We may earn a commission from links on this page.While other streaming services thrive on carefully selected and endlessly curated (meaning: limited) selections of movies, Tubi's a bit different: It feels like the Wild West, with everything from originals; to popular hits; to critically acclaimed favorites; to the lowest-brow, lowest-budget movies you'll find this side of an old Blockbuster. In that spirit, here's a sampling of some of the best stuff currently streaming on Tubi, and it's a wide variety—the streamer will not be pinned down. If you're unfamiliar, Tubi is a free, ad-based service, but generally I find the ads to be less obnoxious and less frequent than on other, similar streamers. Girls Trip (2017) Having grown apart, the now middle-aged friends all manage to reconnect with their wild sides. The movie's biggest pleasures all involve the camaraderie between the core four friends, played by Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Queen Latifah. A huge critical and box-office success (also just a lot of fun), this was one of those movies that should have served as reminder that centering Black women can be a path to success. Stream Girls Trip.The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Martin Scorsese’s ode to the coke-fueled excess of 1980s capitalism (as distinguished from the Provigil, Adderall, and Xanax -fueled excess of the 2020s) stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, who founded brokerage house Stratton Oakmont largely on the strength of his pump-and-dump skills—the trick of buying a penny stock and artificially inflating its price by, essentially, lying, and then flipping them while high (the stocks and, usually, the brokers too). Stream The Wolf of Wall Street. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Learn More Learn More Color Out of Space (2019) Nicolas Cage is at his Nic Cage-iest in this H. P. Lovecraft adaptation about a family's descent into madness. A beautiful, horrifying, utterly unique sensory experience. Stream Color Out of Space.Some Like It Hot (1959) Tubi offers up a better assortment of classics than many of the other streamers, most of which have shifted to a newer-is-better focus. Hot stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as a couple of jazz-age musicians who run afoul of a mob boss, deciding to escape by posing as members of an all-female band (one that, memorably, includes Marilyn Monroe). Director Billy Wilder pitches the farce just right, at the intersection between smart and silly. Stream Some Like It Hot. Evil Bong (2006) No socially redeeming value here, just a goofy comedy horror movie about a bong that transports smokers to another planet, one where they're to be murdered by exotic dancers. Tommy Chong co-stars in this movie from Full Moon Features, purveyors of fine low-rent horror movies. Stream Evil Bong. Tangerine (2015) Alexandra (Mya Taylor) and her bestie Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) are very nearly forces of nature: it wouldn’t take a particularly elaborate set-up to set them entertainingly in motion. Here, it’s the revelation that trans sex worker Sin-Dee’s boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her, sending the two off for a series of adventures during the holiday season in L.A. Stream Tangerine.The Philadelphia Story (1940) It's one of Hollywood’s all-time team-ups, with director George Cukor at the helm of a Katherine Hepburn vehicle in which she’s pursued by both Cary Grant and James Stewart (and, of course, her fiancé played by John Howard—but he never really has a chance). It’s hard to know who to root for. Even when she’s back-footed by the men in her life, Hepburn's still the whole show, bandying brilliant dialogue in a movie that veers effortlessly from sophisticated to screwball. Stream The Philadelphia Story. Donnie Darko (2001) Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this memorable emo mind-bender about a troubled teenager who dodges disaster thanks to a bit of sleepwalking. An instant cult classic, it's the movie all the cool kids were talking about back in the day. Stream Donnie Darko (director's cut), or the theatrical version. God's Own Country (2017) Josh O’Connor (The Crown’s Prince Charles) and Alec Secăreanu play Yorkshire farmer Johnny and Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe. The initially tempestuous relationship that develops really does feel like it’s headed for tragedy (à la Brokeback Mountain), which makes the film’s unexpected turn in the direction of a happier ending particularly thrilling. Stream God's Own Country. Straight Outta Compton (2015) Straight Outta Compton serves as much as an origin story for gansta rap as it does as a portrait of a time and place—much as the film’s title (and that of the 1988 album) implies. Ultimately, it takes an epic approach to the birth of a musical era that we’re still living in, and draws some darkly timely parallels between the N.W.A. era and the present; is a track like “Fuck Tha Police” any less relevant now than it was in 1988? Stream Straight Outta Compton. Straight Outta Compton (2015) Learn More Learn More Steel Magnolias (1989) The tearjerker classic is as funny as it is heartbreaking, with an all-time great cast including Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts (along with a few men, I suppose, but they're not why we're here). Stream Steel Magnolias. The Dark Crystal (1982) Jim Henson stepped away from The Muppets to create this gorgeous dark fantasy. Gelflings Jen and Kira set out on a quest to restore the balance of their world by restoring the title's shattered crystal in the face of the greedy, terrifying skeksis. It's a beautiful, haunting, and fully-realized landscape. Stream The Dark Crystal. Hollywood Shuffle (1987) Robert Townsend directs himself as Bobby Taylor, a satire about the perils of navigating the Hollywood system for an actor simultaneously too black and not black enough for the tastes of studio bosses. Through elaborate fantasy sequences and parodies of popular movies, Townsend creates a sharp and often extremely funny sendup that’s (sadly) still relevant. Stream Hollywood Shuffle.Rec (2007) This Spanish import is top-tier found footage, involving a group of firefighters on an emergency call who wind up trapped inside a building at the center of a creeping zombie infection. That limited, specific geography is key to the movie's brisk, efficient, and nerve-jangling effectiveness. Stream Rec.The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) Though many (many!) have tried, no one's ever quite topped the Tobe Hooper-directed original for lean and mean thrills. A group of friends fall victim to a family of cannibals in Muerto County, Texas against an impressively gritty and realistic backdrop. Stream Texas Chain Saw Massacre.The Apartment (1960) Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star in this searing, bittersweet, but ultimately humane comedy. MacLaine's Fran Kubelik is an elevator operator having an affair with the big boss at an insurance company, while Lemmon's Bud Baxter gets ahead by loaning out his apartment to upper management for various extramarital assignations. The budding friendship between the two threatens both of their careers. Stream The Apartment. Ray (2004) It’s not just Jamie Foxx’s Oscar-winning performance that sells this take on the troubled rise of Ray Charles; he’s flawless, but every main performance here is great—Regina King, Kerry Washington, and Clifton Powell, in particular. Some of the beats here are pretty recognizable, but the performances create the feeling that we’ve gained some essential insight into these characters and the real-life individuals they represent. Stream Ray. Whale Rider (2002) Pai is a 12-year-old Māori girl and the direct descendant of their tribe’s traditional notable ancestor, the Whale Rider—except that, traditionally, women can’t lead. Star Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest nominee for a Best Actress Oscar for her open, genuine performance. Stream Whale Rider. Room 237 (2012) This fascinating documentary explores, without judgement, the many (and often truly wild) theories and interpretations around Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Probably not what you're after if you want a bit of film analysis, but as an exploration of conspiratorial thinking? You could do a lot worse. Stream Room 237. Terrifier (2016) Damien Leone's low-budget slasher series quietly build into a queasy empire, with the most recent film being a legit box office smash. Here, literal clown-from-hell Art stalks partygoer Tara Heyes and her sister Victoria (Scaffidi) on Halloween night. Stream Terrifier. Terrifier (2016) Learn More Learn More Return of the Living Dead (1985) This horror comedy with punk style is both a knowing parody of zombie movies while also managing to be an impressively gory thriller in its own right that moves the whole genre forward. Plus, it’s got a great death-rock soundtrack. Stream Return of the Living Dead.Frankenhooker (1990) A disreputable and goofy but surprisingly effective horror comedy, Frankenhooker stars former Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen as the movie's take on Mary Shelley's monster, made in the image of a med student's dead fiancée and built from sex workers. The style and special effects here are pretty great. Stream Frankenhooker.Ghost in the Shell (1995) One of the best anime films of all time, at least when it comes to sci-fi and cyberpunk, Ghost in the Shell boasts impeccable style in addition to the thoughtfulness and complexity of its story. Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg security agent hunting an enigmatic hacker known only as "the Puppet Master" in the rapidly approaching year 2029, a time when the rise of AI threatens even the idea of individual existence. Stream Ghost in the Shell. Ghost in the Shell (1995) Learn More Learn More The Leather Boys (1964) A classic of British kitchen sink realism, a movement in the 1960s that saw hyperrealistic portraits of, often, angry teens and young people, The Leather Boys sees young couple Reggie and Dot becoming increasingly estranged when Reggie mostly wants to just hang out with his biker friends. Among those friends is Pete, who seems to be developing an attraction to Reggie that goes a bit beyond that of a typical biker bro. Stream The Leather Boys. North by Northwest (1959) One of Hitchcock's best (and that's saying quite a bit), North by Northwest is a nearly non-stop thrill ride, seeing Cary Grant's Roger Thornhill hunted across the country by criminals who've mistaken him for someone else. It's as funny as it is clever, and nearly impossible to stop watching once you've started. Stream North by Northwest.Paprika (2006) Dr. Atsuko Chiba and her colleagues are working on a therapeutic tool, a device that allows for the sharing of dreams. She's a scientist by day, and, as her titular alter ego Paprika, a dream detective by night, venturing into dreams to help her psychiatric patients. The device she's using can shatter minds when in the wrong hands and so, when it is stolen, she knows it must be recovered. Satoshi Kon’s mind-bending masterpiece was a clear inspiration for Christopher Nolan's Inception. Stream Paprika. They Call Me Trinity (1970) A classic spaghetti western, Trinity (kicking off a trilogy, appropriately enough), stars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as brothers Trinity and Bambino, who help defend a Mormon settlement from bandits and a land-grabbing Major (Farley Granger). It's a rare comedy to come out of Italy's obsession with westerns, and a lot of fun for it. Stream They Call Me Trinity. The Wiz (1978) Long before Wicked reinvented (or at least reinterpreted) L. Frank Baum, the Broadway musical on which this movie is based imagined Dorothy Gale as a Black teacher from Harlem. The joyous film version is nearly a who's who of Black talent in the 1970s: Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor all play roles, while Quincy Jones, Luther Vandross, and Charlie Smalls all contributed to the music. Stream The Wiz. The Wiz (1978) Learn More Learn More Cabaret (1972) Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey star in this essential musical about the good times and extravagant style of Weimar Germany giving way to the rising tide of fascism. Stream Cabaret. It Happened One Night (1934) The template for a million romantic comedies to come, It Happened One Night, despite appearing during the awkward early years of sound, remains unsurpassed in its charm and sexiness. Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable have terrific chemistry, and their relationship is one of near-equals—something that would grow increasingly rare in the succeeding decades. It’s one of only three films to have won an Academy Award in every major category, and deservedly so. Stream It Happened One Night.