Between their steady flow of original shows and movies, plus the various shows and movies that they license from other providers, Netflix has plenty of entertainment to keep you occupied throughout June, enough that sorting through all of it can be a challenge. This is especially true when it comes to smaller or lesser-known movies that slip onto the service mid-month without much fanfare.
Luckily, Decider is here to help with this quick guide to what you should check out on Netflix this weekend. All of these movies and shows have arrived on the service since the end of last weekend, and it’s a particularly good time for comedies and dramedies about different forms of arrested development. There’s also a new TV adaptation of a Harlan Coben book, a Zoey Deutch rom-com, a sensitive family drama, and a Spanish-language teen-centric mystery series!
New on Netflix June 15: Drinking Buddies
Olivia Wilde is about to have a huge summer. She directs and co-stars in the upcoming marital comedy The Invite, opposite Seth Rogen; a few weeks later, she appears in the wild Sundance favorite I Want Your Sex as a, ah, domineering artist. She gives sexually charged performances in both films, and The Invite in particular is one of her best.
Another, lower-key entry in that competition is her work in Drinking Buddies, which, similar to The Invite, follows two couples who form unusual bonds with each other. Wilde plays Kate, who has become best friends with her coworker Luke (Jake Johnson, from New Girl); romantically, she’s with Chris (Ron Livingston), while he’s living with Jill (Anna Kendrick). But the two have such chemistry and closeness that it seems almost impossible for them not to get together. Or are they really just friends?
Plenty of romantic comedies play with the friends-or-lovers dynamic, but they’re not often especially convincing; it’s too obvious that they’re destined to wind up together. Drinking Buddies turns that supposed inevitability back to genuine uncertainty, and in doing so unlocks a more genuinely romantic yearning than a lot more traditional rom-coms are able to access. It’s loose and funny, but doesn’t give the short shrift to the characters’ dysfunctions, either. This is a real gem that remains underseen (and it’s sexy, too).
New on Netflix June 16: Funny People
Meanwhile, Olivia Wilde’s The Invite co-star Seth Rogen does some of his best work in Funny People, an under-appreciated dramedy about the comedy world from writer-director Judd Apatow.
Though Rogen is believable and charming as a struggling stand-up comic, the main attraction here is Adam Sandler, essentially playing an alternate-universe version of himself as George Simmons, a wildly popular comedian who has made a bunch of gimmicky, seemingly terrible hit movies (sound familiar?) while nursing a growing loneliness over the alienating nature of fame (and, more to the point, his own prickly arrogance). That last part isn’t much like the real-life Sandler, who has long been married and now dotes on his two daughters with their own Netflix careers. But you can see how vividly Sandler is able to imagine how his life might have turned out without that kind of love, and Apatow brings out a spikier, more complicated side to the lovable Sandman.
Some audiences blanched at the movie’s unflinching portrayal of a cutthroat and dysfunctional industry, but the insight and rueful laughs of Funny People are well worth a little discomfort.
New on Netflix June 16: Beavis & Butt-Head
Sandler’s fellow ’90s-comedy refugees Beavis and Butt-Head returned in a recent revival of their animated series. Interestingly, the new episodes followed two different paths: In one, the forever-chuckling miscreant teenagers were simply transported, intact to contemporary times, continuing their adventures in the present in the tradition of long-running cartoon characters like the Looney Tunes gang. In another, the show offers a what-if glimpse into a world where the best friends continued to age in real time since the initial end of their show in 1997, meaning that we’re treated to the sight of a later-middle-aged Beavis and Butt-Head making their way through the world. It’s sometimes quite sad!
But the shorts and video commentary remain hilarious, and those feeling nostalgic can also check out some old episodes via the curated “Mike Judge Collections” that accompany the two new seasons. These compilations, originally released on DVD, represent episodes that Judge (who has been quite critical of his own early work) genuinely enjoys. It may not be quite as voluminous as an old MTV marathon from back in the day, but it’s more than enough for an evening’s binge.
Also new to Netflix this weekend:
André Is an Idiot (movie, June 17): A Sundance-approved documentary about a middle-aged man facing a grim cancer diagnosis with surprising humor.
I Will Find You (series, June 18): An adaptation of a Harlan Coben book a man wrongfully convicted of murdering his young son — who then finds out his son may actually be alive.
Color Book (movie, June 19): A well-reviewed family drama about a newly widowed father attempting to bring his young son to a baseball game.
Oasis (series, June 19): A soapy mystery series about a young woman’s disappearance from a luxury spa.
Voicemails for Isabelle (movie, June 19): A rom-com starring Zoey Deutch as a woman who unexpectedly finds a connection while grieving a major loss.
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.