The best ’90s movies on Prime Video

The ’90s are back, baby, and we don’t just mean biker shorts, middle parts, and platform shoes! ’90s movies are the perfect dose of nostalgia for a time when you were too young to notice the rampant injustices of the world around you. Sorry! You grew up! 

Though some ’90s movies have been robbed of their rose-colored sheen by modern revelations about their cast or creators, many still hit just right. They were made in a time when all movies were meant to be seen in a theater — when budgets were big and the explosions were even bigger. In no particular order, here are the best ’90s movies available via Prime Video for your next movie night.

26. Fever Pitch

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This British rom-com has a disappointingly low American profile, likely because we went and remade it with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore as Red Sox fans. The original Fever Pitch, itself based on a Nick Hornby book, stars Colin Firth (!!!) as a schoolteacher whose love for his soccer team, Arsenal, gets in the way of his budding romance with Ruth Gemmell. Guys and their sports, huh? If the tagline doesn’t thrill you (“Life gets complicated when you love one woman and 11 men”), then the kick of watching Mr. Darcy become a likable slob definitely will!*

How to watch: Fever Pitch is streaming on Prime Video.

25. Rounders

When Mike McDermott loses $30,000 at a high stakes poker game, he promises his girlfriend he’ll stop the gambling for good. But when his old childhood friend, Worm, starts joining games on Mike’s credit and losing, Mike gets drawn back into the high stakes world he’s been trying to escape. 

1998’s Rounders is a fun sports flick about poker; the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat on full display. Matt Damon is young and charming as the well-intentioned Mike, Edward Norton is appropriately shifty as the hustling Worm, and John Malkovich is indulgently, preposterously, delightfully campy as a temperamental Russian mobster. 

How to watch: Rounders is streaming on Prime Video.

24. FernGully: The Last Rainforest

That’s right, the movie that traumatized ’80s and ’90s kids is still around to traumatize the next generation! Crysta and her friends are fairies that care for and protect their rainforest. When she discovers humans are cutting down their trees, she accidentally shrinks one of them (the hottest one), Zak, to fairy size. As Zak learns more about the fairies, his appreciation for the forest grows, as does his determination to stop human encroachment. If that plot sounds familiar, it’s because FernGully: The Last Rainforest is more or less the ’90s animated version of Avatar, but with kicky mullets, throwback slang (bodacious babe!), and Robin Williams as a rapping bat. 

How to watch: FernGully: The Last Rainforest is streaming on Prime Video.

23. Armageddon

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Very few movies can encapsulate the rampant American exceptionalism of the ’90s like Armageddon. With a meteor barreling toward earth, the only people with the skills to save the human race are a group of blue-collar, American off-shore oil drillers led by a rugged and curmudgeonly Bruce Willis. With minimal training and the eyes of the world upon them, they’re blasted into space to drill a nuclear bomb into the meteor’s core. Of course, not everything goes to plan. 

Ben Affleck is at his dreamiest as a young oil driller, hopelessly in love with Willis’ daughter, one of Liv Tyler’s most iconic roles. Packed with American flags, a star-studded cast, tons of explosions, and a bunch of wives sitting at home while their husbands become heroes, Armageddon is a classic Hollywood blockbuster. It’s a nostalgic, fun piece of action-packed fluff, and somehow, it’s an Academy–Award nominee! Don’t forget: Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want a Miss a Thing” was in the running for Best Original Song.

How to watch: Armageddon is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

22. Empire Records

Liv Tyler, Rory Cochrane, Ethan Embry, Robin Tunney, Renee Zellweger are young employees of a failing independent record shop that band together to try and save the store. We’ve got teenage drama, nostalgic music, ’90s fashion, and Rex Manning Day — Empire Records has it all! It’s a quintessential hangout comedy that embodies the spirit of early ’90s and launched the careers of some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Critics hated it; teens loved it — and if that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is!

How to watch: Empire Records is streaming on Prime Video.

21. GoldenEye

In this installment, Bond is sent by M (Judi Dench) to St. Petersburg to investigate an electromagnetic weapon, but he soon discovers a spider web woven frighteningly close to home. Pierce Brosnan’s first turn as James Bond was his best and a necessary breath of fresh air for a franchise that had been stalling in its Timothy Dalton years. GoldenEye boasts all the Bond hallmarks: plot twists, explosions, sadistic villains, beautiful Bond girls (Izabella Scorupco), cool gadgets, sexy cars, and Bond’s own smooth, unflappable flair, which Brosnan exudes in spades. 

How to watch: GoldenEye is streaming on Prime Video.

20. She’s All That

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A romantic comedy hall-of-famer, 1999’s She’s All That gives us one of the most iconic and absurd examples of nerdy-girl-isn’t-hot-until-you-take-her-glasses-off movie magic. Freddie Prinze Jr. is lovably smug as the high school top dawg who bets his bros he can turn any girl into the prom queen in six weeks, even social outcast Laney Boggs. That’s right, it’s a 1990s Pygmalion/My Fair Lady — and you already know how it ends! 

This is a teen comedy that retains some of its edge; the teens were still allowed to be mean to each other in the ’90s. Rachael Leigh Cook became a household name as the artsy high school misfit who was obviously cute long before she got contacts. Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Kieran Culkin, Anna Paquin, Gabrielle Union, and more help cement She’s All That in the hallowed halls of rom-com history, and its soundtrack is a full-fledged nostalgia bomb. It’s time for a rewatch.*

How to watch: She’s All That is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

19. Cruel Intentions

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a 1782 French novel where two bored aristocrats, skilled in social politics and manipulation, bet that if Vicomte de Valmont can seduce a virtuous newcomer, then the Marquise de Merteuil will sleep with him. Cruel Intentions takes this story and plops it in a world as gossipy, hierarchical, and sexy as an 18th-century French court — a NYC private high school. 

Ryan Phillippe is the charmer looking for a challenge, Sarah Michelle Gellar the queen bee who dangles her sexuality over him like a carrot, and Reese Witherspoon the prudish fresh face caught in their little game. But as Phillippe’s Sebastian dedicates himself more and more to his seduction, he begins to wonder if he’s still playing a part… or does he actually have feelings for his mark? Gleefully dark and comically corrupt, Cruel Intentions is a superbly entertaining teen drama that holds up enough to have inspired a 2024 series, also on Prime.

How to watch: Cruel Intentions is streaming on Prime Video.

18. Total Recall

Based on a Philip K. Dick short story (like most of the best science fiction movies!),Total Recall is a mind-bending cyberpunk exploration of the relationship between memory and the self. In 2084, Earthman Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) begins having dreams about Mars, currently under the control of an oppressive regime. Looking to learn more about his visions, he visits Rekall, a company that embeds fake memories on demand. Directed by Paul Verhoeven (who also directed RoboCop, Starship Troopers, and… Showgirls?), Total Recall is a gritty, action-packed, dystopian blockbuster. It’s got its fair share of ’90s machismo, but many controversial elements at its time — like a three-breasted prostitute — have become iconic with age. 

How to watch: Total Recall is streaming on Prime Video.

17. Forrest Gump

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Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth, Forrest Gump is a family-friendly comedy-drama about a big-hearted but slow-witted man who finds himself directly involved in some of the major historical events of the last half of the 20th century. Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his earnest portrayal of Forrest, and the film won five more Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. (Plus it launched a popular casual seafood chain!) The cast here is unmissable, with Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field each shining in their respective roles. Charming, nostalgic, and sweet, Forrest Gump overcomes its sentimentality with its abundant good-heartedness. 

How to watch: Forrest Gump is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

16. The Joy Luck Club

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Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, The Joy Luck Club should be required viewing for anyone with a mother. In San Francisco, four women, all Chinese immigrants, form a mahjong group. Over the course of the film, each woman shares her story, from their lives in China to the modern struggles they are each having with their American-born daughters. The Joy Luck Club is a lovely, moving film about the generational divide, self-respect, and most crucially, mother-daughter relationships. It’s full of heart, the kind of movie that requires a box of tissues but leaves you feeling warm and renewed.

How to watch: The Joy Luck Club is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

15. True Romance

Elvis-superfan Clarence (Christian Slater) and former call girl Alabama (Patricia Arquette) fall in love, get married…. and then murder her former pimp, steal his cocaine stash, and head to California. Unfortunately for the lovebirds, there are a few people with a financial interest in their suitcase of drugs, and they’re not going to stop until they recoup their money. 

Directed by Tony Scott and written by Hollywood newcomer Quentin Tarantino (!!!!), 1993’s True Romance is a dynamic, unpredictable ride. For a large portion of the film, Alabama and Clarence seem to think they’re in a romance flick — while everyone else around them is in a pulpy, violent thriller. It’s a darkly comic look at the destructive power of two idiots falling in love. Being a Tarantino film, True Romance does not shy from using the n-word, but it also has a sinister James Gandolfini, a stoned Brad Pitt, and an absolutely unhinged, and possibly offensive, Gary Oldman. 

How to watch: True Romance is streaming on Prime Video.

14. Titanic

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Kate Winslet is Rose, a young, upper-class Brit aboard the RMS Titanic, who soon finds herself in a whirlwind romance with the handsome, charming, and penniless Jack — Leonardo DiCaprio’s star-making role. Their class difference isn’t the only obstacle their love faces, as Rose’s wealthy fiancé Cal (Billy Zane) is also on the ship. And the ship is about to run into an enormous iceberg and become the world’s most famous maritime catastrophe. 

James Cameron’s Titanic is an epic in every sense of the word. The love story is melodramatic and all-encompassing, made even more urgent by the impending doom we know is waiting for the lovers. When the action hits, it is visceral, harrowing, and breathtaking: an incomprehensible disaster seen through the eyes of its human victims. There’s also a whole bit about Rose in the present as an old woman and the team trying to find the ships’ wreckage. But no one really remembers that part. 

How to watch: Titanic is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

13. The Talented Mr. Ripley

The Talented Mr. Ripley walked so Saltburn could run. This iconic psychological thriller features a young Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, a poor New Yorker who finds himself in the entourage of the rich and impossibly charismatic Dickie as he lounges and carouses his way across 1950s Europe. But is it luck that brought Tom into Dickie’s orbit, or something more sinister? 

Jude Law is at his Jude-est Law-iest as Dickie, exuding the effortless grace of a young, handsome aristocrat who can’t help but charm everyone meets. Gwyneth Paltrow glows as Dickie’s girlfriend, Marge, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is pitch-perfect as another of Dickie’s rich friends, who mistrusts Tom from the get-go. Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel and directed by Anthony Minghella, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a suspenseful, captivating classic.* 

(If you can’t get enough of this psychosexual story, don’t miss Netflix’s excellent 2024 series, Ripley, starring Andrew Scott.)

How to watch: The Talented Mr. Ripley is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

12. The Long Walk Home

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Whoopi Goldberg is Odessa Cotter, a maid for Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), in Montgomery, Alabama, during the 1955 Montgomery bus boycotts. Unwilling to take a bus, Odessa must endure long walks to and from the Thompson home. Against the wishes of her husband and her neighbors, Miriam offers Odessa a ride a few days a week to ease her burden. If made today, the film would certainly have not opted for a white narrator to tell the story of these two well-developed women from different communities, but nonetheless, The Long Walk Home remains a complex and powerful exploration of injustice.

How to watch: The Long Walk Home is streaming on Prime Video.

11. October Sky

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Based on a true story, October Sky is a touching drama about a West Virginian coal miners’ son (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is developing an interest in aerospace engineering. Alongside his friends and against the wishes of his father (Chris Cooper), he tests homemade rockets and teaches himself the necessary science to eventually become a NASA engineer. October Sky is a masterclass in inspirational, feel-good movie-making. It’s both sincere and emotionally complex, refusing to simplify its characters into archetypes. You’ll be left with a warm, fuzzy feeling, contemplating both your relationship with your father and how to go about building your own backyard rocket. Don’t miss Laura Dern as a truly wonderful high school science teacher!

How to watch: October Sky is streaming on Prime Video.

10. The Sixth Sense

Doesn’t matter if you’re old enough to have witnessed The Sixth Sense twist first-hand, you have definitely made an “I see dead people” joke. The endurance of this movie’s cultural relevance — no matter how you feel about M. Night Shyamalan today — is a testament to just how groundbreaking it was when it debuted in 1999. 

Bruce Willis is a child psychologist whose newest patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims to speak to the dead. The Sixth Sense is a breathlessly tense psychological thriller — some of us have had nightmares about Mischa Barton puking in a tent for the last 20 years — that’s as emotionally affecting as it is surprising. If somehow you haven’t seen this smart, sophisticated, and just plain excellent film, it’s time to right that wrong. 

How to watch: The Sixth Sense is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

9. Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino’s feature-length directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs, is violent, coarse, nonlinear, and irreverent. He’s known his brand since day one. Paying homage to multiple Hollywood classics like Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, 1992’s Reservoir Dogs is chaotic and energetic, celebrated as an independent hit thanks to an intelligent script and an idiosyncratic cast (Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, and more). Decades later, though Tarantino’s profile and production budgets have gotten significantly bigger, this first entry, full of pluck and passion, is still one of his best. 

When a diamond heist goes wrong, eight men try to determine who sold them out, using any means necessary to extract the truth. 

How to watch: Reservoir Dogs is streaming on Prime Video.

8. Galaxy Quest 

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Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell are the fictional crew of a cult TV sci-fi series, Galaxy Quest. Years after the show’s been off the air, they float from convention to convention, signing autographs and wishing their careers had gone in a different direction. Until one day, they’re kidnapped by aliens who saw their TV broadcast from across the galaxy and thought it was real! Uh oh! Now the aliens hope Tim Allen and crew can defend their planet against an invading force, while the hapless band of actors just hopes they can keep up the ruse long enough to find a way home. Galaxy Quest is a deeply silly movie that packs a sneaky emotional punch. An absolute winner, through and through.* 

How to watch: Galaxy Quest is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

7. Searching for Bobby Fischer

Seven-year-old chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin is a natural. He picked up the rules of the game by simply watching others (like Laurence Fishbourne) play in Washington Square Park. But when his parents discover the depth of his talent, everything changes for Josh. Now he has a methodical chess teacher (Ben Kingsley) who decries his brazen style; he’s in tournaments constantly; and his dad becomes hyperfixated on Josh’s success. That’s a lot for a seven-year-old to handle. Too much, in fact. 

Another winning entry in the grand Hollywood tradition of riveting chess dramas, 1993’s Searching for Bobby Fischer is the moving true story of chess whiz-kid Joshua Waitzkin. It’s also a sensitive, captivating study on achievement and the need for balance. If you liked The Queen’s Gambit, you’ll love Bobby Fischer. 

How to watch: Searching for Bobby Fischer is streaming on Prime Video.

6. Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run has a simple premise that translates into an impossibly gripping and entertaining action flick. Right out the gate, the movie starts at a 10: Lola has 20 minutes to find 100,000 bucks or her boyfriend will be killed. Fueled by an infectious, relentless electronic score, Lola runs through the streets of Germany to try to make her deadline — and we’re with her every breathless step along the way. 

Written and directed by Tom Tykwer, Run Lola Run is an electrifying watch, with surprising moments of humanity and surrealism. Don’t let the subtitles stop you — this is one of those gems that reminds you why you love movies so dang much.

How to watch: Run Lola Run is streaming on Prime Video.

5. Fargo

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There aren’t many films out there popular enough to inspire a very popular-in-its-own-right TV show, but Fargo — with its snowy North Dakota setting and offbeat black comedy style — has managed it with aplomb. One of the most memorable roles in Hollywood history, heavily pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) attempts to untangle a messy murder and its links to some hired kidnappers, with things quickly spiraling in the amusingly chaotic way only Coen brothers’ movies can. Complimentary characters include a spineless William H. Macy as desperate-for-money car dealer Jerry Lundegaard, a chillingly dead-eyed Peter Stormare as hired kidnapper Gaear Grimsrud, and Steve Buscemi as his slimy partner in crime.* — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor

How to watch: Fargo is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

4. Clueless

Clueless, first of all, is iconic. Nearly 30 years have passed, but it’s still a cultural touchstone for today’s teens. Perhaps its staying power comes from its plot, directly lifted from the literal founder of the romantic comedy, Jane Austen. Like Austen’s Emma Woodhouse, Clueless’s Cher (Alicia Silverstone) acts as a matchmaker to everyone around her but can’t seem to get her own love life in order. The story alone does not fully capture the movie’s charm. Clueless is both hilarious and sweet, features unforgettable costumes, and most importantly, is filled to the brim with memorable, quotable lines. Cinema has never heard a more cutting insult than “You’re a virgin who can’t drive.”* 

How to watch: Clueless is streaming on Prime Video.

3. Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been such mainstay figures in Hollywood for decades now that it’s easy to forget how mythical and meteoric their entry into filmmaking was. But these two young, relatively unknown bros showed up in Hollywood with the script for Good Will Hunting and walked out with an Oscar and a lifetime on the A-list.

When an MIT professor (Stellan Skarsgård) puts a near-impossible math problem on his blackboard, he’s shocked to find that someone in the school has solved it… And that someone is the janitor, Will (Matt Damon). The professor helps Will, currently on parole, get permission from the court to study mathematics — provided he also receives therapy for his behavioral issues. 

Good Will Hunting is a captivating and heartfelt drama that has been parodied, copied, and referenced, but never repeated. Ben Affleck is perfect as Will’s rough best friend, and Robin Williams won an Academy Award for his performance as the empathetic, unconventional, and no-bullshit counselor who just might be the one to help Will break out of his pattern of self-destruction and make something of his life.* 

How to watch: Good Will Hunting is streaming on Prime Video.

2. Sense and Sensibility

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Directed by Ang Lee, 1995’s Sense and Sensibility is unquestionably one of the best cinematic Jane Austen adaptations to date. Emma Thompson is heavenly as the practical, thoughtful Elinor Dashwood, the “sense” to her changeable, emotional sister Marianne’s (Kate Winslet) “sensibility.” It’s a scenic, romantic, and simply lovely watch that is as poignant now as it was two decades ago (or two centuries ago!).

When their father dies, Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters move to a small cottage in Devonshire and must concern themselves with what all 18th and 19th century women without an inheritance must concern themselves with: an advantageous marriage. Elinor is consumed by caring for others and counseling Marianne, who is absolutely besotted with John Willoughby, a total rake!!!! Will Elinor successfully manage the family’s misfortunes? And will she even have time to consider love for herself?

How to watch: Sense and Sensibility is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

1. L.A. Confidential

A fantastically stylized, neo-noir crime thriller, L.A. Confidential is an intricate web of whodunnits and double-crosses set in a sultry, seedy 1950s Los Angeles. Everyone here is operating at the top of their ability: the cast is excellent (Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn, and more); the script is airtight, intelligent, and meticulously plotted; and the cinematography brings color to a moody, noir atmosphere. Even the audience is doing good work here — you’ve got to pay attention to reap the rewards of this spectacular drama that would have swept the 1997 Academy Awards had it not been competing against Titanic. 

Adapted from a James Ellroy novel, L.A. Confidential follows three different cops working to rehabilitate the LAPD’s image after a series of scandals. But in rooting out corruption, they’ll uncover a complex maze of lies, celebrity, sex, and murder that puts them deeper in danger the closer they get to the truth. 

How to watch: L.A. Confidential is streaming on Prime Video.

UPDATE: Dec. 27, 2024, 3:48 p.m. EST This article has been updated to include current streaming options.