Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy in You People. Tyler Adams/Netflix © 2023Rom coms, killer horror, and some deviously fun new series promise to make this week one to watch — or, rather, one to spend watching. If you’re not too busy catching up on Oscar favorites, kick your feet up and enjoy these brand-new titles.
What to watch on Netflix
You People
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris makes his feature film directorial debut with this new comedy. Jonah Hill and Lauren London star as a new couple who put their relationship to the ultimate test when they decide to meet each other’s parents. It’s a culture clash for the ages: Hill plays the stockbroker son of two very Jewish parents (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny), while London’s character is happy to call a pair of Black nationalists mom and dad (Nia Long and Eddie Murphy). If Barris’ resume doesn’t get you hooked, that cast surely will. You People premieres Friday, January 27th.
What to watch on Hulu
Extraordinary
With the eternal onslaught of superhero media, it seems impossible for anyone to not have imagined what life would be like with superpowers. For Jen, the main character in the new series Extraordinary, that imagination amounts to wishful thinking in a more ironic way than you may expect. Jen lives in a world where, at the ripe old age of 18, everyone develops a power — well, everyone but her. It’s a twenty-something coming-of-age series made for the age of superheroes, though Jen is hardly the most heroic protagonist out there. Extraordinary premiered earlier this week.
What to watch on Amazon Prime
Shotgun Wedding
Who doesn’t love a wedding – especially when it’s overrun by gun-toting pirates seeking a multimillion-dollar ransom? Such is the premise of perennial rom com queen Jennifer Lopez’s newest entry into the canon, the aptly titled Shotgun Wedding. JLo stars as Darcy, a woman getting married to the man of her dreams (Josh Duhamel) at a decadent destination wedding. Along for the ride are in-laws and exes alike, with the wedding party boasting the likes of Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Marin, Sonia Braga, and Lenny Kravitz. What’s not to like? Shotgun Wedding premieres Friday, January 27th.
Orphan: First Kill
One of the more memorable horror movies of the 21st century got the prequel treatment last year, giving us the gift of Orphan: First Kill. Isabelle Fuhrman stars as the dubiously-named Esther, an adult psychiatric patient with a rare hormonal disorder that gives her the appearance of a child. Soapy and schlocky in all the best ways, the film sees Esther posing as a missing child, infiltrating a family whose fate is sealed as soon as they believe she may just be their little girl. Plus, if M3gan made you scream, there’s a good chance this movie will too. Orphan: First Kill streams starting Tuesday, January 31st.
What to watch on Apple TV+
Shrinking
Created by Ted Lasso masterminds Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence along with Jason Segel, Shrinking dares to ask what therapy would look like if your therapist was just a bit more honest and a lot more emotionally damaged. Segel stars as Jimmy, a therapist who’s recently lost his wife and finds himself on a downward spiral. His new outlook on life encourages him to be brutally honest with his patients, almost certainly skirting a few rules. There to back him up and/or snap him out of it is his mentor and long-time colleague, played to grouchy perfection by Harrison Ford. Shrinking premieres Friday, January 27th.
What to watch on Peacock
Poker Face
Rian Johnson loves a mystery, and the Knives Out filmmaker takes his skill to a new medium with Poker Face. This new series stars Natasha Lyonne as a quasi-Columbo figure, a woman with an almost uncanny ability to tell when people are lying. The murders and the mysteries come to her, with each episode following a case-of-the-week structure. Featured villains and victims include Adrien Brody, Stephanie Hsu, Chloë Sevigny, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The series is “cheeky, it’s current, it’s a little in love with itself” — but that’s hardly a bad thing. Poker Face premiered Thursday, January 26th.
What to Watch is a regular endorsement of movies and TV worth your streaming time.
