56 Best No-brainer Movies On Netflix Australia (Page 3)

As much as the Alabama-bred stand-up comic doesn't fit into the stereotype of someone with an online presence, Dusty Slay's comedy special can't help but feel like you're scrolling through the Twitter feed of someone's funny but incoherent (and most likely high) thoughts. There isn't much connective tissue to be found in Workin' Man, which doesn't necessarily weaken his jokes—many of which are actually these amusing, absurd observations on everyday life—but definitely makes all the little silences feel much longer, and leaves you looking for some sort of primary theme to really bring the show home. Still, the fact that a self-proclaimed stoner is actually this normal and unassuming (as opposed to a few other comics who can get dark and aggressive with their drug-related content) is pretty refreshing, all things considered.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Dusty Slay

Rating: PG-13

Taylor Tomlinson clearly has more of a writer's approach to stand-up than a performer's, for better or worse. On the one hand, every word in this special feels considered (even those that she has to come up with on the spot during audience interactions), with a cadence meant to draw you towards the writing itself. On the other hand, this means that her comedy can come off too mannered—more knowingly clever than spontaneously funny. It certainly helps that Tomlinson has the energy to commit to her jokes even if they aren't particularly interesting, though; she has a clear vision for how her routine should flow, and that's worth respecting.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Taylor Tomlinson

Director: Kristian Mercado Figueroa

Rating: R

Beat for beat, word for word, Love is in the Air moves just like any other romantic comedy. Within that genre, it slots easily into the category of romcoms that follow a city guy who falls in love with a country girl, eventually learning and preferring the ways of small-town living. But Love in Air is even more improbable than usual because of how eerily perfect the two leads are. Goodrem, in particular, is always manicured to perfection, which makes her role as a down-to-earth no-nonsense go-getter very hard to believe. Still, the movie isn’t entirely unwatchable. There are pockets of humor to be found, and the stunning visuals almost make it worth the watch. Almost.  

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Craig Walker, Delta Goodrem, Hugh Parker, Joshua Sasse, Mia Grunwald, Roy Billing, Simon McLachlan, Steph Tisdell

Director: Adrian Powers

Rating: PG-13

There's a very clear target audience for Steve Treviño's comedy, and for that particular group it's easy to see his appeal: he says what a lot of married couples probably have on their minds during moments of conflict, but he still doesn't take any of it too seriously. However, to an outsider, Treviño's comedy can't help but come off as one-sided complaining, lacking the willingness to make himself look just as silly as the people he rants about. Not that there's anything too mean about the things he says—the jokes as they're written just aren't particularly clever and don't really say much about married life that can't just be resolved through a little more basic empathy.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Steve Trevino

Director: Renae Trevino

Rating: R

With every chaotic fight scene, ridiculous stunts, and crazy scheme, All-Time High is a wild ride where two scammers lie to each other and fall in love. It’s fun to see these irresponsible people reap the consequences, and it’s fun to see the way Youssef and Stéphanie recognize that they’ve met their match, made all the more fun with the natural chemistry between Nassim Lyes and Zoé Marchal. That being said, the film’s irreverent humor depends a bit too much on stereotypes and gags, and can be a bit too specific for viewers outside of France.

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Adrien Essamir, Alexandre Kominek, Ciryl Gane, Guillaume Canet, Gustave Kervern, Hakim Jemili, Hedi Bouchenafa, Ichem Bougheraba, Kenza Fortas, Nassim Lyes, Panayotis Pascot, Yassine Stein, Yousef Ramal, Yovel Lewkowski, Zoé Marchal

Director: Julien Royal

Family Switch is a film clearly built to give its ensemble fun acting opportunities, with Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms being given excuses to loosen up more than expected, and Brady Noon and Emma Myers (arguably the movie's MVP) moving beyond mere imitation into more full-bodied performances as adults seeing through their kids' eyes. Unfortunately, the rest of the film saddles them with uninteresting situations that never take the body-switching aspect to more clever territory. Whatever mutual understanding that's learned by the end feels contrived, with the Christmas setting feeling especially tacked on—leaving these otherwise talented actors little to anchor their performances on.

Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy

Actor: Adam Lustick, Andrew Bachelor, Anwar Jibawi, Austin Boyce, Bashir Salahuddin, Benjamin Flores Jr., Bob Stephenson, Brady Noon, Carl McDowell, Chloé Wepper, Connor Finnerty, Cyrus Arnold, Dan Finnerty, Ed Helms, Emma Myers, Fortune Feimster, Hannah Stocking, Helen Hong, Howie Mandel, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Jason Rogel, Jennifer Garner, Lauren Ash, Mark McGrath, Matthias Schweighöfer, Naomi Ekperigin, Ned Bellamy, Paul Scheer, Pete Holmes, Preston Galli, Punam Patel, Ravi Kapoor, Rita Moreno, Rivers Cuomo, Ryan James, Scott Shriner, Sebastian Quinn, Vanessa Carrasco, Xosha Roquemore

Director: McG

Rating: PG

Better known as a podcast host, Stavros Halkias proves that he does have the writing ability and (the lack of shame and/or pride) to come up with effective jokes from his own perspective. But his momentum just doesn't hold throughout this hour-long special; he starts strong and keeps a coherent train of thought throughout the whole routine, but the latter sections begin to rely on gross-out comedy and potshots at the audience more than anything. Halkias knows who his audience is and he's very fortunate to be able to perform in front of people who seem to be very familiar with his style. But for a wider range of people watching through streaming, his more relaxed style of storytelling may come off as him simply droning on without particularly great timing.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Stavros Halkias

Director: Ben O'Brien

Known for his comedy skits on Facebook, the comedian Kountry Wayne finally gets his own Netflix special to middling results. The character that he plays on the stand-up stage is meant to be highly irreverent, showing a callous disregard to everybody except himself. But while a more seasoned comic (which Wayne could become in good time) might find a way to build these predictable jokes into something truly novel or subversive, Wayne settles for shock value—often relying on exaggerated physical comedy to sell a flatly written punchline. But even this trick he relies on too often, which makes his already impressive stage presence seem cheaper than it should.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Kountry Wayne

Director: Jeff Tomsic

Rating: R

Jack Whitehall definitely has funny observations to make about life around him, and he clearly has a writer's ear for detail-oriented jokes. But he hardly allows his jokes to breathe during this special, constantly over-explaining the point or killing the momentum of a really smart, clever punchline with so many more unnecessary lines after the fact. This is really just Whitehall's style at this point, and those who already find his dorkiness endearing (which it really can be) should enjoy most of this. But for this writer, his jokes are just far too obvious and feel far too "performed." It feels like he's speaking at an audience, rather than for them.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Jack Whitehall

Director: Chris Howe

Rating: R

More a clip show than a real stand-up special—and certainly not a documentary about the New York-based comedy club—The Improv: 60 and Still Standing only really seems to be for the most hardcore devotees of American stand-up. But even if you are familiar with all the comics who make an appearance here, the film doesn't give their already brief routines enough time to breathe. They've ostensibly been instructed to prepare their best stuff or to just riff, and the resulting performances are very half-baked, with none of the comedians able to dive into any particularly funny or challenging material. They're all still lightly amusing in different ways, but this movie really could've just been a series of YouTube videos to commemorate The Improv's 60th anniversary.

Genre: Comedy, Documentary

Actor: Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Bert Kreischer, Craig Robinson, Deon Cole, Fortune Feimster, Jeff Dunham, Jo Koy, Kevin Nealon, Mark Normand, Whitney Cummings

Director: Jeff Tomsic

Rating: R

The Perfect Find follows Jenna (Gabrielle Union), a fashion editor trying to make a comeback after a public breakup and a high-profile firing. She lands a job at a new fashion magazine, but this is complicated when she falls for her charming and much younger coworker, Eric (Keith Powers), who just so happens to be the son of her boss. Admittedly, the plot is as cliche as can be, with a few shenanigans, quirky best friends, and an ex or two popping up in the third act. But it's also easy to fall for, especially with Union as the charismatic lead. The jokes about her character and Eric's age gap land well most times, and many parts of the film are beautiful enough, most notably: the talent, the color grading, and the eye-catching New York landscape. 

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Aisha Hinds, D.B. Woodside, Gabrielle Union, Gina Torres, Godfrey, Janet Hubert, Keith Powers, La La Anthony, Leigh Davenport, Numa Perrier, Remy Ma, Shayna McHayle, Sterling 'Steelo' Brim, Ts Madison, Winnie Harlow, Yrsa Daley-Ward

Director: Numa Perrier

Rating: R

Seemingly engineered in a lab to appeal strictly to romantic comedy enthusiasts who are familiar with every trope, Make Me Believe is charming and enjoyable in the moment, but ultimately does little with its ingredients. The things that it gets right are pretty foolproof: beautiful Turkish locales, steamy PG-rated romance, and a good dose of humor from supporting characters who can see the spark of love even before the couple does. Unfortunately this is all window dressing for a story built on flimsy foundations. The protagonist's assignment to book an interview doesn't actually carry that much weight, which makes the risk of pursuing and/or seemingly betraying her childhood neighbor feel inconsequential. And when these two characters inevitably meet in the middle, their connection is unconvincing, draining the excitement out of everything that follows.

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Ayça Ayşin Turan, Çağrı Çıtanak, Ekin Koç, Naz Çağla Irmak, Yıldız Kültür, Zerrin Sümer

Director: Evren Karabıyık Günaydın, Murat Saraçoğlu

Rating: R

Set in the capital of Peru, How to Deal with a Heartbreak is a follow-up to the mildly successful romantic comedy How to Get Over a Breakup. The titles are pretty self-explanatory, but where the first film is strictly about romance, the sequel experiments with more tender themes like family and friendship. It features everyday characters meant to seem relatable and endearing, but halfway through watching, one can’t help but wonder why any of this matters. The stakes are so low and the premise so ordinary, it feels like a huge effort to simply care about the movie. Some rom-coms are saved by a funny script or a charming cast, but this has none of that. The most rousing part of the film is when one character (I won’t divulge who) dies, and so Maria Fe is forced to grapple with the heaviness of death. It’s the one moment in the movie that feels real, but sadly it’s tossed aside to make way for more generic fare.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Ana María Orozco, Carlos Carlín, Christopher Von Uckermann, Gisela Ponce de León, Jason Day, Jely Reategui, Karina Jordán, Norma Martínez, Salvador del Solar

Director: Joanna Lombardi

Rating: R