The six best movies this year has seen in its first three months—featuring Bridget Jones, a pair of sexy spies, and a few international standouts.
What are the best movies of 2025? Well, this year in film has gotten off to a rocky start, with some bad IP stinking up multiplexes and smaller genre movies turning out to be disappointing. But there have been at least a few diamonds in the rough. These are the best movies of 2025 (so far), a variety of films worth seeking out as we head toward the mega popcorn season of summer.
Black Bag
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Notable cast members: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Tom Burke, Marisa Abela
Synopsis: British spy George Woodhouse must identify the source of a devastating leak—and the answer may be his own wife.
Another of Steven Soderbergh’s cool, propulsive genre exercises, Black Bag imagines a marriage between spies—Michael Fassbender’s human lie detector and Cate Blanchett’s steely field operative—tested by a hint of mistrust. The film becomes a kind of dinner party whodunit involving the couple’s petty, bickering, perhaps lethal colleagues. They’re played by a hip ensemble of actors: Furiosa’s Tom Burke, Industry’s Marisa Abela, Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page, and the always wonderful Naomie Harris. Though it’s an espionage movie that’s more about talk than action, Black Bag is nonetheless an exciting, suspenseful reminder that smart grown-up entertainment is still possible. Now go and watch it so the powers that be will be convinced to make more.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Director: Michael Morris
Notable cast members: Renée Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Hugh Grant
Synopsis: After the death of her beloved Mark Darcy, Bridget Jones must muddle through middle age, motherhood, and new romance.
Arriving nearly nine years after the clumsy, neurotic Brit’s last outing—and almost a quarter century after her first—Mad About the Boy could easily have been a depressing and wholly unnecessary sequel that sullied a once beloved character. But in the hands of director Michael Morris, the film is instead a wistful, warmly amusing pleasure, dreamy with romantic possibility while a bit sad about all that’s irretrievable in the past. Renée Zellweger is winsome as ever as the diarist turned TV producer turned widowed stay-at-home mum. Yes, I did say widowed. Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy—the great love of Bridget’s life—has died, which the film does not merely present as a convenient way to explain Firth’s absence from the film. It is a foundational thematic element of Mad About the Boy, intertwined with Bridget’s nervous reentry into the dating world. She’s got a pair of charming men to greet her, at least: Chiwetel Ejiofor as a prim science teacher at the Darcy kids’ school and soulful hunk Leo Woodall as, well, a soulful hunk. It’s cozy and shimmering, a spirited hug of a movie that is easily the franchise’s best since the original.
Misericordia
Director: Alain Guiraudie
Notable cast members: Féliz Kysyl, Catherine Frot, Jean-Baptiste Durand, Jacques Develay
Synopsis: Violence and deception grip a village in France.
I’m almost reluctant to recommend this one, as it’s such a strange, withholding, and occasionally frustrating little oddity. But French provocateur Alain Guiraudie’s minimalist thriller lingered with me for days after I watched it—which must mean something. Guiraudie brings the audience into a faded, desolate village in rural France. Its few residents are plagued by loneliness and jealousy, all of which comes burbling to the surface when a son of the town returns for a funeral after many years away. A curious queerness runs through Misericordia, which poses more questions than it ultimately answers. That elusiveness can be a bit grating, but there is also something gripping, alarming, and darkly funny about the way the film murmurs with secrets and hidden meaning. It’s worth seeking out for yourself; maybe you can crack its code better than I was able to.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Director: Rungano Nyoni
Notable cast members: Susan Chardy, Elizageth Chisela, Henry B.J. Phiri
Synopsis: A woman discovers the body of her uncle, leading to the unspooling of several family secrets.
One of the knockout films at last year’s Cannes, Rungano Nyoni’s dazzling, inventive drama is a look at gender roles in contemporary Zambia. It’s also something of a ghost story, as well as a #MeToo story—and, like Misericordia, it’s an examination of the ripples made by a homecoming. Nyoni builds the film with meticulous craft, composing one arresting shot after another. Susan Chardy is mesmerizing in the lead role, playing a woman who guards her grief and anger behind a wall of placid dispassion. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a fascinating depiction of one culture’s mourning process and an emerging generational schism in countries like Zambia, between the oncoming rush of modernity and the demands of tradition.
One of Them Days
Director: Lawrence Lamont
Notable cast members: Keke Palmer, SZA, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Lil Rel Howery
Synopsis: Two best friends and roommates race to cobble together their rent in this antic comedy.
A lively throwback to 1990s high-concept comedies, Lawrence Lamont’s film sends a lively pair on a ticking-clock tear through South Central Los Angeles as they scramble to get their hands on some money to stave off eviction. Those two friends are played by the tireless fount of charisma that is Keke Palmer and the singer SZA, making an auspicious film debut. One of Them Days is broad and slapstick at times, more clever and shrewd at others. It’s a winning blend of styles, enlivened by a game array of supporting players, including Janelle James, Katt Williams, and breakout actor Aziza Scott, an adept physical performer who steals many of her scenes. One of Them Days is a lo-fi delight, and its box office success hopefully augurs that comedy may be creeping back into the multiplexes.
You’re Cordially Invited
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Notable cast members: Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, Geraldine Viswanathan, Meredith Hagner
Synopsis: Comic chaos ensues after a picturesque wedding venue is accidentally double booked.
Far better than streaming-service fodder, Nicholas Stoller’s amiable film finds much to laugh about in the most dreaded of wedding-planning fiascos: a double booking. Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon use their star power more effectively than either has in a long while, gracefully managing the film’s swings from absurdity to sentimentality. They’ve got great help from, among others, Celia Weston, Meredith Hagner, Jimmy Tatro, and Leanne Morgan. Bright and busy and almost approximating the high gloss of the rom-com’s golden age, You’re Cordially Invited is the perfect complement to a breezy Saturday night at home. But yes, it would have been more fun in theaters.
