If you're looking for something to watch featuring young New Yorkers navigating love and life in the big city, there's a new series on Netflix starring Anna Kendrick that you might enjoy. Love Life originally aired for two seasons on HBO Max but has branched out to the global streaming service.

The logline for the series, created by Sam Boyd, reads, "From first impressions to lasting connections, New Yorkers navigate the twists and turns of love in this romantic comedy anthology series."

Love Life, which premiered in 2021, was one of HBO Max's first original scripted series when the fledgling streaming service debuted. It features Kendrick as Darby and William Jackson Harper as Marcus; the first season follows Darby's story while season 2 is devoted to Marcus. The series also features a number of cast members who show up in both seasons including Zoë Chao, Peter Vack, Sasha Compère, Lesley Manville, Jessica Williams, Christopher Powekk, Punkie Johnson and Keith David.

The series was popular with viewers and critics alike with a 79% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Though fans enjoyed the premise and change of perspectives between the seasons, the series was an early victim of Warner Bros. Discovery's cost cutting measures. Some of the other series with a similar fate at the time include Gordita Chronicles and Minx.

After it was pulled from the streamer, Love Life languished in cold storage for a while before emerging recently on paid video on-demand platforms as well as Tubi, so being available to access the series on Netflix is a welcome change.

You can take a look at the trailer for Love Life below:

With 20 episodes between the two seasons, Love Life would be a great series to binge for anyone missing Emily in Paris, Girls or even the early days of Sex and the City. Though dating is at the forefront, there's a lot of self-reflection that takes place in Darby and Marcus' lives and viewers get to go along for the ride as they figure out their place in the world. With its vibrant characters, fast pacing and whip-smart writing, Love Life makes for a perfect weekend or late-night binge.

Love Life is available to stream now on Netflix.

Looking for some new movies to stream in May? Well great news, there are plenty of options across the likes of Netflix, Max, Prime Video and all of the major streaming services this month. With that said, it can be a lot to scroll through, so allow me to offer my humble services in helping you find the new movies on streaming that you are not going to want to miss.

The below list of movies are taken from the major streaming services: Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount Plus, Peacock and Prime Video. I'm also specifically picking movies that are new to streaming this month — in this case, these are 14 movies that are landing on one of the major streamers for the first time, or coming back to streaming services after only being available via on-demand.

So without further ado, here are my picks for the 14 movies to stream in May.

Another Simple Favor (Prime Video)

A Simple Favor quickly became a fan-favorite thriller after it premiered in 2018, now seven years later Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively return to their roles as Stephanie and Emily for the anticipated sequel, Another Simple Favor. The story picks up with Emily seeking to reunite with Stephanie by inviting her to her extravagant wedding on the island of Capri. But there’s more going on than just the “I dos.” Having premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Another Simple Favor has gotten some solid buzz, currently sporting a “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its Prime Video debut.

Another Simple Favor premieres on Prime Video worldwide on May 1.

Black Bag (Peacock)

One of my favorite movies so far form 2025, Black Bag is a cool, stylish spy thriller from Steven Soderbergh with great performances from Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. This is not big, explosive spy movies, it's a more subdued but riveting example of spycraft; more John le Carre than James Bond.

Black Bag debuts on Peacock on May 2.

The Brutalist (Max)

One of the most acclaimed movies of 2024 (WTW’s The Brutalist review called it a new “cinematic classic”), The Brutalist makes its streaming debut on Max this month. The movie tells the harrowing story of Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), an architect that immigrates to America at the end of World War Two, going through various highs and lows of the American dream as he works with a wealthy benefactor. Brody won his second Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal, while the movie won two additional Oscars (Best Cinematography and Best Original Score). While the movie has a built in intermission, the plus three-and-a-half hour runtime will likely feel more manageable for some at home.

The Brutalist becomes available to stream on Max starting May 16; no info at this time for a streaming debut in the UK

The Damned (Hulu)

One of the first 2025 new movies to be released in theaters, The Damned is now available to stream. This horror film from Icelandic filmmaker Thordur Palsson, marking his feature debut, follows a group of 19th century Icelandic fishermen who begin to be haunted after they make the difficult choice to let a foreign ship sink just off shore. Palsson makes a strong debut with this atmospheric horror movie. You can read more on the movie with my The Damned review, but it’s a solid entry that many may have missed earlier this year.

Watch The Damned on Hulu starting May 9 in the US; UK streaming release TBD

Fear Street: Prom Queen (Netflix)

Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy, based on the books from iconic horror author R.L. Stine, was a hit on the streamer in 2021, but a brand new entry is coming for fans to enjoy. Fear Street: Prom Queen sees Ariana Greenblatt, Katherine Waterston, Ella Rubin and India Fowler headline this Netflix original movie that follows an outsider that discovers she is in for one hell of a prom night.

Watch Fear Street: Prom Queen exclusively on Netflix starting May 23.

Fountain of Youth (Apple TV Plus)

Hollywood has been searching for the movie franchise to take over for Indiana Jones, could it be Fountain of Youth? John Krasinski stars as an adventurer who brings in his estranged sister (Natalie Portman) to help with his search for the mythical fountain of youth. That leads to a globetrotting experience that has all the trappings of a summer blockbuster, but is going to be available immediately to stream at home.

Fountain of Youth premieres on Apple TV Plus worldwide on May 23.

The Goonies (Max)

Want to feel old? The Goonies turns 40 in 2025. The Richard Donner-directed, Chris Columbus-written and Steven Spielberg-produced childhood classic about a group of kids (played by Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Ke Huy Quan, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton) who go searching for a pirate’s hidden treasure and get one heck of an adventure out of it is still beloved, so there’s what better time for a rewatch than this special anniversary.

Stream The Goonies on Max as of May 1; The Goonies are streaming on Netflix and Prime Video in the UK

Heart Eyes (Netflix)

There’s definitely a horror theme with some of the major streaming titles this month, with Heart Eyes another example. Netflix is adding the horror/comedy mash-up co-written by Happy Death Day and Drop filmmaker Christopher Landon that centers on a serial killer that goes after young couples on Valentine’s Day. This was a bit of a surprise hit with critics, as the movie is “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. You can check it out on streaming if you missed it in theaters.

Heart Eyes debuts on Netflix globally on May 8.

The Last Showgirl (Hulu)

Pamela Anderson had her comeback role in 2024’s The Last Showgirl. Directed by Gia Coppola, the movie stars Anderson as a veteran showgirl who is forced to adjust her life as the show that she has been a part of for 30 years is coming to an end. Anderson was a dark horse Oscar contender for her performance (she did Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations). While that didn’t materialize, it was still one of the stories of the year to see the former Baywatch star reemerge in a big way. Jamie Lee Curtis co-stars in the movie, and also received wide praise and nominations for her work.

Watch The Last Showgirl on Hulu as of May 23 in the US; streaming on Mubi in the UK

Mountainhead (Max)

Jesse Armstrong created one of the best TV shows of all time in Succession, now he is making his feature directing debut with the HBO original movie Mountainhead, sticking with a satire of the super reach and their influence. Starring Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef, Jascon Schwartzman and Cory Michael Smith, the movie centers on four billionaire friends that reunite at a ski lodge as the world goes through an economic crisis. Will be fun to see what Armstrong brings to the table with this project.

Mountainhead debuts on Max on May 31; premieres on Sky and NOW TV on June 1 in the UK

Nonnas (Netflix)

A comfort movie about many people’s comfort food (pasta)? Yes please. Nonnas sees Vince Vaughn stars as a man who, after losing his beloved mother, decides to open an Italian restaurant where he uses actual grandmothers as chefs, bringing their passed down recipes. Lorraine Bracco, Susan Sarandon, Talia Shire and Brenda Vaccaro stars as the nonnas in this comedy that will seek to warm your heart and probably get you in the mood for Italian food for dinner.

Stream Nonnas exclusively on Netflix starting May 9.

Once (Hulu)

I was just beginning to expand my movie watching habits when Once came out, so I checked out the Irish-made indie from John Carney that starred real-life musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as two people who meet in Dublin and find they have a special connection through music. Though it won an Oscar for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly”), Once became even more well known when it was adapted as a Tony-winning Broadway musical, but I still hold a special place in my heart for the original movie, and highly recommend that you give it a try.

Watch Once on Hulu in the US starting May 1; not currently available to stream in the UK

Pee-wee as Himself (Max)

Pee-wee Herman became the defining character of performer Paul Reubens’ career, but there were highs and lows to that. Reubens detailed that in the new, two-part documentary that is streaming on Max this month, Pee-wee as Himself. It comes just two years after Reubens’ death, with him chronicling his life and career, along with others of his friends and peers. The documentary premiered back at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, with it currently having a 100% “Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Take the chance to learn more about the man behind the iconic Pee-wee Herman and watch this documentary.

Pee-wee as Himself premieres on Max May 23; UK release is TBD.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Hulu)

Emilia Perez, Flow and I’m Still Here became the international darlings of the 2025 Oscars earlier this year, so much so that that the highly acclaimed The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which was nominated alongside them for Best International Feature, was often overlooked. This political thriller from Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof centers on a judge investigating a dangerous case and how it impacts him and his family. Rasoulof was forced to flee Iran because of potential punishments by the government because of what he depicts in the movie, which is why The Seed of the Sacred Fig represented Germany (the country Rasoulof fled to) at the Oscars.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig becomes available on Hulu as of May 27 in the US; there's no info right now on how to stream in the UK

The Sugarland Express (Netflix)

While Jaws was the movie that truly put Steven Spielberg on the map as an industry-leading director, that was not his first movie. His first Hollywood movie was The Sugarland Express, a dark comedy crime drama about a woman (Goldie Hawn) who helps her husband escape prison and is forced to go on the run with a police officer as their hostage. It’s more of the type of movie that the late 60s/early 70s were known for rather than the blockbusters that Spielberg would help come to define, which is just one part of what makes it a fascinating watch.

Netflix adds The Sugarland Express to its library on May 1.

What’s a favor between friends? Well for Blake Lively’s Emily and Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie it’s a little darker and more complex than most probably. We saw that in the fan-favorite dark comedy thriller A Simple Favor and now the pair reunite in the sequel and 2025 new movie, Another Simple Favor.

A Simple Favor came out in 2018 and earned good reviews (it’s “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) and made nearly five-times its production budget at the box office, making it a solid hit. Now, just about all the key players are back for the sequel, but there’s a few new things that you should be aware of.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about Another Simple Favor.

Another Simple Favor how to watch

Another Simple Favor is now streaming exclusively on Prime Video. Here are all the details on how to watch Another Simple Favor.

If you want to catch up on A Simple Favor first, it is streaming on Netflix in the US and UK.

Another Simple Favor cast

Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick both reprise their roles as Emily Nelson and Stephanie Smothers in Another Simple Favor. Two of the more popular actresses working right now, Lively is coming off the 2024 box office hit It Ends With Us, while Kendrick’s most recent outing was Woman of the Hour, which in addition to starring in saw her make her directorial debut.

Also returning for the sequel are Andrew Rannells (Big Mouth) as Darren, Bashir Salahuddin (Top Gun: Maverick) as Detective Summervile and Henry Golding (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) as Sean Townsend.

New actors in Another Simple Favor cast are Elizabeth Perkins (Minx), Michele Morrone (365 Days), Alex Newell (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) and Allison Janney (The Diplomat season 2).

Another Simple Favor plot

Once again based on characters created by Darcey Bell’s novel, Jessica Sharzer returns to pen the script for Another Simple Favor, co-writing the sequel with Laeta Kalogridis.

Here is the official synopsis:

“Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman. Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.”

Another Simple Favor trailer

Watch the trailer for Another Simple Favor right here:

Another Simple Favor reviews

Another Simple Favor is official "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.

Paul Feig movies

Paul Feig directs Another Simple Favor, returning after he helmed A Simple Favor. Feig is one of the most well known comedy directors of the last 15 or so years, with plenty of hits on his resume as you can see right here:

• I Am David (2003)
• Unaccompanied Minors (2006)
• Bridesmaids (2011)
• The Heat (2013)
• Spy (2015)
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• A Simple Favor (2018)
• Last Christmas (2019)
• The School for Good and Evil (2022)
• Jackpot! (2024)

Feig has also directed episodes for some major TV shows, including The Office, Nurse Jackie, Parks & Recreation, Mad Men, 30 Rock, Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks.

Another Simple Favor behind the scenes

Feig and Laura Fischer are the producers on Another Simple Favor. The production companies involved are Amazon MGM Studios, BRON Studios, Big Indie Pictures, Creative Wealth Media Finance, Feigco Entertainment and Lionsgate.

And if you’re wondering, there’s no Hollywood trickery with the gorgeous Italian setting for the movie, as they did shoot on location in Capri.

Anna Kendrick has shown time and time again as a star on the screen, with numerous hit roles in projects like Pitcher Perfect, A Simple Favor or her Oscar-nominated turn in Up in the Air. But Kendrick may have just as much talent behind the camera as she does in front of it, as evidenced by her new Netflix movie Woman of the Hour, which served as her feature directorial debut.

Now streaming on Netflix, Woman of the Hour has quickly taken over the most-watched movie spot in the US and UK since its release worldwide on October 18. In addition to the recognition for Kendrick, the movie’s true crime story about a woman who encounters a serial killer when she appears on a hit 1970s TV dating game show certainly appeals to Netflix subscribers’ penchant for the true crime genre. Strong word of mouth doesn’t hurt either, as the movie is “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes with a 91%.

I, clearly like many others, watched it over the weekend and my biggest takeaway was the skill that Kendrick showed with her first-ever directing gig. In fact, thinking about it some more I can’t help but make connections to Kendrick’s movie and another true crime classic: David Fincher’s Zodiac.

That may be some rarefied air to many. Not only does Fincher have a devoted fanbase for just about all of his work, but Zodiac in particular holds a special place in people’s view of the director's work as one of his best movies. While I feel Zodiac is probably the stronger of the two, Kendrick’s direction gave me similar feelings I had when watching Fincher’s movie.

Specifically, Woman of the Hour does a phenomenal job of capitalizing on a character’s dread and ramping up the tension in scenes. Throughout the movie, we see a number of Rodney Alcala’s (Daniel Zovatto) murders over the course of a decade. Each time there is just the smallest moment that takes a seemingly innocuous meeting between Rodney and these different women to one of imminent danger.

Since it was already featured in the teaser trailer for the movie, I want to focus on when Sheryl Bradshaw (Kendrick) and Rodney have their first date after being paired together on the game show. The conversation is seemingly going fine as Sheryl and Rodney talk about playwrights Sam Shepard and Edward Albee, but a small awkward moment changes the dynamic and Rodney’s demeanor. He is not necessarily saying anything that would signal to Sheryl he is a dangerous killer, but the quiet that settles between every exchange builds the tension up, and every word thereafter raises both Sheryl and the viewer’s alarm.

The scene it reminded me of from Zodiac was when Jake Gyllenhaal’s Robert Graysmith goes alone to the man’s house to follow a lead on a potential Zodiac suspect based on a handwriting sample. When Robert finds out that the man he is talking to is the one whose handwriting he suspects, the entire atmosphere of the scene changes from hope of finding a lead to dread of possibly being in the room with a killer.

That was what came to mind when I watched Woman of the Hour. Kendrick, however, shared many of her own influences in the movie in a video interview with Letterboxd. She references the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men (which also is an incredible builder of tension that I can definitely see upon listening to her talk about it), Agnes Varda’s Le Bonheur, Alan J. Pakula’s Kulte and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows.

With all those influences, Kendrick made a very strong directorial debut with Woman of the Hour that has me intrigued to see what she may tackle next.

Woman of the Hour is now streaming exclusively on Netflix worldwide. Subscription required.

Anna Kendrick is one of the more popular actresses in Hollywood, so her starring in a new movie is attention-grabbing enough. But throw in that she is making her directorial debut with a movie based on the true story of a serial killer that a woman met on a dating show, and there's a lot to get excited about with the new movie Woman of the Hour.

Woman of the Hour actually first screened all the way back at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, where it got a lot of strong buzz from critics. But the long wait for general audiences to see it is over.

Read on for all the key information regarding Woman of the Hour.

How to watch Woman of the Hour

Woman of the Hour is now playing on Netflix.

In order to watch Woman of the Hour when it comes out, you must have a Netflix subscription.

Woman of the Hour cast

Kendrick lends her talent in front of and behind the camera in Woman of the Hour, as she plays the main character of Sheryl Bradshaw. Kendrick is an Oscar-nominated actress (Up in the Air) best known for starring in the Pitch Perfect movies and the animated Trolls franchise.

Playing the serial killer stalking Sheryl is Daniel Zovatto, who has previously appeared in critically-acclaimed movies It Follows and Lady Bird.

The rest of the cast includes Tony Hale (Veep), Nicolette Robinson (The Affair), Autumn Best (4400), Kathryn Gallagher (Gossip Girl) and Kelley Jakle (Pitch Perfect).

Woman of the Hour plot

The script for Woman of the Hour was written by Ian McDonald. Here is the official synopsis for this based on a true story:

"The stranger-than-fiction story of an aspiring actress in 1970s Los Angeles and a serial killer in the midst of a years-long murder spree, whose lives intersect when they're cast on an episode of The Dating Game."

Woman of the Hour trailer

Check out the incredibly creepy trailers for Woman of the Hour right here: 

Woman of the Hour reviews

Following its premiere at TIFF back in 2023, critics gave their first impressions of the movie: they seemed to like it a good bit. Fast forward to the present, as of October 18 Woman of the Hour has a 92% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the quotes featured in the trailer for the movie describe it as "poignant and unsettling" (Bloody Disgusting) and "a tremendous directorial debut" (ScreenRant). 

Anna Kendrick directing Woman of the Hour

Though Kendrick has produced a number of movies and TV shows that she has appeared in, Woman of the Hour is the first time that she is serving as a director on any project.

She's not the only big-name actress who is making their directing debut with a 2024 movie. Zoë Kravitz released her first directed movie, Blink Twice, in August 2024.

2024 has already been a big year for Netflix original movies, with Society of the Snow proving to be a hit with subscribers and the Oscars, while Kevin Hart's Lift has also been a popular choice. But there are more movies coming to Netflix in the rest of the year.

The streaming service previewed many of its biggest titles (both movies and TV shows) in a special preview video released on February 1, with a more detailed rundown of what is coming to the streaming service over the next calendar year, including the likes of Rebel Moon Part Two and new movies featuring Mark Wahlberg, Halley Berry, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron. It's unclear if any of these movies are joining other 2024 new movies and getting any kind of play in movie theaters, but at the very least a Netflix subscription will mean you can watch them from the comfort of your own home.

To help you know what's coming up on Netflix, below you'll find our picks for the 17 Netflix original movies that you are not going to want to miss in 2024.

Atlas

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory J. Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla, Mark Strong
• Director: Brad Peyton

Jennifer Lopez follows up her 2023 Netflix original movie The Mother with Atlas, this time branching into sci-fi. The story focuses on a data analyst who must put her mistrust of AI aside in order to preserve the future of humanity. A strong supporting cast and a timely narrative hook should make for a fun time with this one.

Back in Action

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Kyle Chandler, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, McKenna Roberts, Rylan Jackson
• Director: Seth Gordon

Back in Action may not be the most unique idea we've seen, as the story of two ex-CIA operatives who gave up their careers to have a family are drawn back into the world of espionage has some Spy Kids vibes, but look at that cast. Jamie Foxx, Kyle Chandler, Andrew Scott, Glenn Close and, making her return to acting for the first time since 2014, Cameron Diaz have us hoping that they bring a fun chemistry to the familiar set up.

The Beautiful Game 

• Release date: March 29
• Cast: Bill Nighy, Micheal Ward, Susan Wokoma, Callum Scott Howells, Kit Young, Sheyi Cole, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Robin Nazari, Aoi Okuyama, Cristina Rodlo, Tadashi Watanabe, Kazuhiro Muroyama, Valeria Golino
• Director: Thea Sharrock

We're big fans of inspiring sports movies, and The Beautiful Game looks like it is going to be a grade-A example of the genre. Always enjoyable Bill Nighy and rising star Micheal Ward headline this movie about the real-world event known as the Homeless World Cup, where unhoused athletes get the chance to show their skills on a global stage. 

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

• Release date: July 3
• Cast: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot, Kevin Bacon
• Director: Mark Molloy

Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley is back with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. The action-comedy franchise that was a staple of the 80s and helped launch Murphy to super stardom returns, along with his old partners played by Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and new allies in Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige. For nostalgia alone this is a much watch, but we're also hopeful that Murphy donning the Detroit Lions letterman jacket can create some more movie magic.

Carry-On

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Sinqua Walls, Logan-Marshall Green, Theo Rossi, Josh Brener, Dean Norris
• Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Director Jaume Collet-Serra has been an under-the-radar filmmaker in recent years behind some of purely enjoyable thrillers like Liam Neeson's Non-Stop and The Commuter, as well as the shark movie The Shallows with Blake Lively. In Carry-On, Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman are set to play a cat-and-mouse game when a mysterious traveler slips a dangerous package onto a Christmas Eve flight.

Damsel

• Release Date: March 8
• Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Bassett, Robin Wright
• Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Damsel made our list of Netflix 2023 original movies, but delays forced it to be held to 2024. Our anticipation has not wavered though. Milly Bobby Brown trades the Upside Down for a fantasy world where she plays a damsel who must learn to fight for herself when the fairy tale ending she thought she had doesn't turn out like she dreamed. Does Brown have her second major Netflix movie franchise (in addition to Enola Holmes) on her hands?

Einstein and the Bomb 

• Release date: February 16
• Director: Anthony Philipson

Documentaries on Netflix have also become quite popular with subscribers, and one of the biggest coming in 2024 may be Einstein and the Bomb. This is technically a docudrama, but using only Einstein's speeches, letters and interviews to create the dialogue, this movie will tell the story of Einstein's departure from Germany amid the rise of Hitler to a hideaway in the English countryside, a critical point in the famed scientists life that helps to define his relationship with the atomic bomb. This could be a very interesting companion piece to 2023's Oppenheimer.

Hit Man

• Release date: June 7
• Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman
• Director: Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater's Hit Man initially screened at a few of the fall 2023 film festivals, and the early buzz has us pumped for it to come to Netflix (we're big fans of the Before Sunrise, Dazed & Confused and Apollo 10 1/2 director). The movie stars Glen Powell as a straitlaced professor who takes on the fake persona of a hit man to help out local police. Things get messy though when he falls for a woman who hires him to kill someone. Perhaps craziest of all is that this is based on a true story.

Joy

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton, Bill Nighy
• Director: Ben Taylor

Netflix has a few based-on-a-true-story movies that we're excited for, including Joy, starring Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Bill Nighy about the birth of Louise Joy Brown, the world's first "test-tube baby." McKenzie is an exciting young actress who has been phenomenal in just about everything she has ever done, so watching her play a nurse involved in the scientific process that led to this revolutionary medical moment should be fascinating.

The Piano Lesson

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, and Erykah Badu
• Director: Malcolm Washington

August Wilson is one of the most influential playwrights for the American stage ever, and his work has already served as the foundation for a number of highly acclaimed movies, including Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. An all new adaptation of Wilson's The Piano Player is set to stream on Netflix this year, and with Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington starring in the movie that follows a family during the Great Depression, this could be one of Netflix's main Oscar players in 2024.

Rez Ball

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Jessica Matten, Julia Jones, Amber Midthunder, Kiowa Gordon, Dallas Goldtooth, Cody Lightning, Ernest Tsosie, Kauchani Bratt, Devin Sampson-Craig, River Rayne Thomas, Jojo Jackson, Avery Hale, Hunter Redhorse Arthur, Henry Wilson Jr, Jaren K. Robledo, Damian Henry Castellane, Kusem Goodwin, and Zoey Reyes
• Director: Sydney Freeland

Reservation Dogs and Killers of the Flower Moon helped prove that not only is it important to tell Native American's stories, but they can be popular for all. That will hopefully be the case again with Rez Ball, a true story sports tale about an underdog high school basketball team that comes together to strive for their dream of a New Mexico state championship.

Six Triple Eight

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Jeanté Godlock, Jay Reeves, Jeffery Johnson, Baadja-Lyne Odums, Donna Biscoe, Gregg Sulkin, Scott Daniel Johnson, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Susan Sarandon, Oprah Winfrey
• Director: Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry has another Netflix movie coming out in 2024, Mea Culpa, but Six Triple Eight is the one that we are most excited about. With an all-star cast that includes Kerry Washington, Sam Waterston, Susan Sarandon, Dean Norris and Oprah Winfrey, Perry tells the true story of the first and only Women's Army Corps unit of color to be stationed overseas during World War Two.

Spaceman

• Release date: March 1
• Cast: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, with Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano
• Director: Johan Renck

Adam Sandler is known for comedies, but when the actor goes dramatic it often turns into something really special (Uncut Gems, Punch Drunk Love). His latest dramatic effort, Spaceman, not only highlights him though, as he stars alongside Carrey Mulligan, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano (voicing an ancient alien creature) with direction coming from Johan Renck, who was behind the hit HBO mini series Chernobyl.

Spellbound

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Nathan Lane, and Tituss Burgess
• Director: Vicky Jenson

Netflix has become a bit of an animated powerhouse worthy of going toe-to-toe with Disney and Pixar, so color us intrigued by what will be perhaps the next big Netflix animated movie, Spellbound. With a stellar voice cast, a magical fantasy world as its backdrop and songs from Alan Menken and Glen Slater, this could be a hit with kids and adults.

Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story

• Release date: May 3
• Cast: Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater, Bill Burr, Daniel Levy, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Lennon, Bobby Moynihan, Adrian Martinez, Sarah Cooper, Fred Armisen
• Director: Jerry Seinfeld

A movie about the making of Pop Tarts? Why not, we got a movie about the invention of Flamin' Hot Cheetos (Flamin' Hot) in 2023. Unfronsted: The Pop-Tart Story looks to be a more heightened and comedic telling of the creation the popular breakfast treat, with Jerry Seinfeld not only starring among a murderer's row of comedic stars, but also making his directorial debut with the project. The synopsis actually reads, "a tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar and menacing milkmen." Sign us up.

Uprising

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Gang Dong-won, Park Jeong-min, Cha Seung-won, Kim Shin-rock, Jin Sun-kyu, and Jung Sung-ill
• Director: Kim Sang-man

Like documentaries, Netflix has also helped more people find and enjoy movies from around the world, even if they are not in English. One international title that we think could become a big hit on the streaming service is Uprising, a martial arts historical drama about two childhood friends during the Joseon era in Korea that eventually becomes enemies.

Woman of the Hour

• Release date: TBD
• Cast: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale, Nicolette Robinson, Pete Holmes, Autumn Best, Kathryn Gallagher, and Kelley Jakle
• Director: Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick makes her directing debut with Woman of the Hour, which also first screened at some fall 2023 film festivals before landing at Netflix. The Oscar-nominated actress is also going to star in the movie that takes place in the 70s and sees an aspiring actress intersect with a serial killer on a yearslong murder spree during an episode of The Dating Game. This could be a fun role of Kendrick as an actor, and very interesting to see what she does as a first-time director.

Find out more about all of these movies, as well as other Netflix original movies coming to the streaming service on Netflix Tudum. 

Would you take the chance at winning a million dollars from a dark web reality TV show if Andy Samberg was the one who invited you to play? Jake Johnson apparently would, as we'll see him do just that in the upcoming comedy Self Reliance, one of the first 2024 new movies that audiences can enjoy.

Johnson, who has made a name for himself in comedic roles in New Girl, Safety Not Guaranteed, Drinking Buddies and voicing one of the many Spider-Men in the Spider-Verse universe, is pulling triple duty in Self Reliance: starring, writing and directing, with the comedy marking his first time directing a feature movie.

Here is everything that you need to know about Self Reliance, from where and when it is going to be playing to who's joining Johnson in the cast and more.

How to watch Self Reliance

Self Reliance is now streaming in the US and UK. US audiences can watch the comedy on Hulu, while those in the UK can find it on Paramount Plus. Of course, in order to watch it on either streaming service, a subscription is required.

Self Reliance cast

In the movie, Jake Johnson plays Tommy, the middle-aged man who attempts to win a million dollars from the dark web game. In addition to the previously mentioned roles, Johnson has starred in No Strings Attached, 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie, Let's Be Cops, Jurassic World, Win It All and The Mummy. More recently he starred in the TV show Minx and appeared in History of the World Part II.

The rest of the Self Reliance cast includes Anna Kendrick (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off), Natalie Morales (No Hard Feelings), GaTa (Dave), Emily Hampshire (Schitt's Creek), Mary Holland (The Afterparty season 2), former NBA player Boban Marjanović, Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Wayne Brady (The Good Fight) and Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as himself.

Self Reliance plot

Jake Johnson wrote the original script for Self Reliance, which sees him star as Tommy, a middle-aged man who gets invited by Andy Samberg to win a million dollars by starring in a dark web reality TV show where assassins from all over the world attempt to kill him for 30 days. But they can't kill him if he's not entirely alone. This leads Tommy to accept and recruit an unlikely team to help him survive. 

Self Reliance trailer

Watch the official trailer for Self Reliance directly below, which sees Johnson's Tommy do whatever he can not to be alone: 

Self Reliance reviews

As of January 12, Self Reliance has a "Fresh" score of 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics seem to agree that it is an ambitious swing from Johnson, though they are a bit more split on how successful he pulls it off.

Early reaction from fans is also good, with 82% rating the movie positively.

Jake Johnson directing credits

While this marks Jake Johnson's first time directing a movie, he does have some experience directing having helmed an episode of New Girl during its run (New Girl season 5 episode 5, "Bob & Carol & Nick & Schmidt," if you’re curious).

Johnson does have more credits as a writer, with him having written the movies Digging for Fire, Win It All and Ride the Eagle, all of which he also starred in.

They make a killer couple. 

Screwball romantic comedies frequently feature strangers brought together by a mutual spark of zaniness, and that’s certainly so for Sam Rockwell’s wacky charmer and Anna Kendrick’s manic goofball in Mr Right.

The perverse twist here is that he’s a hitman, albeit a contract killer who’s just sprung a conscience and now only bumps off the people who hire him. Understandably, she thinks he’s kidding when he says stuff like, ‘Sorry, I had to kill a guy in the parking lot’. But with both Tim Roth’s shifty FBI agent and an underworld gang gunning for her new beau, she comes to realise he hasn’t been joking.

Having a love story play out amid the bullets and mayhem is something of a stretch, but Rockwell and Kendrick’s surprisingly fizzy chemistry makes this offbeat movie work.

Certificate 15. Runtime 93 mins. Director Paco Cabezas

Mr Right debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Sunday 2 July. Available on DVD from Altitude Film Distribution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TatqilQ8rI

Satirical comedy Get a Job sat on the shelf for four years – which explains why stars Miles Teller and Anna Kendrick look so fresh faced.

Recent college graduate Miles Teller is one of a generation of pampered millennial kids who have grown up being given prizes for losing. But he gets a rude awakening to the world of work when he takes a job making videos for a cutthroat executive placement firm. Meanwhile, his go-getting girlfriend (Anna Kendrick) and stoner pals grapple with employment problems of their own, as does his newly redundant dad (Bryan Cranston).

Satirical comedy Get a Job boasts a fine cast (Alison Brie and Marcia Gay Harden also make a mark in supporting roles) but the scattershot script misses the target more often than it hits and the crude humour often jars. Incidentally, the movie sat on the shelf for four years – which explains why Teller and Kendrick look so fresh faced.

Certificate 15. Runtime 89 mins. Director Dylan Kidd

Get a Job debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 11 March and is available on DVD & Digital Download from LionsGate Home Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXmOmdzsQVs

Grown-ups with an aversion for auto-tuned bubblegum pop and eye-popping day-glo pink will want to steer well clear of Trolls, a DreamWorks animated musical adventure inspired by those ugly-cute toy dolls with the vertical hair. But the film’s zingy jollity will probably hit the spot for younger viewers.

Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake provide the voices of the story’s mismatched hero and heroine, irrepressibly perky Troll princess Poppy and grumpy loner Branch, who doesn’t go in for his fellows’ non-stop singing, dancing and hugging. Nevertheless, when crisis strikes and a bunch of Poppy’s friends are snatched by the ogre-like, Troll-eating Bergens, the pair set off together to rescue them.

Listen out for the voices of Russell Brand, James Corden and John Cleese amid the pop songs and poop jokes.

Certificate U. Runtime 89 mins. Director Walt Dohrn,Mike Mitchell

Trolls is available on DVD, Blu-ray & Digital HD, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyjm5VQ11TQ

Blu-ray extras:     •    Party Mode - Sing, dance and laugh along with the Trolls     •    Travel Through Troll Village - Cloud Guy narrates a fun exploration of Troll Village.     •    The Potion for Stop-Motion - Part behind-the-scenes, part stop-motion tutorial, this featurette explores the process in the film that went behind the creation of Poppy's visually stunning scrapbook.     •    Creating Troll Magic - Trolls Production Designer Kendal Cronkhite leads a kid-friendly exploration of her role as production designer on the film before highlighting four key stages of creating the animation with detailed visuals of each stage.     •    Troll 2 Troll - Poppy and Branch have a friendly debate on important topics such as “Cat vs. Dog.”     •    Inside the Bunker - An in-depth exploration of Branch's "special" place, narrated by Cloud Guy.     •    Deleted Scenes with Intros by Co-Director, Walt Dohrn and Director, Mike Mitchell.   DVD extras:     •    Sing-Along Feature Mode - Sing along with the Trolls in this engaging, interactive feature on screen     •    Travel Through Troll Village     •    The Potion for Stop-Motion     •    Creating Troll Magic     •    Deleted Scenes     •    "Get Back Up Again" Music Video     •    "Hair Up" Music Video

Rain Man goes ballistic.

Rain Man meets Jason Bourne appears to be the dubious premise of this action thriller starring Ben Affleck as an autistic savant who’s a whiz at maths and a dab hand at killing people, too. Yet if you can handle the iffy basis and ludicrous plot then The Accountant does deliver its share of entertaining shoot-’em-up thrills.

Affleck’s solitary Christian Wolff (a lone wolf if ever there was) is on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum and he has found a niche occupation to suit his skills and limitations. A forensic accountant with a rather specialised clientele, he works for drug cartels, arms dealers, money launderers and the Mob. If anyone has been cooking their books, he’s the man who will find out.

He moves in dangerous circles, so it’s handy that he doesn’t just crunch numbers. Put by his martinet military dad through a punishing regime of combat training during his childhood, he is a crack shot and lethal unarmed fighter.

"A rare legitimate job"

These abilities come into play after he takes a rare legitimate job that turns out to have a crooked side. Called in to sort out a multi-million dollar discrepancy in the accounts of tech genius John Lithgow’s state-of-the-art robotics company, he finds himself up against a ruthless mercenary (Jon Bernthal) and his hired guns.

On top of this, he has additional snags and obstacles to overcome. Suspicious treasury agents JK Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson are trying to uncover his identity. And he feels duty bound to protect the whistle-blowing accounting clerk, Anna Kendrick’s chipper Dana, who has ended up in the firing line.

Of course, as plots go, none of this exactly stands up to forensic scrutiny, but the film’s manifest flaws don’t detract from its incidental pleasures. Look out for the moments when Affleck’s hero blows on his fingertips. It’s the fussy obsessive-compulsive ritual he performs before he gets down to a task, whether it is demolishing a plateful of neatly arranged bacon and eggs or a platoon of mercenary killers.

Certificate 15. Runtime 128 mins. Director Gavin O'Connor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KQX2sIhQJY

Rowdy brothers Adam DeVine and Zac Efron invite even rowdier Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick to their sister's Hawaiian wedding in this raunchy comedy, but we've seen their shtick before.

Party-hearty brothers Zac Efron and Adam DeVine place an online ad to find dates for their sister’s wedding in Hawaii and end up taking Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick’s even heartier-partying duo to the ill-fated nuptials in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, a raunchy comedy loosely based on a true story.

Mike and Dave Stangle have form when it comes to special occasions. The feckless duo have previously ruined countless family gatherings with their doltish behaviour and their longsuffering parents have forbidden them from showing up stag at their sister Jeannie’s forthcoming wedding in Hawaii. To comply they hit on the notion of finding two ‘nice girls’ on Craigslist, offering an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii to the pair they choose.

"Boozy, feckless friends"

The ad goes viral and they end up interviewing a string of wildly inappropriate candidates. Plaza and Kendrick’s boozy, feckless friends, Tatiana and Alice, are more inappropriate than most but win the gig by posing as a demure schoolteacher and a hedge fund whiz respectively. Predictably, the pretence doesn’t last. The quartet have barely unpacked their bags in Hawaii before they are reverting to harebrained type with calamitous consequences for the luckless bride and groom.

Efron and DeVine have already successfully played the fool in the Bad Neighbours and Pitch Perfect films and Plaza and Kendrick have nailed previous comic roles with similar panache. Here, however, a slipshod script and slapdash direction give none of them a real chance to shine, with Plaza and Kendrick particularly ill-served by their sloppily conceived characters.

For their part, Efron and DeVine never lose the essential sweetness that is a key element of their screen personas, but that doesn’t make their characters’ asinine antics any more endearing. As Mike and Dave’s parents observe of the boys’ rowdy behaviour, ‘This shtick was cute for a while, but it’s gotten stale.’

Certificate 15. Runtime 98 mins. Director Jake Szymanski

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is currently on general release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33MtR-g4Jcg

When darkly funny comedy drama Cake made its first appearance in the run up to the 2015 awards season, Hollywood pundits delivered a predictable verdict. Jennifer Aniston’s performance as a woman stricken with chronic pain was her bid for Oscar approval.

She didn't get an Oscar nomination, as it happens, but her resolutely unglamorous portrayal of sharp-tongued, pill popping, chronically depressed Los Angeles lawyer Claire Bennett is very good: easily award-worthy.

What makes it particularly admirable is that Aniston doesn't court sympathy for her prickly character – and nor do director Daniel Barnz and screenwriter Patrick Tobin, who ensure we only glimpse the tragic causes of Claire’s condition in fleeting asides.

Instead, they establish the debilitating grind of her daily existence and reveal that she has alienated almost everyone in her life – including her husband Jason (Chris Messina) and the members of her chronic-pain sufferers support group.

The sole exception is long-suffering maid Silvana (Adriana Barraza, excellent), whose patience and down-to-earth care is the only thing that sustains Claire – apart, that is, from her obsession with the suicide of fellow chronic-pain sufferer Nina (Anna Kendrick), who appears to her as a disapproving hallucinatory ghost. And it is Claire’s need to discover more about Nina leads her to track down the dead woman’s widower Roy (Sam Worthington) and young son.

Showing commendable restraint, the filmmakers avoid easy consolation and don’t give the story a romantic turn, although they don’t quite prevent sentiment seeping in before the end. But Aniston's deadpan comic timing as she delivers Claire's bitter put-downs and complaints is brilliant from start to finish: the deliciously sour cherry on the cake.

Certificate 15. Runtime 98 mins. Director Daniel Barnz

Cake is available on Blu-ray & DVD from Warner Home VBideo and makes its satellite TV debut on Sky Movies Premiere today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8BMCR0bomM

Ryan Reynolds manages to be both scary and sweet in The Voices, a darkly funny, disarmingly weird horror-comedy about a mentally ill factory worker who embarks upon an accidental killing spree. Egged on by his talking cat, charmingly chipper paranoid schizophrenic Jerry commits some very grisly acts – which is bad news for his co-workers Fiona (Gemma Arterton) and Lisa (Anna Kendrick), and long-suffering therapist (Jacki Weaver). That he retains our sympathy amid the gore is largely down to Reynolds’ goofy charm, abetted by the film’s colourfully cartoony look, an in-your-face mix of surrealism and kitsch created by Iranian-born director Marjane Satrapi, best-known for the Oscar-nominated animated feature Persepolis. The sight of severed heads in a fridge is deliciously sick, though it won’t, needless to say, be to all tastes.

Certificate 15. Runtime 101 mins. Director Marjane Satrapi.

The Voices is released on DVD Blu-ray & Steelbook by Arrow Films on Monday 13 July. http://youtube.com/v/2fKu_NMbNKM

We're Back, Pitches.

Wickedly funny college comedy Pitch Perfect took us all by surprise in 2012 with its unexpectedly charming a cappella mash-up of Glee and Bridesmaids, but although this sequel strives to deliver more of the same it doesn’t hit all the right notes.

Pitch Perfect 2's story follows the same arc as before, opening with an embarrassing incident that leaves all-female singing group the Barden Bellas in disgrace (projectile vomiting in the first film; Rebel Wilson’s brash Fat Amy accidentally exposing herself during a performance in front of President Obama this time).

Which means the Bellas are back in the role of plucky underdogs as they seek to defeat their über-efficient German rivals Das Sound Machine - led by a glacial Teutonic beauty played by Borgen’s Birgitte Hjort Sørensen – to win the World Championships in Copenhagen.

The lazy national stereotyping is the film’s weakest aspect, though it must be said the plot is woefully slack and some of the cruder slapstick episodes misfire, too. New director Elizabeth Banks, who also plays one of the contest commentators, ensures the musical numbers are still full of pep, but I can’t say I’m desperate for an encore.

Certificate 12A. Runtime 115 mins. Director Elizabeth Banks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bh4mvJ5jUg

Ryan Reynolds manages to be both scary and sweet in The Voices, a darkly funny, disarmingly weird horror-comedy about a mentally ill factory worker who embarks upon an accidental killing spree, egged on by his talking cat.

The chatty moggy, who has a foul mouth, a Scottish accent and goes by the name Mr Whiskers, is one of the inner voices heard by Reynolds' charmingly chipper paranoid schizophrenic Jerry, whose decision to stop taking his pills has alarming consequences for his co-workers Fiona (Gemma Arterton) and Lisa (Anna Kendrick), and for his long-suffering therapist (Jacki Weaver).

Unmedicated, Jerry is responsible for some very grisly acts, but his delusional state gives him a bizarre innocence, making him almost as much victim as perpetrator. That he retains our sympathy amid the gore is largely down to Reynolds' goofy charm, abetted by the film's colourfully cartoony look, an in-your-face mix of surrealism and kitsch created by Iranian-born director Marjane Satrapi, best-known for the Oscar-nominated animated feature Persepolis, based on her own autobiographical comic-book about growing up as a gobby girl under the tyranny of the mullahs in late-1970s-early-1980s Iran.

No stranger to causing offence, her work here is deliciously sick. Which won't, needless to say, be to all tastes.

Certificate 15. Runtime 101 mins. Director Marjane Satrapi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fKu_NMbNKM

After a gestation period far outdoing anything the animal kingdom can offer, Hollywood has turned a quarter-of-a-century-old self-help guide - Heidi Murkoff’s bestselling 1984 pregnancy manual What to Expect When You’re Expecting - into a slick comedy-drama that’s strictly by the book when it comes to wringing laughs, sighs and tears from a contrived set-up.

If you’ve seen those vapid ensemble showcases Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, you’ll know the formula: a film following a diverse bunch of characters through a series of loosely interlinked stories. Here, it’s five expectant couples going through the trials and joys of impending parenthood in present-day Atlanta.

Cameron Diaz’s TV fitness guru Jules and her celebrity dance show partner Evan (Glee actor Matthew Morrison looking like the runner-up in a Justin Timberlake lookalike competition) get taken by surprise by pregnancy, as do food-truck-owning rivals Rosie (Anna Kendrick) and Marco (Chace Crawford) following a one-night stand.

Then there’s Elizabeth Banks’s baby expert Wendy, a first-time mom-to-be whose rosy view of pregnancy doesn’t match the hormonal reality; and her tubby, timid dentist husband Gary (Ben Falcone), forever trying to emerge from the shadow of his ultra-competitive dad, Dennis Quaid’s ex-racing driver Ramsey. Just to underscore his alpha-male superiority, Ramsey’s trophy wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker) is expecting twins.

Finally, Jennifer Lopez’s photographer Holly, unable to conceive, is going down the adopt-an-African-child route, prompting cold-footed husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) to seek guidance from the ‘Dudes Group’, a support group of frazzled, hen-pecked dads led by motor-mouth Chris Rock.

The cast perform with gusto, with Banks the best of the bunch, but the material they’ve been given is bland and predictable. As rom-coms go, this one is definitely stillborn.

On general release from Friday 25th May.

George Clooney’s fabled suavity and charm makes him perfect for the equivocal hero of Juno director Jason Reitman’s sardonic comedy drama Up in the Air. If he weren’t so damned charismatic, the film would never take off. As it is, such is Clooney’s magnetism that we’re quite happy to have his Ryan Bingham as our travelling companion.

And that’s despite the fact that Ryan is the figure we all dread in these recessionary times - a corporate axe-man who fires people for a living. He’s a management consultant who criss-crosses the USA telling workers they’ve been laid off by their companies. As he puts it himself in his droll voice-over, he’s there because bosses “don’t have the balls to sack their own employees.”

Ryan is on the road, or rather, up in the air, for more than 300 days a year. Most people would find such a life intolerable, but for him it’s bliss. As he flies from one airport hub to the next, his passage eased by his elite frequent flier status, he’s in heaven. “All the things you probably hate about travelling,” he explains. “The recycled air. The artificial lighting. The digital juice dispensers and mini pizzas stacked to their heat lamps are the warm reminders that I am home.”

How so? Well, he has a sideline as a motivational speaker, which gives him the opportunity to expound the personal philosophy that underpins his existence – freedom from all the ties and responsibilities that pin people down. He calls it ‘What’s in your backpack?’

Ryan is happily cruising along en route to his lifetime goal of 10 million frequent flier miles, and he may even have found a soul mate in Vera Farmiga’s fellow traveller Alex Goran, who becomes his occasional lover when their schedules coincide. (“Think of me as you, but with a vagina,’ she tells him.)

Then up pops eager young efficiency expert Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), who wants to persuade Ryan’s company that it can slash its huge travel bill by sacking people via webcam.  Desperate not to be grounded, Ryan persuades his boss (Jason Bateman) to let him take Natalie with him on his next trip to prove the importance of the personal touch in their line of work.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s own family – notably his soon-to-be-married sister (Melanie Lynskey) – is also intruding on his no-strings life. Is his backpack about to become weightier?

Up in the Air is as slick and polished as its protagonist: the script is sharp, the editing snappy and the performances perfectly pitched. Yet whereas the closer you look at Clooney’s Ryan the more you uncover his moral vacancy, when you dig more deeply into the film itself you discover its heart.

Take the opening credits: a crisply edited montage of an airline passenger’s view of cloudscapes, landscapes and cityscapes, all set to jauntily uplifting music. This could be Ryan’s perspective, with us alongside him in business class. The song itself, however, undercuts this privileged position, if you listen more closely – it’s a funky new version by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings of Woody Guthrie’s classic anthem of working-class resistance, ‘This Land is Your Land’.

Later on, Reitman provides us with some more gritty reality to rub against the film's surface gloss. The people we see getting fired by Ryan are ordinary Americans who have lost their jobs (with one or two exceptions played by well-known character actor such as JK Simmons) and they give vent to their true feelings of being made redundant, from hurt and shame to bitterness and anger.

It’s the film’s three stars, however, who will be getting the attention, I suspect, when it comes round to Oscar nomination time. Deservedly so.

Kendrick made a big impression on me a few years back with her caustic rendition of Sondheim’s The Ladies Who Lunch in the offbeat teen musical Camp and she’s even better here as the tightly wound Natalie.

Farmiga, last seen as the mother in Orphan, exudes sultry self-possession as Alex, and makes a worthy foil for Clooney’s Ryan. Their first encounter is priceless: an airport lounge pickup in which they briskly assess each other’s elite status, their trading of high-end loyalty cards a kind of foreplay.

Reitman, son of Ghostbusters director Ivan, provides the perfect showcase for the performances, his assured touch confirming my suspicion that the success of Juno was as much down to his direction as it was the product of Diablo Cody’s sassy script. (For more support of this view: take a look at the mess that was the Cody-scripted Jennifer’s Body.)

But it’s Clooney, sleekly turned out in Brooks Brothers suits and tailored shirts, who holds everything together, nailing every nuance and inflection in the eminently quotable script. So quotable, indeed, that I can’t resist one last speech. Here’s what Ryan says to Natalie of the soothing touch that’s required when laying people off.

“We are here to make limbo tolerable. To ferry wounded souls across the river of dread to where hope is dimly visible. Then stop the boat, shove them in the water, and make them swim.”

On general release from 15th January.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbbXGW5czKo