School’s back in session, but it’s always movie time over at HBO Max.
The streamer has hundreds of films available to stream right away, from popular comedies to award-winning dramas.
Watch With Us recommends you check out the following underrated movies this weekend: the relationship comedy Drinking Buddies, a mesmerizing documentary about Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda and Paterno, a dramatization of the last years of the legendary — and controversial — football coach Joe Paterno.
‘Drinking Buddies’ (2013)
Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) are best friends who work together at a Chicago brewery. When they go on a hiking trip with their romantic partners, their friendship threatens to become something more intimate than they’d like. To make things worse, Luke’s girlfriend, Jill (Anna Kendrick), kissed Kate’s boyfriend, Chris (Ron Livingston). With both their long-term relations on the line, will Kate and Jake finally act on their long-simmering flirtation? Or will they come to their senses and stick with their partners?
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Drinking Buddies is a romantic comedy that’s not exactly a straightforward rom-com. Directed by mumblecore filmmaker Joe Swanberg, the movie is a bit more serious than your average Reese Witherspoon flick. It’s more realistic about how it depicts the complexities of modern relationships, and it presents all of its characters as flawed but essentially well-meaning people who are endlessly confused about love. Unlike most films in this genre, the movie’s ending is refreshing and honest. Sometimes love doesn’t conquer at all, it argues, but that’s OK as long as you have a drinking buddy nearby to help you through it all.
Drinking Buddies is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Jane Fonda in Five Acts’ (2018)
How well do you know Jane Fonda? The iconoclastic actress has been praised, vilified, admired and ignored throughout much of her life, so much so that a 134-minute documentary can only touch on what a great life she’s had so far.
And what a life! Narrated by the actress herself, the documentary chronicles Fonda through her relationships with five key people: father Henry Fonda, first husband Roger Vadim, second husband Tom Hayden, third husband Ted Turner and, most importantly, Jane Fonda. Through it all, she spares no one, not even herself, from her critiquing gaze as she assesses what went right — and wrong — in her life and career. It’s a fascinating portrait of one of the 20th century’s most polarizing figures, and it’s every bit as hypnotizing as the star’s classics Klute and Coming Home.
Jane Fonda in Five Acts is streaming on HBO Max.
‘Paterno’ (2018)
For much of his life, Joe Paterno (Al Pacino) was revered by his family, friends and peers. As the head coach of Penn State’s college football team, Paterno helped the school win multiple championships and quintuple its financial endowment. That all came crashing down in 2011, when his now-retired assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of child sex abuse during his time at Penn State. While Paterno wasn’t involved in Sandusky’s crimes, he did know about them, and to some, he didn’t do enough to stop them.
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Paterno is a fascinating look at a man who worked hard to build his own legend but didn’t work hard enough to act like a decent human being when it counted. As Paterno’s family realizes what he’s done — or rather what he didn’t do — they finally see a flawed man rather than the local legend everyone loves. As the title character, Pacino gives one of his most convincing performances in years. His coach is a proud man who isn’t willing to own up to his failures off the field. Ironically, that proves to be his downfall and what people now remember all these years later.
Paterno is streaming on HBO Max.
