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As a member of Gen Z, I just missed the swirl of tiny eyebrows and hulking computers that defined the 1990s. My education on the dizzying decade has come from the culture that’s endured—the irresistible rhythms of Lauryn Hill, the bubbling banter of Friends episodes, and an array of the best ’90s films.
Even if you’d rather not revisit your old tattoo chokers and butterfly clips, a nostalgic ’90s film can make for a cozy indulgence on your next movie night. With the skew of my personal taste (and a penchant for romance plots), here are 10 of the best ’90s movies to rewatch—or discover for the first time—right now.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)
Released in the United States in 1990, this provocative drama from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar features a young Antonio Banderas as Ricky, an obsessed fan recently released from a mental hospital. He kidnaps Marina (Victoria Abril), an adult-film star turned horror-movie actor, to force her to fall in love with him. The darkness of the twisted plot is leavened by the film’s hypersaturated palette of reds and greens, and Abril’s performance over the course of her confinement suspends the audience in an uncomfortable (but compelling) state of ambiguity: Is Ricky’s captive slowly being captivated?
How to watch: Stream on Max or Apple TV.
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis hit the road in director Ridley Scott’s memorable tale of friendship and daring adventure. Thelma and Louise, a tyrannized housewife and a sharp-tongued waitress, plan to take an ordinary fishing trip when a violent episode sends them running from the law. They encounter a teeming cast of characters on the desert highway, including a charming drifter (Brad Pitt) seeking a ride and shelter from the rain in Thelma’s motel room. Equal parts rollicking and grave, the duo’s journey takes on symbolic proportions by the film’s end.
How to watch: Stream on AMC+, Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.
Porco Rosso (1992)
No one devises magical, lyrical landscapes quite like legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki. This 1992 film tells the story of a gruff World War I pilot (voiced in the English dub by Michael Keaton) fated to live with the head of a pig. Joined by the spunky mechanic Fio, Porco flies around the Adriatic Sea, fending off the air pirates hired by Italy’s new fascist government. The blending of otherworldly elements with real-world history infuses the film with a sense of melancholy, deepened by the swelling score (by Joe Hisaishi) and stunning images of the sea planes’ shadows on the water. Full of beauty and humor, the film remains one of Miyazaki’s most underrated masterpieces.
How to watch: Stream on Max or Apple TV.
Clueless (1995)
No roundup of ’90s films is complete without the tale of Cher Horowitz, a socially dominant Beverly Hills teen and inveterate matchmaker. Based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma, Clueless is rife with iconic ’90s imagery, from Cher’s white Jeep Wrangler to her extensive digitized wardrobe. Alicia Silverstone stars as the naive yet calculating high schooler holding court in her suit sets and perfect blowouts. She can’t help but see the charm of her do-gooder ex-stepbrother, Josh (a fresh-faced Paul Rudd), who wears flannels and reads Nietzsche by the pool. The script is full of quotable, comical moments—like when Cher explains to a mugger why she can’t get on the ground. (She’s wearing Alaïa!)
How to watch: Stream on Paramount+, Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
With roles in films like Howards End and The Remains of the Day, Emma Thompson was a frequent (and very welcome) presence in ’90s period dramas. In this 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1811 novel, she commands the screen as Elinor Dashwood, the eldest daughter in a family cast out of their home after the death of their father. Thompson’s portrayal pulses with repressed desire and affectionate sacrifice as her character fights to preserve her family’s dignity. Sensitive performances from Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman sustain this luminous retelling, doing justice to Austen’s ironic eye and keen sense of love and loss. (Thompson, who studied English at Cambridge, also wrote the award-winning screenplay, which would lead her to deliver one of the all-time great acceptance speeches at 1996’s Golden Globes.)
How to watch: Stream on Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
A young Matt Damon and Ben Affleck cowrote the script for this film about a brainiac MIT janitor who solves an impossible math problem while on parole. Charming and floppy-haired, Damon plays the titular rough-and-tumble genius sent to therapy with Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), a community-college psychology professor. Viewers soon become invested in Will’s struggles to overcome his circumstances, while his growing friendship with Sean and romance with Skylar (Minnie Driver), an ambitious Harvard student, offer scenes of tenderness and pain.
How to watch: Stream on Max, Apple TV, or YouTube.
The Parent Trap (1998)
Lindsay Lohan first rose to fame playing Hallie and Annie, twin sisters separated at birth—and reunited at summer camp. The plot to switch places and rejoin their divorced parents unfolds with heartwarming hilarity; the girls will not be thwarted by the distance from London to Napa, the watchful eyes of the butler and nanny who raised them, or the interference of an icy stepmother-to-be. Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid are the ultimate cool ’90s parents, appearing as an elegant wedding-dress designer and a cowboy-hat–wearing vineyard owner, respectively. Pop in your old VHS (or stream it online), and enjoy it with a side of Oreos and peanut butter, the camp snack of champions.
How to watch: Stream on Disney+, Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
This shimmering period piece features Joseph Fiennes as the most famous figure in literary history. While the actual William Shakespeare’s identity remains something of a mystery, Fiennes’s version is all flesh and blood. The dashing young playwright struggles to finish Romeo and Juliet as he navigates the real rivalries and romances burdening his stage productions. Gwyneth Paltrow won an Oscar for her performance as Viola de Lesseps, a noblewoman who infiltrates the male-only acting troupe and begins an affair with Shakespeare before her marriage to Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). Lovers of period dramas will swoon at the opulent costuming, the golden lamplight, and the lively reimagining of Shakespeare’s time.
How to watch: Stream on Max, Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.
Notting Hill (1999)
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant set a meet-cute standard with their encounter in his travel bookshop at the start of this film. Roberts dazzles as Anna Scott, an American film star feeling the burden of the spotlight, while Grant’s bumbling and besotted Will Thacker is the earnest English lover she didn’t know she needed. One of the all-time great rom-coms, the film is often hilarious, like when Will’s eccentric roommate greets the paparazzi in his underwear or when Will attempts to pass for a Horse & Hound magazine reporter while trying to reach Anna during a press junket. It also has one of filmdom’s great professions of love: “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy….” You know the rest.
How to watch: Stream on Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Talk about tension: Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo sizzle in this sexy art heist—he as a billionaire collector and she as the insurance investigator sent to probe him. Their dance of suspicion and seduction finds them in a hover plane over the Finger Lakes, a bougainvillea-wreathed Caribbean villa, and the many rooms of Brosnan’s New York City town house. Watch also for the enviable ’90s fashion, including the sheer bedazzled Michael Kors dress in which Russo slinks a tango. (Faye Dunaway, who starred alongside Steve McQueen in the original 1968 version, also makes a cameo here as Brosnan’s therapist.)
How to watch: Stream on Apple TV, Prime Video, or YouTube.