You can always count on Amazon Prime Video to stream some high-quality movies like Nosferatu and, later in the month, Wicked.
But what about films that don’t get that much attention — or awards?
Any one of these three underrated Amazon Prime Video movies is perfect to watch over the 4th of July weekend.
If you’re craving laugh-out-loud comedies like Baby Boom and Game Night or a sports drama like Blue Crush, these films will fill the need to watch some nice, summertime flicks.
‘Baby Boom’ (1987)
J.C. Wiatt (Diane Keaton) is a New York City business executive who loves her work so much that she barely has time for a personal life. That’s why it’s such a shock when she inherits a distant relative’s baby, Elizabeth (Kristina and Michelle Kennedy). At first, J.C. wants nothing to do with Elizabeth and tries to put her up for adoption. But when she decides to keep her, it totally upends her life and forces her to reconsider what she really values and what she wants to do with her career.
Baby Boom is a glossy, breezy comedy that’s very ’80s, complete with some oversized shoulder pads and a sax-infused score. While some of it is dated, it’s still massively entertaining, and that’s due to Keaton’s performance. J.C., who is called the “Tiger Lady” by her yuppie peers, is introduced as a stereotypical “career” woman who is soon softened by her brush with motherhood, but Keaton doesn’t make her a superficial sap.
Being a mom plays to J.C.’s strengths as a woman who is often the smartest person in the room, and Keaton’s intelligent, sometimes prickly performance is always mesmerizing to watch. Her J.C. walked so others in the genre, like Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly two decades later, could run.
Baby Boom is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Blue Crush’ (2002)
Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) works as a hotel maid by day, but in her spare time, she trains with her best friend, Eden (Michelle Rodriguez), to be a competitive surfer. She’s good, but she can be even better if she can get over her PTSD from a surfing accident that happened years ago. A romance with a college football player, Matt (Matthew Davis), helps her gain enough confidence to enter an important surfing contest, the Pipeline Masters, but does Anne Marie have what it takes to win it all?
Blue Crush is a pretty straightforward sports movie, with the underdog facing overwhelming odds to make her rags-to-riches dream a reality. What makes Blue Crush stand out is its still-stunning cinematography, which puts you right with Anne Marie as she rides the waves. The movie was shot in Hawaii and features real-life surfers like Keala Kennelly, which gives it a surprising authenticity that really sells the dramatic stakes. On a more superficial level, it’s just great to look at and catnip for anyone looking for a 105-minute escape to a beach paradise.
Blue Crush is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Game Night’ (2018)
One of the most underrated movies of the last decade is Game Night, a raucous comedy that was initially dismissed when it was released in 2018 but has since been slowly embraced by appreciative audiences through streaming.
Max and Annie Davis (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams) are die-hard game enthusiasts who take their game nights seriously. During one Friday session with their friends, Max’s brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler), proposes that they try a new live-action role-playing game. They reluctantly accept, but when Brooks is kidnapped for real, they still think it’s part of the game. Once they realize the stakes are real, Max, Annie and the rest of their pals must find a way to save Brooks or else it’s game over for all of them.
Game Night has a fun premise, and the talented cast makes the most of it. Bateman plays to his strengths as a sarcastic husband with a competitive streak, while McAdams shows the killer comic timing that made her so great the previous decade in Mean Girls and The Family Stone. Best of all is Jesse Plemons as the Davis’ weirdo cop next-door neighbor, who gets to utter the now-immortal line, “How could that be profitable for Frito-Lay?”
Game Night is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video.
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