25 Best Hulu Movies You Can't Watch Anywhere Else

Hulu has long been a refuge of classic and modern TV shows. But as the years have gone on and streaming platforms have gained more presence and respect in the entertainment marketplace, Hulu has also put its name behind a number of exciting original films. At this point, in fact, Hulu has put out plenty of gems, ranging from high-minded documentaries to endearing romantic comedies. There are so many great Hulu productions out there that it can actually be hard to know where to start.

The movies on this list are the best of the best of what the beloved streaming service has to offer. They're also all Hulu exclusives, which means they're not available to rent or watch on any other platform. There are plenty of excellent titles available on Hulu outside of this list, including films like "Minding the Gap," which is a Hulu original that is also part of the Criterion Collection, and acclaimed movies like "Parasite" and "Portrait of a Lady on Fire." This list, however, consists entirely of Hulu exclusives. From vivid accounts of real-life adventure to searing sci-fi dramas, these 25 films will keep any Hulu subscriber busy for weeks. 

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has left a huge impression on popular culture, despite his youth. That's a big part of why "69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez" was so highly discussed upon its initial release. This film explores the controversial rapper's story, including his rise to prominence in the world of music, his continued affiliation with gangs, and his several arrests. 

Hernandez's story is crazy enough to require a documentary, although director Vikram Gandhi is limited by the rapper's refusal to participate in or cooperate with filming. Gandhi gets plenty of great footage from the people who know Hernandez best, but without speaking to the rapper himself, it's impossible to get the fullest possible sense of who he is. Even so, "The Saga of Danny Hernandez" contains plenty of insight into the man's rise to prominence, and what it means for both him and the people around him.

In "Boss Level," Frank Grillo plays Roy Pulver, a former soldier who is trapped in a time loop of the day that ends in his murder. Over the course of the movie, Pulver has to unravel the government conspiracy that played a role in his death, and take down a villainous colonel played by Mel Gibson. 

Although there are plenty of elements in "Boss Level" that you could find in any standard action movie, the addition of the time loop element makes all that conventional plotting impressively fresh. What's more, Grillo, who is usually a supporting player in these kinds of action movies, takes on the lead role here, and doesn't waste a second of his expanded screen time. The movie may not be high art, but not everything needs to be. Sometimes, you just want to watch Frank Grillo get killed over and over again as he tries to find his way into another day. 

Great actors coupled with iconic roles don't come along that often. More frequently, an actor and a character don't make for a perfect match. In "Becoming Bond," filmmaker Josh Greenbaum examines one very particular era of the James Bond franchise, in order to take a closer look at the relationship between character and actor. Specifically, Greenbaum focuses on the career of George Lazenby, the Australian actor who only portrayed Bond one time in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." 

The film uses re-enactments of scenes from Lazenby's life, as well as actual footage of interviews with the actor, to examine why he took the Bond part, and why he eventually decided to leave the role after just one film. Lazenby is an interesting but brief chapter in the history of on-screen portrayals of James Bond, but "Becoming Bond" doesn't exclusively examine Lazenby as a part of the Bond timeline. Instead, it flips the script by exploring the way that the Bond character influenced Lazenby's own life, and how it ultimately shaped every role he took on after he stepped away from the part. 

The Fyre Festival might have been the peak of 2010s scammer culture, and "Fyre Fraud" tells its awful, fascinating story in full detail. For those not in the know, this 2017 festival promised to be one of the most exclusive parties of the year. Promotional material depicted the event as absolutely dripping with luxury: The accommodations would be opulent, the food would be gourmet, and the performances, from a variety of the day's hottest stars, would be unforgettable. But when the day of the festival actually arrived, all of that grandeur failed to materialize. By focusing on Billy McFarland, the entrepreneur at the center of the Fyre Festival plan, this movie reveals the rot at the heart of the event. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which he managed to convince investors and employees that he knew what he was doing, even when he really, really didn't. 

The documentary spends plenty of time on the build-up to the festival, but it's definitely not time wasted — the payoff is almost ludicrously sweet. The Fyre Festival scandal was broadly publicized as it happened, but the documentary exposes the event's horrible conditions in even further detail. "Fyre Fraud" also gets at something deeper about McFarland, and the culture he exploited: It suggests that many people are willingly fooled when the glamour being promised is simply too tempting to pass up. McFarland may have lied about Fyre Festival, but it was everyone else who believed him. 

Although many of Hulu's most successful projects are documentaries, its narrative films have also enjoyed acclaim and popularity. "Little Monsters" is definitely one of the streaming service's most popular movies, thanks in large part to a hugely memorable performance from Lupita Nyong'o. "Little Monsters," which also stars Josh Gad and Alexander England, tells the story of a kindergarten teacher, a musician, and a kiddie-TV personality who have to defend a group of kids from an impending zombie apocalypse. As you might imagine, things get complicated, gory, and bizarrely adorable.

There's no shortage of zombie movies in modern Hollywood, but "Little Monsters" manages to put a fresh spin on many of the genre's most well-worn tropes. As a horror-comedy, it can take certain tonal liberties projects like "The Walking Dead" can't, and it makes thorough use of this creative latitude. Moreover, "Little Monsters" serves as definitive proof that Nyong'o is as skilled at comedy as she is at drama, and acts as a delightful counterpoint to her more serious horror work in films like "Us." As Miss Caroline, she is steely, enchanting, and absolutely hilarious. "Little Monsters" is the kind of project that doesn't often get made inside the Hollywood studio system: It's more than a little offbeat, and attempts to tackle many different jokes, genres, and tones at once. Luckily, its strong performances buoy it to success.

When you think of Kristen Stewart, you probably don't think of romantic comedies. If "Happiest Season" is any indication, that's a mistake. This charming movie stars Stewart as Abby and Mackenzie Davis as Harper, a couple who journey to Harper's family home for Christmas. There's just one problem: Harper's straight-laced parents don't know that their darling daughter is a lesbian. As a result, Abby has to pretend that they're just close friends ... even though she's been eagerly planning to pop the question on Christmas morning.

"Happiest Season" plays into plenty of tropes of the romantic comedy genre. This doesn't drag the film down, however — its strong central performances breathe new life into old clichés. Furthermore, beneath the undercover work that Abby is forced to do, there's an undercurrent of what it means to see people in different contexts. Abby and Harper are a couple in the city, but when they return to Harper's childhood home, Abby is no longer sure how she fits into the life of the woman she loves. This movie is a sweet, delightful diversion, and a reminder that good actors can do great work in any genre.

There's no shortage of accounts of Harvey Weinstein's rise to power and subsequent fall, but "Untouchable" was one of the first documentaries to tackle this story. Although the filmmaking throughout is not perfect, "Untouchable" earned praise from critics, in part because of the urgency of the story that it tells. The movie was released in 2018, a year after bombshell accounts of Weinstein's history of abuse began to be published across major platforms, sparking the #MeToo movement. Viewers who have read those stories may not learn anything new in "Untouchable," but this doc certainly brings them together in a unique way.

As has become clear in the years since the Weinstein story first broke, the movie producer was far from the only person to get away with horrendous behavior because of his power. "Untouchable" examines not just the allegations against Weinstein, but also the systems that enabled him to remain a top-level producer for so long.

"Run" is a taut, sleek, well-acted thriller. Starring Sarah Paulson as a highly protective mother and Kiera Allen as her sick daughter, the movie starts by capturing their close relationship before things take several increasingly dark turns. 

"Run" is a movie about being imprisoned without even knowing it. It's also about realizing the person you've spent your whole life with isn't who they say they are. These thematic elements feel weighty, but the movie is wonderfully light on its feet. Above all else, "Run" is about thrilling its audience, and it more than achieves that goal. 

Thanks to expert work from both Paulson and Allen, these broadly drawn characters feel distinctly human. Even as the circumstances of "Run" become increasingly absurd, the relationship between the characters keeps the story grounded with genuine emotional stakes. If you're looking for something thrilling to watch on a Friday night, you can't do better than "Run."

Although it sounds like the famous Dostoevsky novel, "Crime + Punishment" is actually a documentary firmly rooted in the American experience. The documentary follows Latino and Black police officers in the NYPD over the course of four years, chronicling their brush-ups against the system and the way policing is systemically biased toward people in their communities. 

Fittingly, "Crime + Punishment" doesn't come to any easy answers about how the NYPD can be fixed. Instead, it simply shines a light on the everyday corruption that's become part of policing, and the other systemic abuses every police officer eventually has to deal with. 

"Crime + Punishment" is not a loud, shouty movie. It makes its points quietly and deliberately. Ultimately, though, that only reinforces the movie's power, making it all the more clear that the problems endemic to policing aren't going anywhere. It's an urgent, vital movie that gets at the humanity of police officers, even as it highlights the corruption of the institution they exist within. 

"Palm Springs" debuted fairly early on in the American COVID-19 lockdown, and it couldn't have been more perfectly timed. The comedy, which stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, follows Milioti's character as she becomes embroiled in a time loop Samberg has already been stuck in for some time.

The movie has plenty of fun with its conceit, but it also updates the "Groundhog Day" formula by showing what happens to a relationship when both people are forced to relive the same day over and over again. Thanks to note-perfect performances from Samberg and Milioti, plus a little help from J.K. Simmons, "Palm Springs" is always charming and frequently moving. It's a movie about being stuck in a rut, to the point of being willing to do something radical to break out of it. As one of the very best movies that Hulu has to offer, it delivers not just laughs, but genuine emotion and a beautiful love story. 

Sometimes, documentaries choose to tell stories that most people are already pretty familiar with. Other times, though, documentaries introduce their subjects to a largely ignorant audience. So it goes in "Dumb: The Story of Big Brother Magazine." 

Director Patrick O'Dell shines a spotlight on the eponymous publication, which catapulted a generation of skaters to fame and also led to the creation of MTV's "Jackass." Featuring interviews with figures like Johnny Knoxville, Spike Jonze, Tony Hawk, and many others, this movie tells the story of a generation of young rebels who eventually grew into incredibly successful people within their fields. "Dumb" is not as widely seen as many of the films on this list, but it's earned plenty of praise from critics, who hailed the film as an effective chronicling of a group of people who felt like breaking the rules for no other reason than to see what it would feel like.

"Too Funny to Fail" is both hilarious and refreshingly low-stakes. The documentary tells the story of "The Dana Carvey Show" — specifically, all the ways that it failed to be a success in spite of the many talented people behind it. Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, and, of course, Dana Carvey all worked on the show, but that didn't keep it from flaming out in truly stupendous fashion. 

In spite of the show's demise, this documentary remains a fairly lighthearted look at what went wrong, including candid interviews with all of these now-famous men. "The Dana Carvey Show" may have been ahead of its time, and "Too Funny to Fail" shows us how well many of the show's sketches still hold up. In spite of what seemed like a sure-fire formula for success, though, the show did, of course, fail. Although that failure might be depressing in the moment, without it, we wouldn't have "Too Funny to Fail," and that would be a loss in its own right.