The Best Free Movies On YouTube

With so many streaming services and droves of new, exciting movies released all the time, it can be overwhelming to figure out what to watch when you just want to settle in with a new movie on a cozy weekend night. However, if you don't have the budget for a subscription service — with Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, and more, the charges can add up quickly — or are just looking to expand your horizons, there's a new unlikely spot for great free (and legal) movies: YouTube.

Long known throughout the internet as a place for quick and funny videos, short series, and clips, YouTube is branching out as a streaming service. You can rent or purchase films directly through the side for a small fee, but now, they're setting themselves apart from the pack by releasing almost 100 free films, meaning all you have to do to watch one of your favorite flicks is sit through a few short ads. Here are some of the best movies you can watch right now for free on YouTube.

Directed by Frank Oz and adapted from a 1964 film called Bedtime Story, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels tells the uproarious tale of two con men trying to cheat a rich heiress out of $50,000. Michael Caine and Steve Martin co-star as smooth Englishman Lawrence Jamieson and his undignified American counterpart, Freddy Benson. Glenne Headly co-stars as rich socialite and would-be victim Janet Colgate, who has a few secrets of her own.

There are plenty of wild stories behind this wild film (for instance, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, John Cleese, and Eddie Murphy were all attached to the project at various points), but perhaps the best anecdote is from eventual star Michael Caine. When none of the crew members laughed, Caine claimed, he knew it was the funniest film he would ever make — and he was right. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remains a comedy staple, and will be remade starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson.

An ambitious yet seriously low-budget science fiction film from Ecuadorian director Sebastián Cordero, Europa Report stars a few big names like Embeth Davidtz (best known for Schindler's List and Matilda, among others) and the late Michael Nyqvist (who appeared in a Mission: Impossible film and John Wick, as well as the Swedish Millennium series) and focuses on a group of astronauts searching for life on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. Six months into the mission, the ship is suddenly hit by a solar storm which leaves them unable to communicate with anyone on Earth, and after a series of accidents (including the death of Corrigan, a beloved junior engineer played by Sharlto Copley), they eventually land on Europa, discovering evidence that a single-celled organism exists on the planet and restoring communication, but the crew never makes it back to Earth, leaving behind only a video that is transmitted back home.

The making of the film was extremely faithful to the realities of space travel and of Europa itself — the filmmakers used maps for accuracy, and they used footage of space walks from the International Space Station and space shuttle to correctly portray how a human might move within space as well. These tactics paid off when it came to critical reception — among other positive reviews, space.com noted that the film was extraordinarily realistic, and it was nominated for a Bradbury Award by the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) in 2013.

Based on actual events, The World's Fastest Indian tells the story of Burt Munro, a speed racer from Invercargill, New Zealand who owned an Indian Scout motorcycle that he outfitted to his own specifications. Munro, as played by Anthony Hopkins, set a high number of land speed records for motorcycles (specifically ones with engines that were less than 1,000 cc) throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and as the film tells us, he encountered a number of hardships on this path to speed and glory. After irritating his neighbors at home in New Zealand, he hops a cargo ship to the States, where he's looked down upon by the people of Los Angeles, though he eventually succeeds thanks to a can-do attitude and pure friendliness. Overcoming the odds, he arrives at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the real-life home of the Bonneville Speedway, and ends up breaking several records and returning home to New Zealand as a hero.

Though the film received praise from both audiences and critics, some criticized it for being historically inaccurate, including concerns about Munro's race at the Bonneville Salt Flats, which ended up serving as a combination of some of Munro's greatest races, and concerns about U.K. native Hopkins playing the lead — though as far as the latter issue was concerned, at least one New Zealand critic confessed that though there were some accent errors, he embodied the spirit of Munro.

A 2016 release that flew deeply under the radar, The Escort is fairly self-explanatory, highlighting an unlikely love story while simultaneously humanizing the women who work in the sex industry. Directed by newcomer Will Slocombe, the film stars Lyndsy Fonseca as the title role, who viewers may recognize from RePlay, Agent Carter, or even as one of Ted Mosby's two children in How I Met Your Mother. Fonseca's Natalie is a Stanford-educated, high-end escort who is feeling unsafe in her line of work and ends up meeting Mitch (Michael Doneger), a broke, single journalist struggling with a sex addiction. They make a deal: Mitch will act as Natalie's bodyguard of sorts. But over time, the two end up developing feelings for each other.

The cast of this small indie film is rounded out by a few recognizable faces, including Tommy Dewey (Casual & The Mindy Project), Sonya Walgner (Lost), and even Rumer Willis (the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, who has found success of her own in film and television), and though it wasn't seen by many, The Hollywood Reporter praised the film after its debut at the Los Angeles Film Festival, describing it as charming and sharp.

Released in 2008, the Chinese film Painted Skin is a blend of supernatural action, horror, and romance that told the story of a series of love triangles, a series of murders, several demons, and fox spirits. An enormous hit in China, it broke box office records; in 2012, director Wuershan reunited most of the original cast for Painted Skin: The Resurrection, telling the story of Xiaowei (Zhou Xun), the fox demon from the first film, on a mission to find a man to fall in love with so she can assume a permanent human form. Xiaowei ends up intertwined with Princess Jing (Zhao Wei), a heavily scarred yet beautiful princess.

A beautiful film about the bond between the supernatural and human worlds, Painted Skin: The Resurrection received excellent reviews from critics while setting records at the Chinese box office, so all in all, even if you haven't seen the original Painted Skin, it's certainly worth settling in for a viewing of this exceptional foreign film.

An action drama that was released in the United States in 2013 after its 2012 debut in South Korea, A Company Man tells the gripping story of a hitman who finds his life turned upside down. Masquerading as a normal white-collar worker, Hyeong-do (So Ji-sub) seems like any other man in a suit, but really, he's a dangerous assassin whose front is a job as a manager at a fake metal company. As one of the most sought after hit men in the business, Hyeong-do is highly valued, but when he meets a young single mother with whom he falls in love, his future at the company is compromised. Its theatrical release in the United States was limited at best, but now, American film fans finally have an opportunity to experience this Korean hit.

A small independent film that made a fairly big impression, Great World of Sound came out in the midst of the reality television fame phenomenon of the late aughts, when seemingly anybody could become instantly famous on an American Idol-type show without having to struggle or maybe even possess the requisite talent. Directed by Craig Zobel, who also helped to create Homestar Runner and would later go on to direct Z by Zachariah starring Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Chris Pine, this unorthodox documentary features Pat Healy as Martin and Kene Holliday as Clarence, two men undercover on an actual audition circuit who convince strangers to perform for them in exchange for free recordings of their CDs and contact with radio stations. Those auditioning, tricked into thinking the two actors were record industry executives, were frequently and often entirely unaware that this was a film shoot, exposing themselves fully. Though a fictional throughline runs through the film, it ultimately blurs fact and fiction, thanks to the real-life audition footage Zobel incorporated, and it ends up being an incredibly revealing look about the desire for fame and celebrity.

Though many critics were likely unsure about how to fully categorize Great World, it still was well-received by critics; Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, noting that Zobel's debut was confident and well-designed, despite defying genre.

The 1993 romantic comedy Benny & Joon starred a young Johnny Depp alongside Mary Stuart Masterson, telling the quirky love story of two unconventional people. Masterson plays Joon, orphaned and mentally ill, who lives with and is supported by her brother Benny (Aidan Quinn), but is romanced throughout the film by Sam (Depp), a friend's cousin struggling with illiteracy. While Benny wants to help his sister, he is unsupportive of her budding relationship with Sam, and frequently gets between them to his own detriment.

With huge stars like Depp as well as stars like William H. Macy, Oliver Platt, and future Academy Award winner Julianne Moore, even with a difficult and often challenging story, the film was a bona fide hit, with positive notices from critics and a surprisingly good draw at the box office. Even if just for the early performances from some of today's biggest stars, Benny & Joon stands the test of time and remains worth a watch today.

The late, great Stan Lee was more than just a comic book writer — he was a self-made superhero and a legend unto himself. After his passing at the age of 95 in 2018, there's no better time to watch With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, which chronicles everything from his childhood to the creation of seminal characters like the Hulk, Spider-Man, and the X-Men. Lee's life was so long and storied that many may have forgotten how many things he lived through and accomplished, including serving in World War II and his hard-fought battle to prevent comic books from being censored in the 1950s. The documentary wisely lets Lee speak for himself through most of its 80-minute runtime, telling stories about his humble beginnings. A particularly moving anecdote reveals that he once came close to quitting comics altogether until his wife, Joan, convinced him to write what he really wanted to write about, which resulted in the creation of the Fantastic Four.

No documentary about Stan Lee would be complete without plenty of Marvel stars and celebrities to talk about his influence, and a wealth of famous faces appear, from Tobey Maguire and Samuel L. Jackson to Paris Hilton and Ringo Starr. This film serves as the perfect ode to an icon and shows that he was still, at his core, relatable and accessible, even as perhaps the most influential man in comic book history.

This 2011 documentary by director David Gelb focuses on Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old master chef and the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, an extremely unique Michelin-starred sushi restaurant in Tokyo. The restaurant only offers a 20-course fixed menu of dishes that cost at least 30,000 Japanese yen (just under $300 USD), has only ten seats, and is located, oddly enough, inside a subway station. Takashi, Jiro's younger son, left the nest to open a restaurant elsewhere in Japan, while his older brother, Yoshikazu, considers himself duty-bound to take over Sukiyabashi Jiro, and still works with their father. 

Originally, Gelb was going to make a documentary about sushi culture in general, but after eating at Jiro's restaurant, he was struck by the chef's artistry, commitment, and focus (not to mention his incredible sushi), and chose to focus exclusively on Jiro instead. The film has been met with nearly universal critical acclaim, and was even parodied by Fred Armisen on his series Documentary Now! (in which Armisen learns how to make the perfect grain of rice from his father, a no-nonsense chef). It has also been argued that the film is a perfect antidote to today's haphazard and "unfocused" culture, in that watching a master of his craft perfect the same techniques time and time again may inspire viewers to stop chasing the "next big thing" and learn to focus.

Written, directed, and produced by Francesca Gregorini (Barbara Bach's daughter and Ringo Starr's stepdaughter), The Truth About Emanuel is a dark thriller about loss, grief, and letting go. Starring Jessica Biel, Kaya Scoledario (known for The Maze Runner films, among others), Alfred Molina, and Jimmi Simpson, the film tells the story of Emanuel (Scoledario), a teenage girl grappling with the loss of her mother who meets her mysterious new neighbor Linda (Biel), whose "daughter," Chloe, turns out to be a doll rather than a real child. As the story continues, Emanuel begins to have strange visions involving Chloe as well as her late mother, and the two women come together while coming to terms with their pasts.

After the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012, Gregorini received a nomination for the festival's Grand Jury Prize — Dramatic. Despite a cold reception from critics, this intense film is ready to discover a new life with a wider audience after its initial limited release.