If you’re looking for a great drama to watch in December, then you’re in luck. There’s an abundance of titles to choose from this month.
The downside is that not all of the best dramas are on the same streaming services.
To help you plan your next movie night, Watch With Us has selected the five best drama movies to watch in December 2025.
Each of these films has been ranked in descending order based on its Rotten Tomatoes score. And one of the best filmmakers in the world landed at No. 1.
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5. ‘Armand’ (2024)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74 percent
You don’t need to brush up on your Norwegian to watch Armand, at least as long as you turn on the subtitles. This gripping drama stars Renate Reinsve as Elizabeth, a faded actress and single mother to the title character, Armand, whom we never see in the film. What we learn, however, is that Armand is a six-year-old boy who is accused of assaulting Jon, another six-year-old whom he knows well.
Almost the entire film is set during a tense parent-teacher conference between Elizabeth, Jon’s parents, Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit), and school officials. Emotions run high here, and the harsh words between Elizabeth and the others can cut just as deeply as a knife.
Armand is streaming on Hulu.
4. ‘Jay Kelly’ (2025)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76 percent
George Clooney isn’t exactly playing himself in Jay Kelly, but it’s easy to understand what drew him to the role. Jay is an A-list actor who is a lot closer to the end of his career than the beginning, and all he really wants to do is spend time with his daughters, Jessica (Riley Keough) and Daisy (Grace Edwards). Unfortunately for Jay, he spent so much time focusing on his career over family that neither of his girls is very receptive to his overtures.
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In fact, Jay is kind of a hard guy to like, and his hubris keeps making it difficult for anyone to maintain a meaningful connection with him. Even Jay’s longtime manager, Ron Sukenick (Adam Sandler), is nearing his breaking point as Jay drags him on an international trip that’s more about the latter’s desires than anything that will benefit Ron.
Jay Kelly is streaming on Netflix.
3. ‘Battle of the Sexes’ (2017)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84 percent
Steve Carell and Emma Stone previously played a father and daughter pair in Crazy, Stupid, Love, but they have a decidedly more adversarial on-screen relationship in Battle of the Sexes. Stone plays Billie Jean King, a trailblazing tennis player who was instrumental in starting the women’s tour when she and her fellow players weren’t paid as much as the male players.
Carell portrays Bobby Riggs, a tennis player who is past his prime and deeply addicted to gambling. Both Riggs and King face difficult moments in their personal lives, but their paths intersect when he challenges her to a tennis match to prove the superiority of male tennis players. King’s not eager for that battle, but when she commits, she’s not just coming to silence Riggs. She wants to make history, too.
Battle of the Sexes is streaming on HBO Max.
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2. ‘The Fighter’ (2010)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91 percent
Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress Oscars for their turns as Dick “Dicky” Eklund and his mother, Charlene Fleming, in The Fighter. This biopic was a passion project for Mark Wahlberg, who spent years physically preparing himself to portray boxer Micky Ward, who was trained by his brother, Dicky, and managed by his mother, Charlene.
At the beginning of the film, Mickey is a journeyman fighter who might be on the cusp of reaching the next level. However, his career faces a setback after he takes a brutal beating in the ring. Meanwhile, Dicky’s addiction to crack threatens to land him and his brother in serious trouble with the law. Both of these brothers badly need to turn around their fortunes and make a comeback. But it’s an open question whether they’ll be able to do that together.
The Fighter is streaming on Paramount+.
1. ‘The Fabelmans’ (2022)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92 percent
Steven Spielberg has yet to direct a film about his own life, but The Fabelmans may be the closest thing that we’re going to get to an autobiography. This movie is very loosely based on Spielberg’s experiences growing up, with Gabriel LaBelle as the Spielberg stand-in, Sammy Fabelman. Sammy’s a kid who is just discovering his love for movies and filmmaking under the care of his parents, Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano).
What Sammy doesn’t initially realize is that his passion may reveal certain uncomfortable aspects of his own life, as well as a secret that his parents would probably prefer to keep buried. In some ways, Sammy’s gift is a burden. And yet it’s also the way he can escape from his mundane reality and begin creating his own narratives.
The Fabelmans is streaming on Peacock.
