When I think of what America is, I think of these three things: hamburgers. apple pies and Tom Hanks movies.
While Netflix can’t deliver a juicy burger or a tasty slice of pie — well, not yet, anyway — the streamer has plenty of Tom Hanks pictures to stream over the 4th of July weekend.
Watch With Us recommends streaming two underrated films from the Oscar-winning actor’s filmography: the terrific biodrama A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and the sports comedy A League of Their Own.
If Hanks isn’t your thing, relax – we also suggest you watch Baby Mama, a light comedy featuring two legendary SNL cast members, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and Dax Shepard.
‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ (2019)
Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Lacey Terrell / © TriStar Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
Lloyd (Matthew Rhys) is a journalist in need of a serious reboot of his life. His messy personal life involves a deceased mother and an estranged father, with whom he comes to blows at a family event. His bad reputation carries over to his professional life, where he’s given an assignment he thinks is beneath him — to interview Fred Rogers (Hanks), the beloved host of the long-running PBS show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Lloyd thinks there’s nothing beneath Roger’s musty old cardigan, but as he spends more time with him, he realizes the TV icon is the real thing – a true blue hero who actually cares about people.
A movie where a journalist finds out how nice his subject is doesn’t sound too exciting, but the beauty of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is just how fascinating both of its lead characters turn out to be. Hanks doesn’t play Rogers as a square; instead, his TV host is a man who chooses to be good and genuinely wants to help others find their way. He does that with Lloyd, who just can’t seem to let go of all the anger he still feels for his father. His interactions with Rogers give him a father figure he can finally look up and a reason to put his traumatic past behind him for good.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is streaming on Netflix.
‘A League of Their Own’ (1992)
Sure, there’s no crying in baseball, but there’s plenty of laughter thanks to A League of Their Own. Penny Marshall’s winning, all-American comedy stars Geena Davis and Lori Petty as sisters Dottie and Kit, two farm girls who get recruited to join the Rockford Peaches, a professional baseball team for women. World War II depleted the male rosters of baseball’s leading teams, so females from across the country, like Dottie, taxi dancer Mae (Madonna) and club bouncer Doris (Rosie O’Donnell), are asked to play ball like the boys – only in skirts and makeup. They quickly show everyone that they’re just as good as their male counterparts, and they execute enough home runs and fastballs to make it to the World Series.
What happens at that World Series, and who they play against, I’ll leave it to you to discover, but what I can reveal is that this film is one of the best summer movies ever made. You don’t need to be a fan of baseball to enjoy Tom Hanks as the team’s perpetually drunk manager, Jimmy Duggan, or laugh at right fielder Evelyn’s (Bitty Schram) bratty son. This movie even pulls off a minor miracle – it makes Madonna funny and charismatic onscreen in a way she’s never been before or since. A League of Their Own is also a genuinely thrilling sports movie, with a climactic game so suspenseful, you’ll be white-knuckling it until the end.
A League of Their Own is streaming on Netflix.
‘Baby Mama’ (2008)
Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) is a successful 37-year-old single woman who can no longer ignore her biological clock. Unable to have children due to her T-shaped uterus, she opts to hire a surrogate, Angie Ostrowski (Amy Poehler), to conceive her child. The two women are complete opposites – Kate listens to NPR and wears cardigans, while Angie drinks milk from the carton and thinks Juicy Couture is haute couture. Yet despite their differences, the two women bond as Angie comes closer to giving birth to a child Kate now desperately wants.
Written and directed by Michael McCullers, Baby Mama isn’t as good as that other comedy starring SNL veterans, Bridesmaids. Still, any movie that pairs Fey and Poehler is worth watching, and they have an unbeatable chemistry that was later used to better effect in the 2015 film, Sisters. Steve Martin appears in a hilarious extended cameo as Barry, Kate’s extremely weird boss.
