With Halloween behind us and the Christmas season still weeks away, the viewing calendar can feel a bit adrift. For anyone not quite ready to dive into holiday favorites, the best movies on Prime Video this week offer a mix of comfort, timely satire, and a true-crime caper. The three selections below range from a star-studded musical to a political romance that accidentally echoed real events, plus a coupon-clipping comedy with a criminal twist.
Hairspray (2007)
The 2007 adaptation of Hairspray has been surprisingly hard to find on streaming for years, and licensing deals shift often enough that its current availability on Prime Video may not last. That alone makes it worth a watch while it’s there, but the film also delivers pure, joyful escapism. The cast is unusually deep: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, and Jerry Stiller all appear in supporting roles, and each commits fully to the movie’s over-the-top spirit. It’s a comfort musical in every sense, and star Nikki Blonsky’s chaotic press tour—during which she confidently declared that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens wouldn’t last—only adds to its enduring charm.
Red, White & Royal Blue
This romantic comedy became unexpectedly relevant after last week’s midterm elections, when Texas flipped blue and social feeds filled with jokes about Alex Claremont-Diaz. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, Alex is the character played by Taylor Zakhar Perez in Red, White & Royal Blue. He’s the son of the president (Uma Thurman) and is determined to help his mother win re-election—a goal he believes hinges on turning Texas blue. The film treats that as a long shot, but life recently imitated art. For viewers who followed the midterms, it’s a fitting rewatch; for everyone else, it’s a lighthearted introduction to the story behind the memes.
Queenpins
Recent films about known bad actors have sometimes struggled to connect, but Queenpins takes a different approach: it centers on ordinary people pulling off an unexpected scam. Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste star as Connie and Jojo, best friends in Phoenix who are devoted to extreme couponing. After discovering they can get free items by complaining to manufacturers, they hatch a plan to smuggle and steal cases of coupons and sell them. The movie is loosely based on a true story, and while the scheme is clearly unethical, there’s a certain fun in watching characters take on big corporations with nothing but coupons and nerve.
Between a musical that’s been hard to stream, a political romance that mirrors recent headlines, and a coupon caper with a moral gray area, these three films cover a lot of ground. They’re all available on Prime Video now—though as with any streaming title, it’s best not to wait too long.
