(This article is part of our Best of 2025 series.)
I hadn’t seen many 2025 movies until November, at which point, I went into watch overload. I’ve crossed off over 45 movies from my 2025 watchlist, and many were fighting for a spot in my top 10 of the year. So, yeah, narrowing it down even further to a top 5 was no easy task, but I did it, and here they are.
Friendship
For as many stars as Saturday Night Live has made, the long-running sketch comedy series has turned away just as many. Tim Robinson is one who managed to make it onto the show, only to never have any real breakout moments. Three years after leaving SNL, Robinson created I Think You Should Leave for Netflix, which went absolutely viral in 2023-24, with several clips becoming “memes.”
Well, it should never be said that memes cannot be a great form of marketing because they got me to check out I Think You Should Leave, and it quickly turned me into a fan of Robinson’s. Friendship continues the comedian’s form of cringe comedy, with Robinson’s Craig Waterson unable to let go of a burgeoning friendship with Paul Rudd’s Austin Carmichael after a mishap at the latter’s social gathering. Friendship is funny looking in on psychotic, a wild black comedy that will have you questioning whether this could actually happen in real life.
Wake Up Dead Man
Rian Johnson, you’ve whodunnit again! Glass Onion was a big swing and a miss for me, which had me worried about Johnson and Daniel Craig’s final Benoit Blanc mystery for Netflix. Thankfully, everything that we fell in love with in Knives Out is back in Wake Up Dead Man. Blanc is back as a supporting character, with Josh O’Connor giving yet another amazing performance as the true lead of the movie, Priest Jud Duplenticy. The way his whole body, tone, voice, and expression change in an instant with that “Father, will you pray for me?” phone call is nothing less than impressive. Challengers put O’Connor on my radar, and between this and The Mastermind, he’s quickly becoming one of my favorite actors of the 2020s.
Oh, Hi!
Molly Gordon, where have you been hiding all this time? Okay, I’ve seen you in other things, like the excellent Shiva Baby. Much like how Rachel Sennott’s Danielle is self-destructive in that movie, so is Gordon’s Iris in Oh, Hi!, an unconventional rom-com co-starring Logan Lerman. After Lerman’s Isaac foolishly confesses he’s not looking for anything serious, Iris — who had up until then been under the impression they were a couple — begins to figure out how to fix their relationship, all while leaving Isaac chained to the bed. As the situation grows more dire, so do the laughs. And just when you think the movie has left Iris in the most impossible, irreversible situation, she’s given a lifeline, and everything ends up working out. It’s not exactly in the way Iris wanted, but it’s a satisfying conclusion for what became my favorite rom-com of the year.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
This movie was not made for you. It was made for me, a longtime fan of Downton Abbey, who has been watching since the third season. With over a decade invested in this cast of characters, The Grand Finale was made solely to give the fans one last goodbye. The plot may be nonexistent, but who cares? Just seeing the Crawleys and the Downton Abbey staff again was enough for me.
The Luckiest Man in America
I’m a sucker for a good biopic, especially ones based on events as crazy as this. The Luckiest Man in America flew largely under the radar last year, which is a shame because it’s a lot of fun. For those unaware of Michael Larson’s 1984 appearance on Press Your Luck, let me give you the cliffnotes. He figured out that the game show only used five different patterns of lights on the game board. After memorizing them, he was able to successfully audition to become a contestant, whereupon he racked up a then-record-breaking win of $110,237. Paul Walter Hauser, who is severely underrated as an actor, is great as Larson, as are the actors playing the show’s creator, producers, and crew, who are shown sweating in real-time as Larson racks up the big bucks and avoids the whammies. It may not be the most glamorous biopic, but it’s one that fans of David vs. Goliath stories (a.k.a. the common man vs. the big corporation) will certainly enjoy.
Those are my five favorite films of 2025. The runner-ups would be F1, Sorry, Baby, Roofman, The Roses, and Sinners. Oh, and a special shout-out to Tron: Ares, which is nowhere near as bad as some made it out to be (and has arguably the best visual effects of any movie released last year).
What are your thoughts on the movies that made my top five? Share them down below!
