What Is A "Streaming Movie" In 2025? 'Nonnas,' 'Another Simple Favor' And The Rise of Elevated Trash
#319: "Nonnas," "Another Simple Favor," "A Knight's Tale," "Hold The Dark"
Edition 319:
Hey movie lovers!
This week: What makes a movie a “streaming movie” in 2025? We define a new subgenre called Elevated Trash, and give some examples both good and bad, new and old. In this week’s “Trailer Watch,” Sydney Sweeney stars in an indie western that’s giving shades of Tarintino. I’m so in.
Nonnas
A little over four years ago, I had a roommate who was an assistant at one of the big talent agencies here in Los Angeles, and he — knowing my love of Italian food and culture — passed me a script in development for a movie about a restaurant in Staten Island using Italian grandmothers (“nonnas”) as the chefs.
I read it and told him…there’s no way anyone was going to make it. At least not with a real budget. I mean, come on! Two hours of obvious Italian-American stereotypes and feel-good fantasy, to the tune (quite literally) of Billy Joel’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.” It was a cheap Hallmark movie!
Well…that movie came out on Netflix this past week, and with the kind of budget that affords Vince Vaughn in the lead and a quartet of name actresses in tow — Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire (yo Adrian!) and Brenda Vaccaro.
Is this further proof that I wouldn’t hack it as a studio exec? Maybe, but the main thing I hadn’t accounted for back then was the increasing desire by the major streaming services to make exactly what I described — glorified Hallmark movies, elevated by a famous cast and better production value.
In the old days, the traditional Hollywood studios would regularly hand out $5 million, $10 million a handful of times each year, using these so-called “loose change movies” to fill out a diversified slate. But that was when the money was flowing. In this era of declining theater attendance, there’s no longer any spare dollars going out the door, and it’s the biggest movie that provide the best return.
Enter Netflix, Amazon and Apple, for whom a couple million bucks might be found in the couch cushions, and a diversified offering makes a lot more sense because they don’t need to worry about drawing people out to theaters.
The difference between those low budget swings of old and what we’re seeing today is analytic efficiency. Studios may have gambled on promising young filmmakers with good ideas (Columbia/Sony gave Wes Anderson $5 million to make his debut Bottle Rocket in 1996, for example), but these these technology companies have user data that studios of the 1990s couldn’t dream of, and do you know what that data says?
That people love trash! Or at least a helping of it every now and then. Hallmark movies, reality television, and game shows are consistently among the most watched programming on every platform.
For Netflix, which doesn’t need to do a ton of external advertising because it’s the one service people pull up looking for something to click on, putting a super recognizable face like Vaughn’s—or Sarandon’s for the older crowd, and yes, Netflix has the tech to change which photo is shown to which user on the interface based on their age/gender/profile—on a reliable content formula is about as obvious of a bet as anyone can make.
In a counter-intuitive sort of way, they’re more likely to take bigger risk on bigger budget artistic projects, because even if those movies don’t produce the same engagement time, at least they are more likely to compete for awards and theoretically improve your brand image.
To me, those two categories help answer the question I’ve been thinking about a lot recently—what is a streaming movie in 2025?
During the pandemic, streaming movies were all movies. But the past couple of years have proven that a hit isn’t truly a hit unless it’s in theaters. Like I dare you to think of an example of a streaming-only, big budget movie in the past few years that dominated the culture.
You can’t! The most-watched movie from the second half of 2024 according to Netflix’s engagement report was Carry On, a pure example of this subgenre I’m calling Elevated Trash (other Netflix examples that are actually good: They Cloned Tyrone, Reptile, Rebel Ridge). The biggest Amazon original is probably Red One, which probably doesn’t qualify for this because of its $250 million price tag and obvious blockbuster ambitions (including a token theatrical run!), but it was, at the very least, trash.
These movies don’t compare to Barbie or Wicked or Top Gun: Maverick by almost any measure. So I question why streamers are even attempting $200 million+ spectacle movies ($300 million to the Russos for The Electric State is inexcusable for anyone), when the return is just as good for a $20 million movie (my guess) about a bunch of old ladies making pasta in Staten Island.
No one really believes the drama in this movie, which takes place in a fantasy land where a public transit worker with $200,000 in life insurance from his dead mother can afford to build out a massive restaurant in New York and keep it afloat without any real stress.
But that kind of suspension of disbelief is the exact same quality that a big serious movie like Dune also commands, and this one just as successfully creates a world you want to get lost in, filled with unrelenting cuteness and gauzy footage of delicious looking Italian food.
Nonnas will be no ones favorite movie of 2025, but a ton of people are gong to watch it because it’s just so easy to click on, and all of them are going to enjoy doing so. If you’re Netflix trying to steal two more hours of engagement, is that not all you can ask for?
Something New
Another Simple Favor (Amazon Prime): To prove out the validity of my point above, I subjected myself to the streaming only sequel to 2018’s A Simple Favor that exactly zero people asked for. The original grossed less than $100 million worldwide!
And yes, this is classic Elevated Trash. It’s a dime store novel plot—a little murder, a little steam, a little intrigue—with Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, Allison Janney and Henry Golding in front of the backdrop of the southern Italian paradise of Capri (I can see why the talent signed on…free vacation).
I get why this might be an easy movie to click on, but this is the worst possible version of this trend. The conceit is ridiculous, the plot is a mess, and the dialogue is laughable. Remember that lead actor from the Megan Fox Netflix movie Subservience (another Elevated Trash entry) who I said had to be a model or something because he can’t act? Well that didn’t stop him from booking yet another lead role as the Italian mafioso son who is marrying Lively’s character.
Not that any of that setup matters much. I bring this movie up to prove the point that these movies are not so easy as to guarantee a watchable product.
Something Old
A Knight’s Tale (2001, YouTubeTV): It’s more difficult to find an example of Elevated Trash from 20+ years ago, because these are by definition movies that are not hugely commercial, have huge budgets, or made by legendary filmmakers, which are the kinds of older fare I usually seek out. We’re looking for something that’s not trying to be the greatest movie ever made, but uses some recognizable faces and a little cash lift up what is an extremely well-worn movie structure.
To prove that these movies can actually be really great, look no further than the Heath Ledger-led story of a poor man who pretends to be a noble knight to compete in jousting tournaments and win the heart of a damsel. It’s the kind of story you’ve seen and know the beats of intrinsically, but every scene is just so dang charming and memorable that you’ll gladly fall right into its rhythms. It definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously, and there’s a fun little twist of modern culture into the world (Aerosmith and the Nike swoosh feature prominently) without it falling into that ironic meta thing that I’ve railed against in this newsletter.
I loved this movie as a kid and have rewatched it many times since. If this is Elevated Trash then call me a fan!
Something To Stream
Hold The Dark (Netflix): On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Elevated Trash does not have to be all lovey-dovey or family fun. Jeremy Saulnier’s movies are limited in scope, intense, even a little gruesome, but fantastic.
This movie essentially takes the beats of a Western: a kind of cowboy comes to a small town—in this case Jeffrey Wright, thus the elevation—way up in the dark, cold north of Alaska to investigate some wolf attacks and finds out the real wolves are the metaphorical black hats around town. Then he clears them out in a shootout John Wayne would be proud of (and perhaps a little terrified by). If Netflix made a dozen more movies like this one I’d be so happy.
Trailer Watch: Americana
Sydney Sweeney filmed a ton of projects in that 2021-2023 range when she was just catching some steam off of “Euphoria” but before she broke into full on movie stardom. Now it seems a little strange to see her in an off-brand indie alongside Paul Walter Hauser about small time crooks.
But as soon as you throw a quote in your trailer that says “Americana is like an early Tarantino movie,” well…say no more. I’m in. This movie looks funny, propulsive and maybe even a little Coen Brothers-esque? It’s exactly the kind of movie I’m predisposed to love.