15 Hidden Gems on Amazon’s Prime Video

After you binge popular hits such as ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ check out these rock-solid movies and TV shows

Thom Geier,

AARP

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Published August 03, 2023

emily blunt in a scene from the english phoebe waller bridge in fleabag and leslie odom junior in the film one night in miami

(Left to right) Emily Blunt in "The English," Phoebe Waller-Bridge in "Fleabag" and Leslie Odom Jr. in "One Night in Miami..."

Diego Lopez Calvin/Prime Video; Steve Schofield/Amazon Studios; Patti Perret/Amazon Studios

Amazon’s Prime Video boasts an impressive lineup of content, including megahits such as the Emmy darling The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which just racked up 14 nominations for its fifth and final season. But the service also streams a bunch of lesser-known sensations, from cult films such as Clue to overlooked adventure epics such as The Lost City of Z to undeservedly little-seen series, including Deadloch. Here are 15 buried treasures to add to your queue.

Catastrophe (2015-2019)

Sharon Horgan, 53, and Rob Delaney are a modern-day Hepburn and Tracy in this critically acclaimed U.K. rom-com series, which unfolds over four sprightly six-episode seasons. Delaney plays an American visiting London on business who has a steamy fling with a local teacher (Horgan) — and soon discovers she’s pregnant. Soon, these nearly middle-aged longtime singletons are trying to make a go of starting a family — and shaking off their ingrained bad relationship habits. Horgan and Delaney, who also created the show, have a sizzling chemistry marked by sharp wit and genuine affection.

Watch it: Catastrophe

Clue (1985)

Tim Curry, perhaps best known as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, plays the exposition-spouting butler in this hilarious cult classic based on the beloved board game. He presides over a creepy mansion where the cast of colorfully named guests/victims has assembled, including Martin Mull, 79, as Colonel Mustard; Michael McKean, 75, as Mr. Green; Christopher Lloyd, 84, as Professor Plum; and a scene-stealing Madeline Kahn as the easily flustered Mrs. White. The original film included three different endings — depending on what theater you attended — but the streaming version thankfully includes them all.

Watch it: Clue

Deadloch (2023-)

Imagine an Australian version of Fargo and you’ll get a sense of this comedic noir series. A pair of mismatched female detectives team up to crack a murder case in a sleepy seaside town that boasts a tongue-eating seal, yachts set ablaze and ceramic koalas for leaving anonymous tips. This is one of the best new shows of the year, with a feminist streak and a sharp intelligence that upends expectations at every turn of its deliciously twisty plot.

Watch it: Deadloch

The English (2022-)

An aristocratic Englishwoman (Emily Blunt) comes to 1890s America to avenge the death of her son and teams up with a Pawnee scout who’s heading west to claim a plot of land promised for his services as a U.S. cavalryman. This revisionist Western, whose first season unspools over six episodes, draws on classics of the genre such as The Searchers and Once Upon a Time in the West — as well as the decidedly blood-soaked work of Sam Peckinpah. But it has a clear-eyed approach to history, and the legacy of race and misogyny, that feel especially of this moment.

Watch it: The English

Fleabag (2016-19)

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who just made a splash in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, made her name as the creator and star of this Emmy-winning comedy series — which follows a dry-witted, straight-talking, sex-positive antiheroine living the decidedly messy life of a 20-something Londoner. Over the course of two hilarious six-episode seasons, we follow the ups and downs of this unnamed woman — as well as the equally unsettled people in her circle, from her insufferable godmother-turned-stepmom (Olivia Colman) to the potty-mouthed Catholic “hot priest” (Andrew Scott) who’s tempted to chuck his vocation for her.

Watch it: Fleabag

The Imposter (2012)

Truth really can be stranger than fiction. Take the case of Nicholas Barclay, a blond, blue-eyed 13-year-old who disappeared from his San Antonio home in 1994. A little more than two years later, authorities find a young man in Spain claiming to be Nicholas — even though he has brown eyes and speaks with a French accent. Incredibly, the Barclays embrace him as their lost child — until doubts begin to surface in this gripping, can-you-believe-it documentary.

Watch it: The Imposter

The Lost City of Z (2016)

Director James Gray’s historical adventure film is a throwback in the best sense, recounting the true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) and his early-20th-century exploration of the Amazon. There’s a kind of colonial hubris to Fawcett’s project, on which he’s joined by a mumbly Robert Pattinson and eventually by Spider-Man star Tom Holland as Fawcett’s son, all too eager to connect with his long-absent father. The film has the epic sweep and white-knuckle action of David Lean but casts a skeptical eye on the toll that Fawcett’s expedition takes on everyone in his orbit.

Watch it: The Lost City of Z

Love & Friendship (2016)

Whit Stillman, 71, who broke out in the 1990s with well-observed indies such as Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco, about sophisticated preppies, is a perfect match for this adaptation of an early novella by Jane Austen — herself no slouch in describing the humorous foibles of the landed gentry (in her case, late-18th-century England). Kate Beckinsale chews the beautifully well-appointed period scenery as an unrepentantly promiscuous widow who schemes to land a deep-pocketed new husband.

Watch it: Love & Friendship

Lucy and Desi (2022)

Forget Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, that biopic about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz starring a wildly miscast Nicole Kidman (along with Javier Bardem). This documentary, directed by SNL and Parks and Recreation alum Amy Poehler, offers a more thorough and fact-based examination of one of Hollywood’s most unlikely power couples.

Watch it: Lucy and Desi

The Man in the High Castle (2015-2019)

What if the Axis powers won World War II and the U.S. was divided into a Nazi-run East, a Japanese-led West and a neutral zone around the Rockies in the middle? Over four thought-provoking seasons, this dystopian series (based on a Philip K. Dick novel) explores an alternate history of the 20th century, including the idea of competing timelines where the Allies win or American rebels eventually overcome the forces of tyranny.

Watch it: The Man in the High Castle

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Call it a fairy tale for romantic strivers of a certain age. Lesley Manville, 67, is utterly delightful as a widowed cleaning woman in 1950s London who’s long daydreamed of owning a Dior dress like those of her well-heeled boss. When she suddenly inherits a tidy sum from her late husband’s military pension, she heads to Paris to pursue her couture dream. Spurned by a Dior’s snooty operations director (Isabelle Huppert), she deploys her forthright, working-class charms on everyone she meets.

Watch it: Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

One Night in Miami ... (2020)

Oscar-winning actress Regina King, 52, made a striking directorial debut with this historical drama, a fictionalized account of a real 1964 meeting in a Florida hotel room between an unlikely group of historic figures: Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, football star Jim Brown and singer Sam Cooke. This is a thoughtful film alive with ideas and the clash of ideologies and personalities. Kingsley Ben-Adir (as Malcolm) and Leslie Odom Jr. (as Cooke) particularly shine in a heated exchange about how far Black artists should go to court white audiences.

Watch it: One Night in Miami ...

Small Axe (2020)

12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen’s five-part miniseries is more like a set of mini-movies depicting the lives of West Indian immigrants in London from the 1960s through the 1980s. In “Red, White and Blue,” a riveting John Boyega joins the Metropolitan Police in the early ’80s despite the objections of his Jamaican British community (including his own father) and discovers just how difficult it is to effect change from within. The sensuous “Lovers Rock” unfolds like a soft-focus love story set to a reggae beat, in which the threats of assault and racism are held at bay so sparks of romance can ignite.

Watch it: Small Axe

The Vast of Night (2019)

Andrew Patterson’s debut feature is low-budget sci-fi that has the look and feel of an instant classic. A teenage DJ and a switchboard operator in 1950s New Mexico stumble on a strange audio frequency that may be extraterrestrial in origin. The action unfolds in real time, with long takes and clever cinematography that clearly owes a debt to Steven Spielberg. And the performances, particularly the playful banter between the two heroes, recalls ’40s screwball comedies.

Watch it: The Vast of Night

A Very English Scandal (2018)

Hugh Grant, 62, and Ben Whishaw are captivating polar opposites in this zippy three-part miniseries based on a true story: Grant is a posh British politician with a savage streak, while Whishaw is a fidgety stable boy whose secret affair with Grant’s very-married man threatens to undo his rise as leader of the Liberal Party. Both actors manage to make their characters both flawed and sympathetic, no mean feat considering that Jeremy Thorpe (the politician Grant plays) was accused of taking out a hit on his ex-lover.

Watch it: A Very English Scandal

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Thom Geier is an AARP contributor and the award-winning former executive editor of TheWrap, senior editor at Entertainment Weekly, film reporter at The Hollywood Reporter and associate editor at U.S. News & World Report.