Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Everett Collection (Paramount, Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures)
It’s Father’s Day weekend! Why not watch a movie? After celebrating the day with your pop, sit down and either watch something with dear old Dad or check out a flick that reminds you of your father if you can’t be together. The question is which streamer has the best dad-day movies? We’re here to help. Sticking only with films available on streaming services for subscribers leaves some obvious dad-friendly choices off this list, like Big Fish, To Kill a Mockingbird, and even Taken — all available on VOD but not for free. Here’s a dozen already included in a monthly fee that you probably pay. Or maybe your dad does.
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Year: 2003
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Andrew Stanton
Naturally, Disney+ has the most robust catalogue for holidays like Father’s Day, but we’ll limit ourselves to four options from the family-driven service (sorry, Mrs. Doubtfire fans). The best Pixar movie for the holiday is this animated classic about an overprotective clownfish (voiced by a perfect Albert Brooks) who will do anything to keep his son Nemo safe, while learning, of course, that sometimes you have to trust that your kid will find his own way home.
Year: 1994
Run time: 1h 34m
Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Is there a more iconic animated Disney dad than Mufasa? Sure, this one is more about the son than the father, but the presence of the character unforgettably voiced by James Earl Jones lingers over the entire film. It’s a great one for those who can’t be with their dad this Father’s Day for whatever reason but want to remember how much of a king he was.
Year: 1989
Run time: 2h 9m
Director: Steven Spielberg
There are many other animated or family comedy options on Disney+, but what if you want some action? The third film in the original 1980s Indiana Jones trilogy is a perfect choice thanks to the clever banter between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery as Indy’s dad. It’s not the best script in the Indy series, but there’s so much joy in the rapport between these two iconic stars that it carries the film. One almost wishes they could have partnered up one more time, but we’ll always have Last Crusade.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 19m
Director: Ryan Coogler
There needs to be a Marvel movie on the list, right?!? And this one is definitely about fathers as the story of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is really launched by the death of his dad and the arc of the story is defined by the death of another father, N’Jobu (Sterling K. Brown), whose son becomes Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) to avenge him. This entire story vibrates with the impact the legacies and beliefs of fathers leave on their children, making it an unexpectedly perfect fit for the holiday.
Year: 1999
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Dennis Dugan
Adam Sandler could fill a list like this on his own given how many of his comedies center on fatherhood, but this one is arguably still the most popular (sorry to any Bedtime Stories fans, if they exist). It’s also an important building block of Sandler’s career, bridging the more frat-boy humor of stuff like Billy Madison with the family comedies like Grown Ups that would come later.
Year: 1991
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Charles Shyer
There have been four major versions of the beloved Edward Streeter novel, including the classic with Spencer Tracy and a recent version with Andy Garcia, but the Steve Martin one is the touchstone for the Gen-X parents who pay the Hulu bill. Martin had a run of great dad movies for about a decade there that also included Parenthood (not on streaming right now), and this was one of the biggest hits of his career, a movie so beloved that it produced a sequel, also on Hulu — Daddy Day Double Feature.
Year: 1989
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
“Hey, Dad, wanna have a catch?” One of the best tearjerkers ever made, Field of Dreams is kind of the ultimate Father’s Day movie, a flick that seems to be about the great American love for baseball that reveals itself to be more about fatherhood than anything else. Kevin Costner does some of his career-best work as a guy who answers the call to build a baseball field on his property that brings history to life, including that with his deceased father. We dare you not to cry.
Year: 2023
Run time: 2h 12m
Director: Sean Durkin
They don’t all have to be about good dads, of course. This late-2024 drama was largely ignored by audiences and critics, but it’s already developing a pretty intense fan base on VOD and Max. Holt McCallany is spectacular as the patriarch of the wrestling family known as the Von Erichs, played by Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, and a truly committed Zac Efron. The story of the Von Erichs is an American tragedy, a tale of a father who pushed his sons into a world that essentially destroyed them.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 56m
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
One of the best films ever made about the immigrant experience centers a Korean patriarch, played with unforgettable vulnerability by Steven Yeun. Jacob Yi just wants the American dream when he moves his family to the heartland in the mid-‘80s. As the stress over his farm and his son David’s health swirl, it impacts his marriage and family life. This is a tender, character-driven choice that’s a perfect reminder of what dads often sacrifice for those they love.
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Barry Jenkins
Father’s Day can provide a chance to celebrate those who may not be our biological fathers but have made the impact of a father figure on us nonetheless. Juan, played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, may not be the biological father of Chiron, but he undeniably shapes him through his encouragement and support. One of the best films of the 2010s, this may not be an obvious choice for Father’s Day, but sometimes the most important father figures in our lives aren’t the obvious ones.
Year: 2014
Run time: 1h 40m
Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
One might not think about fathers when they remember this massive family blockbuster, but don’t forget where the movie lands: with a workaholic dad putting down the reputation as a business-driven monster that has formed in his son’s mind to just play. For a lot of fathers who work way too hard, this movie could be a reminder this holiday of what’s really awesome in life.
Year: 2017
Run time: 1h 53m
Director: Stephen Chbosky
This drama recently dropped on Netflix and has been a regular in the top ten. Why? It’s tender, sweet, and moving in a way that feels true instead of manipulative. While the story of Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) centers way more on how he deals with life in the torture that is middle school, his parents play a major role, including a mom played by Julia Roberts and a dad played warmly and memorably by Owen Wilson. It’s more moving than your standard dad-day comedy and appeals to the whole family.
Year: 2015
Run time: 1h 36m
Director: Sean Anders
You may be better off just watching some of the undeniably superior Will Ferrell comedies of the ’00s, but most of those aren’t quite as family-friendly as the pair of flicks that reunited Other Guys stars Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. The Anchorman star plays an ordinary new stepfather who has to deal with the alpha-male posturing of the biological dad to his new stepkids. It’s goofy, but it was also a smash hit because of its broad appeal, producing a sequel that’s also on Prime.
Year: 2014
Run time: 2h 42m
Director: Christopher Nolan
A lot of dads love Mr. Nolan, but Oppenheimer is a tough family watch on a holiday. Why not go for the film that’s deceptively about the unending love between a father and daughter? The underrated Interstellar seems to be about the end of the world and space travel, but it ends with an emotional chapter that’s basically about how everything comes from love and it’s the connections we make in this universe that will save it.
Year: 2010
Run time: 1h 34m
Directors: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
The Illumination juggernaut franchise continues in a few weeks with Despicable Me 4, which makes it a great time to go back to the one that started it all, a movie that’s really about how a supervillain becomes a hero by being a dad to three orphan girls. Is your dad too much like Gru? Maybe some time with the minions is just what he needs this Father’s Day. Note: All of the films in this franchise are on Peacock, and all at least loosely resolve around fatherhood.
