It’s been a strange summer-movie season. We’ve had superheroes, Stitch, dinosaurs, and race-car films, but how about we top it all off with a good old-fashioned comedy? It’s nothing but wall-to-wall jokes in director Akiva Schaffer’s (of the Lonely Island) reboot of The Naked Gun, and it has been charming critics quite a bit. Our own Bilge Ebiri said its “sole purpose is to make a packed audience lose its shit.” Another film hoping to do that is Alison Brie and Dave Franco’s body-horror. I’d rather lose my shit over comedy than some bodies freakily merging, but hey, to each their own! That’s why you have options, people.
Featured Presentations
The Naked Gun
Who knew a reboot could be this good? It’s too soon to say if The Naked Gun will save theatrical comedies — that’s too much pressure — but it’s just good to have one funny enough to enjoy so thoroughly. Liam Neeson plays Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character in the 1988 comedy, while Pamela Anderson co-stars as a femme fatale named Beth Davenport.
In theaters now
Together
Alison Brie and Dave Franco, you can rest now, the movie is out. Neon’s buzziest horror of the year, Together stars the real-life couple as a codependent couple who move to a new town where they start experiencing a more physical kind of codependency. Finally, a movie that’ll make you feel glad you’re single!
In theaters now
➽ Oh, and how about playing this week’s Cinematrix, guest edited by Franco and Brie?
She Rides Shotgun
One of the best crime novels in recent years, Jordan Harper’s tale about a hardened ex-con trying to protect his 11-year-old daughter from a whole host of psychos, is now a movie starring Taron Egerton. It’s the kind of grubby role he’s perhaps best suited for. —Bilge Ebiri
In theaters now
Chief of War
When this streamer launched, one of its first series was See, a postapocalyptic sci-fi starring Jason Momoa as a tribal leader defending his family from countless villains. Momoa is now returning with another large-scale action project, but this one has ties to his own life and culture. He plays a warrior trying to unify Hawaii’s islands against the threat of Western colonization; he co-created the series with fellow Hawaiian native Thomas Pa’a Sibbett. —Roxana Hadadi
Streaming on Apple TV+
Reality Bites
Perfect Match season 3
Love Island USA ended in July, leaving TV viewers with a deep hole in their lives that used to be filled by hot people in a tropical location pretending to fall in love in order to gain social-media currency. Good news! More hot influencers are on their way, and they include Love Island alums! —Kathryn VanArendonk
Streaming on Netflix
Project Runway season 21
It’s difficult to re-create the original magic of this fashion-competition series, now a Disney property. Change is hard—as hard as it was for contestants to design for plus-size models. Sarcasm aside, it’s exciting Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, and Christian Siriano have returned, and megapowerful stylist Law Roach is a good addition to the judging panel. All our best to Tim Gunn, who couldn’t be coaxed back. — R.H.
Comedy Corner
Panicked
No one embodies “It’s funny that the world is ending and we might as well admit it even while we sink ever deeper into a morass of despair” better than Marc Maron. Sometimes entertainment is escapism, and that is not his lane. But laughing in the face of the abyss can be good, too. —K.V.A.
Streaming on HBO Max
Couch Concert
Lollapalooza
The only thing better than being at Lollapalooza? Maybe watching it in the comfort of your air-conditioned house. Hulu is streaming the festival throughout the weekend, so you can flip from Olivia Rodrigo to Sabrina Carpenter to Clairo and Doechii without having to navigate a crowd. The full schedule is here.
Streaming on Hulu
Double Feature
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Before Akiva Schaffer tackled The Naked Gun, he teamed up with his Lonely Island boys to direct a mockumentary on a former boy-band member going solo as Conner4Real (Andy Samberg). It didn’t do well on its initial release, but since then, it’s become a real cult favorite. Never Stop Never Stopping is so ridiculous, a real teaser of what was to come in the Liam Neeson comedy.
Streaming on Netflix
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of July 25.
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