Why scroll through a catalogue of titles hoping to find something good to watch when you can get a cheat sheet of the best movies on Tubi right here from your friends at What to Watch? We're doing the hard work for you and compiling the creme de la creme of what Tubi has to offer.
Tubi is a free, ad-supported streaming service that features more than 20,000 movies and TV shows, the company says. It is available on most major streaming platforms, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android and iOS devices and a range of smart TV models.
Let’s break down some of the best movies that you can watch on Tubi right now.
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
We must have done something right as a society for us to be treated with the performance from Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda. Kline is absolutely hysterical as the bumbling (but don't call him stupid), quick-tempered criminal Otto, so much so that he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Of course there's so much to love from A Fish Called Wanda, which tells the story of four criminals trying to double cross each other in order to get their hands on the loot. The cast is incredible, which in addition to Kline includes Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese and Michael Palin, and features an Oscar-nominated script from Cleese and director Charles Crichton (also nominated, a rarity for a comedy).
The Apartment (1960)
Billy Wilder's Best Picture winner is a classic romantic comedy, with all-time great performances from Jack Lemmon as a hopefully businessman who lets his higher ups use him in the hopes it'll lead to advancement and Shirley MacLaine as the woman he has his heart set on. Things get complicated though when she ends up in his apartment, distraught over another man, and he is forced to take care of her.
Wilder's writing shines through in the movie and remains a great watch more than 60 years later.
The Death of Stalin (2017)
Armando Iannucci has proven to be the king of political satire with Veep and In the Loop, but he took his razor sharp wit all the way back to the Soviet Union with The Death of Stalin. With the likes of Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Palin, Jason Isaacs and more, he mines the dark humor from the frenzied power grabs after the death of Soviet leader Stalin in 1953.
The Farewell (2019)
The Farewell is a beautiful tale on the importance of family from Lulu Wang and starring Awkwafina. The movie centers on Billi (Awkwafina), who goes back to China to see her dying grandmother. The problem is that no one has told her grandmother that she is dying and the family wants to keep it a secret. Hilarity and heartwarming moments abound in this 2019 movie from Lulu Wang, who we are waiting for with bated breath to deliver her next project.
The Green Knight (2021)
You won't see many movies like The Green Knight. David Lowery's adaptation of the medieval epic poem about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a lyrical journey starring Dev Patel, Joel Edgerton and Alicia Vikander with one of the most interesting endings of a movie you'll see in quite some time. It is a movie with all the potential to become a cult classic, so get in on that trend early by watching it right now.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Before Taika Waititi made the best Thor movie for Marvel or won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, he was an indie filmmaker from New Zealand making unique gems like Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, Hunt for the Wilderpeople follows a rebellious kid and his foster uncle as they try to create a new life for themselves in the New Zealand bush.
While it doesn't have superheroes or vampires or a kid's imaginary version of Adolf Hitler, Hunt for the Wilderpeople has the Waititi wit and weirdness in spades and is a must-see for anyone who is a fan of his work thus far.
Ida (2013)
Pawel Pawlikowski nabbed a Best Director nomination for his film Cold War in 2018, but he first introduced himself to many American film fans with the 2013 drama Ida set, in post-World War II Poland.
The film follows Anna, a novice nun set to take her vows when she discovers that her family is actually Jewish, and that she has an aunt who is her only living relative. Together, they set off to learn about their family's tragic fate and just what it means to each of them. Ida is a haunting and touching story from one of Europe's top directors right now.
John Wick
John Wick: Chapter 4 is one of the best new movies of 2023, but if you need to play catchup at all with the action franchise before seeing the latest entry, you can do so with the help of Tubi as all three previous entries to the action franchise are streaming on the platform — John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum. See John Wick's journey of revenge from the very beginning all in one place and for free.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Based on the true story of Fred Hampton, Judas and the Black Messiah is an engrossing slice of history featuring magnificent performances from LaKeith Stanfield, Dominique Fishback and Daniel Kaluuya, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the role. The movie originally was only available to stream on HBO Max, so now that it is on a free service like Tubi hopefully more people will catch up with it.
Just Mercy (2019)
If you need an inspiring true story, then you should look no further than Just Mercy. Michael B. Jordan stars as a young lawyer who makes it his mission to help wrongly imprisoned people, including a man on death row, played by Jamie Foxx. Brie Larson and Tim Blake Nelson also star in the movie that looks at how a group of dedicated people challenged failures in the justice system.
Minari (2020)
From Lee Isaac Chung (who many people may now known as the creator of Beef) and starring The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun, Minari is an incredible story about a Korean family who moves to Arkansas in the 1980s in search of the American dream. Try not to fall in love with young actor Alan Kim as the family's youngest son or Youn Yuh-jung's hilarious grandmother, it's almost impossible.
Mustang (2015)
Mustang is an Oscar-nominated movie from that in a nutshell can be described as a Turkish version of The Virgin Suicides. That's not giving Mustang its proper due, though. Mustang is a beautiful film about the bonds of sisters and the desire to live the life they want.
The five sisters at the center of the story are orphans, who after being seen innocently playing around with a group of boys, are confined by their conservative guardians and lined up for arranged marriages. Some of the girls manipulate things to their advantage, while others are forced to find different ways to take back control of their lives.
Shoplifters (2018)
This Palme d'or-winning movie from Kore-eda Hirokazu is an incredible watch as it follows a family of petty thiefs living on the margins of Tokyo. However, when one of the children is arrested, secrets about the family become exposed. Shoplifters is a masterful film. Don't let any kind of aversion to subtitles prevent you from enjoying it.
Short Term 12 (2013)
Brie Larson has an Oscar and heads up Captain Marvel, but for many her first attention grabbing role was in the indie drama Short Term 12. Based on director Destin Daniel Cretton's own experiences working in a residential treatment facility for kids, Short Term 12 sees Larson's Grace try to help the kids under her care, while also dealing with her own issues. The cast is full of future stars, including John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Stephanie Beatriz, Rami Malek and LaKeith Stanfield.
Terrifier 2 (2022)
People reportedly passed out when watching Terrifier 2 in movie theaters, so if that put you off from seeing this buzzy horror title, having the ability to watch at home may help. Art the Clown returns to scare the daylights out of the movie's characters and viewers in this under-the-radar movie that seems destined to become a cult classic.
More on Tubi
