Netflix’s Obliterated is getting obliterated by critics – watch these 4 action comedies instead
Netflix’s new action comedy isn’t getting great reviews. Check out these four fast and funny thrillers instead
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TheNetflixaction comedy seriesObliterated, about a special forces team who have to save Las Vegas while being completely intoxicated, isn’t getting great reviews since its debut on thebest streaming service.
WhileCollideris a rare positive voice, saying it’s a filthy and fun action comedy,The Guardiansays it’s so bad you’re hoping the bad guys nuke the heroes, giving it just one out of five stars. Meanwhile,Varietysays it’s “nearly unwatchable… no fun at all”.
The show’s too new to have Rotten Tomatoes ratings – it only debuted today – but clearly it’s not going to be a high scorer, which means it won’t likely make our list of thebest Netflix series. You might want to check out these four films instead.
The Nice Guys
I loved this film, and if you like Shane Black movies – of which this is one – then you’re going to love it too. Black is the writer of films includingLethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Last Boy ScoutandThe Last Action Hero.
The same blend of whip-smart wisecracking and excellent action is delivered with great gusto here by Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.Stuffsaid it “ticks every box for an R-rated good time”, whileMovieFreaksaid that “The Nice Guysis a major blast, Crowe and Gosling having the time of their lives bringing all this madcap, blood-splattered lunacy to life.”
Stream it on Netflix in the US and Australia, and Prime Video in the UK.
Midnight Run
Starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin this is the fast, funny, intense movie every odd-couple cop film wants to be. As the late, great Roger Ebertwroteon its original release, “whoever cast De Niro and Grodin must have had a sixth sense for the chemistry they would have; they work together so smoothly, and with such an evident sense of fun, that even their silences are intriguing.”
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The LA Timescalled it “murderous fun”, noting that while “it’s not a very original idea or a very inventive screenplay: one more buddy-buddy crime comedy, with a tightly suppressed homo-erotic undercurrent, loaded with car crashes, gunfights and exploding helicopters”. The acting elevates it: “There’s some soul behind the explosions, a heartbeat below the slick carnage.”
Stream it on Netflix in the US or rent it onYouTubein the UK and Australia.
They Cloned Tyrone
John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx are spectacular in this superbly smart, self-aware and very, very funny pulp caper: I love the YouTube comment that describes it as a Jordan Peele/Black Mirrormash-up.
It has a solid 100% audience rating on the tomato site and an infinite scroll of delighted critics who love its affectionate homage to the blaxploitation films of the 70s, its beautifully written script and the intelligence that’s never far beneath even the biggest laughs. See it, clone yourself and then watch it again twice.
Stream it on Netflix in the US, UK and Australia.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
You know you’ve got a winner when even the synopsis is funny. Unremarkable garage rock bassist Scott has an unusual problem: his girlfriend’s army of seven evil ex-boyfriends all want to kill him. It’s deeply silly, utterly loveable and completely hilarious, with Michael Cera perfectly cast as the titular hero and Mary Elizabeth Winstead delivering a fun performance as the woman whose exes can’t let her go.
“It’s fresh, funny, inventive and unique,” saidNewsday, while theLondon Evening Standardpraised it as “geek heaven, a mash-up of comic books, computer games, grunge rock and slacker drama”. AsTime Output it: “It could have been a noisy, flashy mess, but luckily it’s got heart, which makes it feel fun and unique, and more like a lo-fi, endearing mess instead.”
Stream it on Netflix in the US or rent it on YouTube in the UK and Australia.
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.
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