YouTube has an incredible selection of free movies available to stream with ads, and Watch With Us has picked out three of the best ones in the current lineup.
If you’re looking for some weekend entertainment but don’t want to pull out your credit card and actually pay for a movie, then check out a Jack Black family comedy, a ’90s teen classic or a Spike Lee biopic with a powerful, thought-provoking message.
Even though they are wildly different from one another, they all share this one thing in common: they are guaranteed to entertain you for two hours or less.
‘School of Rock’ (2003)
Written by Mike White (The White Lotus) and directed by Richard Linklater (the Before trilogy), School of Rock is one of Jack Black’s most beloved movies of all time for good reason. Black plays a slacker musician, Dewey Finn, whose ego and penchant for stage dives get him thrown out of his band. Dewey has been mooching off of his milquetoast roommate and best friend Ned (White) for years, but Ned’s girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman) insists he get a job to contribute rent.
Due to his lack of tangible work skills, Dewey pretends to be Ned and takes a substitute teaching job. When he discovers that the kids he’s teaching are all talented musicians, however, he sees an opportunity to recapture his dreams of stardom.
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As he begins to turn the repressed students into a rock band, Dewey discovers a passion for teaching music — and for helping them with their problems. (Black’s ability to pull off this role without seeming creepy is a testament to his charm and talent.) He also develops a friendship with the school’s quirky principal, Roz Mullins (Joan Cusack). Black bonds with the young cast by teaching them to rock out, and he also learns to put his ego aside in the service of rock and roll. With memorable lines (“I pledge allegiance to the band!”) and fantastic music performed by real kid musicians, it’s a timeless, delightful classic.
Watch School of Rock on YouTube.
‘Clueless’ (1995)
Skip this movie? “As if!”
Alicia Silverstone stars in this hilarious ‘90s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. (When Clueless was released, of course, it was as a present-day adaptation of Emma, but it’s become a wonderful ’90s period piece itself.)
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Cher Horowitz (Silverstone) is a wealthy Beverly Hills teen who loves matchmaking and meddling in other people’s lives. She and her best friend Dionne (Stacey Dash) decide to adopt new girl Tai (Brittany Murphy) into their group by changing up her look, speech, and personality. As Cher’s bestie Dionne explains, makeovers give Cher “a sense of control in a world full of chaos.”
But as Cher’s attempts to do “good deeds” for Tai, two of her teachers (Twink Caplan and Wallace Shawn), and her father seem to blow up in her face, she ends up leaning on her ex-stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) to try and figure out how to become a better person.
Often cited as one of the best teen movies of all time, Clueless is funny and clever (even more so if you’ve read Emma or seen a more traditional adaptation). It’s also relatable, whether you’re a privileged Beverly Hills princess or the not-so-rich new girl in town. It’s a story of growing up and learning your values — and finding love along the way. (Just to be clear, Josh is her ex-stepbrother. They’re not related. Keep that in mind.) A sequel series starring Silverstone was recently announced, so now’s a good time to watch the movie to prepare.
Watch Clueless on YouTube.
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‘BlacKkKlansman’ (2018)
Part biopic, part undercover thriller, part comedy and part social commentary, BlacKkKlansman is a movie only Do The Right Thing director Spike Lee could make. It tells the true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), a Black police officer who collaborated with Jewish officer Philip “Flip” Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to go undercover inside the Ku Klux Klan in 1970s Colorado. The movie also stars Topher Grace (That ‘70s Show) as sinister real-life Klan leader David Duke.
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The tension in BlacKkKlansman is constantly escalating as Stallworth attempts to stop attacks by the Klan and to expose their abusive behavior. You’ll root for this real-life hero, whose story wraps up with satisfying poetic justice. But Lee is not a director who lets his viewers off the hook with a feel-good story.
He draws thought-provoking parallels to present-day threats from racist terrorist organizations and invites us all to consider how we can emulate Stallworth and Zimmerman, instead of their police colleagues, who were often willing to sit by and do nothing.
Watch BlacKkKlansman on YouTube.
