surveillance operations, causing some to hail him as a hero. But the situation, much like the man himself, is more complicated than simplistic binary labels, which is what makes Oliver Stone’s biopic so fascinating – and frustrating – to watch.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Snowden not as a hero but as a workhorse who gradually becomes disillusioned by what he sees. In particular, he’s distressed that the government he works for is using him, and the valuable data that he gathers for them, to kill potential enemies abroad. That’s not what Edward signed up for, and he thinks the world should know what his employers are doing.
Was he right? Or did he weaken America’s national security? Stone has a clear stance, but he leaves enough room for you to decide on your own. What isn’t so ambiguous is the movie’s quality, which istop-notch. The starry cast includes Shailene Woodley as Snowden’s girlfriend and Zachary Quinto as journalist Glenn Greenwald, but it’s Gordon-Levitt who impresses the most as an American who gradually becomes so disillusioned with his home country that he ultimately betrays it.
‘The Exorcism’ (2024)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 27 percent
What if The Exorcist, the seminal 1973 horror film about a young girl possessed by an ancient demon, was real? That’s the intriguing premise behind The Exorcism, a behind-the-scenes scary film that blurs the line between fact and fiction. Russell Crowe plays Anthony Miller, a past-his-prime actor who gets a second chance at fame when he’s brought in to replace the lead actor in The Georgetown Project, a horror movie about demonic possession. Miller wants to redeem himself, both as an actor and as a father to his teen daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), which is why he goes full-on Method in his portrayal of a priest consumed by his obsession. But as Miller starts to behave erratically, Lee begins to wonder if her father is either acting or really possessed by an actual demon.
While The Exorcism isn’t always successful, it has enough intriguing ideas to warrant a watch. Its 27 percent score is far too low – the film is more of a guilty pleasure B-movie with a great lead performance by Crowe. Most demonic possession films are really bad, but The Exorcism’s unusual concept and adequate amount of scares make it a horror film worth a late-night binge.
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