Fourth of July weekend is all about food, family, and fun. It’s the perfect holiday to get outside and catch some vitamin D (while slathering on some SPF!). But it’s also important to put aside time for R & R so you can stay up for the fireworks and make the most of the rest of the summer.
Whether you’re looking to unwind in between the festivities or escape the many red, white, and blue Instagram captions on your feed, this list of streams will help you enjoy the holiday celebrations from the comfort of your home — you know, where there’s air conditioning. Here are 10 movies and series to watch if you’re wishing you were relaxing on a scenic beach, taking in that summer sun with your besties, or digging into some backyard barbecue.
Directed and co-written by Star Wars franchise creator George Lucas and produced by Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), this coming-of-age flick follows a group of teens during one wild evening in Modesto, California, in 1962. On the final night of summer vacation, best friends Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), Steve (Ron Howard), Terry (Charles Martin Smith), and John (Paul Le Mat) cruise the streets looking for love and one last adventure in their classic cars as a mysterious disc jockey spins rock tunes. Candy Clark (Blue Thunder) and Harrison Ford (Shrinking) also star.
This wacky Western, written and directed by the Coen brothers (The Big Lebowski), peers straight down the barrel of American frontier history via six vignettes. The star-studded stories all point out inconsistencies in Western lore — with a wink and a laugh. The titular vignette features Tim Blake Nelson (Monster) as a jolly, singing cowboy who inexplicably seems to win every scuffle he gets into. Elsewhere on the range, James Franco (11.22.63) portrays a bank-robbing outlaw; Tom Waits (The Dead Don’t Die) digs for gold; and Liam Neeson (The Ice Road) and Harry Melling (The Pale Blue Eye) recruit a chicken that does arithmetic.
Being the chosen grill master at the backyard function isn’t an easy task. There’s pressure to cook the perfect burger or the juiciest ribs and deliver the final results on time — all while melting under the sweltering sun. Luckily, the experts in Barbecue Showdown can provide some much-needed inspiration. In this friendly fray, eight of the country’s most elite backyard smokers and pitmasters face off to win the coveted title of American Barbecue Champion. Preparing everything from pork ribs to pulled alligator, these aspiring champs get saucy with their best dishes to try and knock out the competition.
It’s not called “America’s pastime” for nothin’. There are plenty of inspiring baseball stories out there, but this documentary follows the 1970s Portland Mavericks, a minor league team in Portland, Oregon, and its five-season stint in the short-season Class A Northwest League. The Mavericks were the league’s only independent club at the time, and owner Bing Russell famously refused corporate sponsorship and hired baseball’s first woman manager, Lanny Moss. The film is directed by Russell’s grandsons, Chapman and Maclain Way, and features interviews with former players — including Russell’s son, athlete-turned-actor Kurt Russell.
Looking to add some extra flair to your flame this holiday weekend? Barbecue savants working in Texas, South Carolina, Australia, and Mexico head up Chef’s Table: BBQ. This smoky spin-off of the beloved Chef’s Table docuseries profiles four pitmasters and live-fire chefs, highlighting their unique processes, techniques, and secrets to cooking the most mouth-watering cuisine in their regions. They include 85-year-old butcher and barbecue virtuoso Norma Frances “Tootsie” Tomanetz of Lexington, Texas, and Rosalia Chay Chuc, who’s keeping Mayan cooking traditions alive in Yaxunah, Mexico. Inspiring and delicious.
It’s not a real Family Reunion without some laughs, arguments, and misadventures. This five-season sitcom follows the McKellans as they travel from Seattle to small-town Georgia for a long-awaited family get-together. But after getting a taste of the simpler life, mom Cocoa (Tia Mowry) and dad Moz (Anthony Alabi) decide to upend their family and make the move from the big city. As generations and cultures clash, the youngest McKellans reconnect with their Southern roots through their grandparents’ many stories — while also creating new traditions of their own. Loretta Devine (Grey’s Anatomy) co-stars.
If there’s one thing Americans know, it’s how to deep-fry anything and make it delicious. With that in mind, you might want to add deep-fried chicken potpie or toasted ravioli to your Fourth of July picnic menu. Food critic Daym Drops hits the road to find America’s hotspots for all things fried in this docuseries. Along the way, Daym showcases how different local chefs get creative, elevating culinary favorites — from Oreos to beaver meat — with a little batter and a lot of oil. Keep your napkins close.
This rom-com is all about that bittersweet final summer before leaving home for college, and follows a group of recent high school graduates determined to make the most of it. Their stories run the gamut of teenage heartbreak and hope: a boy (KJ Apa) tries to muster up the courage to ask out his longtime crush (Maia Mitchell); a couple (Jacob Latimore and Halston Sage) break up in order to experience other relationships; and a working-class student (Sosie Bacon) takes a thankless job as a nanny after being wait-listed by her school of choice — just to name a few.
Sometimes, living in a coastal town on the Outer Banks of North Carolina isn’t all pristine beaches and idyllic sunsets. This four-season mystery drama — with a fifth and final on the way — follows a crew of teenage friends who live in a socially divided community that’s separated into the haves (the “Kooks”) and the have-nots (the “Pogues”). The group stumbles upon a treasure map that leads them to a long-buried secret while searching for their friend’s missing father. Chase Stokes (Uglies), Madelyn Cline (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Madison Bailey (Time Cut), and Jonathan Daviss (Do Revenge) star.
Hugh Jackman (The Sheep Detectives) and Kate Hudson (Running Point) lead this musical drama, based on the 2008 documentary of the same name, about Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder. Mike (Jackman) and Claire (Hudson) are two down-on-their-luck performers who band together after realizing their mutual love for the “Sweet Caroline” singer. They fall for each other and find unprecedented success — even opening for Pearl Jam — only for tragedy to strike. Hudson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in this film, written and directed by Craig Brewer (Dolemite Is My Name).
