May will be a big month for Netflix, with the release of the highly-anticipated new seasons of Stranger Things and Love, Death + Robots. However, on the film front, things will be slower this month. That doesn’t mean we don’t have some exciting releases to watch, especially since Netflix keeps expanding its international productions. A quieter month also means we’ll have time to move on our backlog because, let’s be honest, most of us didn’t even catch all the major films of April. Even so, if you're looking for something fresh to stream, we’ve selected the seven best new original movies on Netflix in May 2022. So let’s get to it!
Marmaduke
Directors: Mark A.Z. Dippé, Matt Philip Whelan, Youngki Lee
Writer: Byron Kavanagh
Cast: Pete Davidson, J.K. Simmons, David Koechner, Jason Anthony, Shelby Young, Stephen Stanton.
When it’s available: May 6
Inspired by the iconic comic strip of the same name by Brad Anderson, Marmaduke is the new take on the adventures of the titular dog, this time voiced by Saturday Night Life star Pete Davidson. The Netflix CGI feature about the Great Dane will lead Marmaduke into an original adventure as the dog becomes an international celebrity after destroying the family’s barbecue party. While most people on the internet just want to laugh about the clumsy pet, Marmaduke’s viral video attracts the attention of a world-renowned dog whisperer who decides to train Marmaduke and turn him into an elite competitor. Of course, that will lead to much physical comedy as the good boy unwillingly destroys everything around him. Marmaduke is the perfect Netflix May addition for whole families to enjoy together or for those looking for a healthy dose of feel-good stories.
Along for the Ride
Director: Sofia Alvarez
Writer: Sofia Alvarez
Cast: Emma Pasarow, Belmont Cameli, Kate Bosworth, Dermot Mulroney, Andie MacDowell, Laura Kaiuki, Marcus Scribner, Genevieve Hannelius, Samia Finnerty, Ricardo Hurtado, Paul Karmiyran
When it’s available: May 6
To All the Boys I've Loved Before screenwriter Sofia Alvarez is back to helm another teen romance novel adaptation, Along for the Ride, by Sarah Dessen. The film follows two insomniac teens who meet each other in the middle of the night and fall in love with one another. The film adaptation stars Emma Pasarow as Auden, a girl who enjoys riding her bike all night long while avoiding everyone else. Auden is trying to enjoy her last summer before college in the picturesque Colby Beach when she meets Eli (Belmont Cameli), a mysterious young man who’ll challenge the girl’s will to stay away from other people. Auden and Eli will band together to live their best lives in the nights of Colby Beach, with the bittersweet certainty that the girl is soon leaving for college. So get your tissues ready, this one might be a tearjerker.
The Takedown
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Stéphane Kazadjian
Cast: Omar Sy, Laurent Lafitte, Izïa Higelin, Jean-Louis Tilburg, Dimitri Storoge
When it’s available: May 6
The Takedown (Loin du périph) is an upcoming buddy cop comedy featuring Lupin star Omar Sy, one of the most beloved French actors. Also starring Laurent Lafitte, The Takedown is a direct sequel to 2012’s On the Other Side of the Tracks (De l'autre côté du périph), in which the duo plays two cops from very distinctive backgrounds who must overcome their differences to solve a big crime. In The Takedown, the two cops must band together once again, this time to dismantle a drug ring that involves some dangerous people. The duo’s new mission will take them all across France, as they get involved in all sorts of problems caused by their conflicting personalities. It’s a classic setup for good jokes, but the film also amps up the action, with many set pieces devoted to making the audience’s adrenaline rise.
Operation Mincemeat
Director: John Madden
Writer: Michelle Ashford
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn, Rufus Wright, Charlotte Hamblin, and Mark Gatiss
When it’s available: May 11
Tarantino, watch out; reality might be crazier than fiction. Adapted from Ben McIntyre’s book Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory, the upcoming Netflix original film of the same name explores one of the most bizarre true-story events of World War II. In 1943, the Allies planned an attack on Sicily that could help free Europe from Hitler’s grasp. However, they needed to devise a diversion to prevent their troops from being massacred. So, they come up with a plan to plant fake documents on a dead body to distract the Nazis. The film will tell how Great Britain’s intelligence service grabbed a corpse and created a whole phony life for it before throwing it into the sea to simulate an accident. The most impressive part is that this wacky idea actually worked! Operation Mincemeat promises to offer a fun story set in one of the darkest periods in human history, enough to entice our curiosity.
Our Father
Director: Lucie Jourdan
When it’s available: May 11
While documentaries are not everyone’s cup of tea, Our Father explores a true crime so revolting that it might catch your attention. Directed by Lucie Jourdan, the documentary reveals all the sordid details of the scandal surrounding Dr. Donald Cline. This fertility specialist inseminated dozens of women with his own semen without them ever knowing about it. Cline’s blood-boiling crimes came to the surface once people started to do DNA tests to discover more about their ancestry, only to find out they had many lost siblings across the country. Cline is being prosecuted for his crimes, but his revolting actions caused irreparable pain to the families who were victims of the doctor’s atrocities. You need to have a solid nerve to catch Our Father this month, but the documentary is undoubtedly one of the best new movies coming to Netflix in May 2022.
Senior Year
Director: Alex Hardcastle
Writers: Andrew Knauer, Brandon Scott Jones, Arthur Pielli
Cast: Rebel Wilson, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Justin Hartley, Chris Parnell, Angourie Rice, Michael Cimino, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Avantika, Alicia Silverstone.
When it’s available: May 13
To many of our despair, they are starting to make nostalgic comedies about the early 2000s, which is apparently far enough in history for us to laugh about its trends. In Senior Year, Rebel Wilson plays a cheerleader that slips into a twenty-year coma after falling from a pyramid. Once she wakes up, the cheerleader decides to go back to high school and live what should have been her golden years. However, there’s a clear generational gap between Wilson and the other students, as she is a 17-year-old teenager trapped in an adult's body. Senior Year will make fun of the Harry Potter fever and Lady Gaga being a Madonna copycat. So, if you want to feel old, that’s the right comedy for you! At the least, the film will also show how some things never change, because even though cellphones highly improved in twenty years, teenagers are still trying to pretend to be way cooler than they are.
A Perfect Pairing
Director: Stuart McDonald
Writers: Elizabeth Hackett, Hilary Galanoy
Cast: Victoria Justice, Adam Demos
When it’s available: May 19
Did you ever feel the urge to pour a glass of wine and watch a good romantic comedy? What about a rom-com set in the middle of the wine business? Well, Netflix has got your back! A Perfect Pairing stars singer and actress Victoria Justice as a woman who quits a dream job to open her own business. However, to be successful in her project, she needs to snatch a big client right away, which will lead her to Australia. On the other side of the globe, the executive needs to charm a wine-producing family, but ends up charmed herself by a rugged local played by Adam Demos – I mean, who wouldn’t? Besides exploring the unexpected love between people from very different words, A Perfect Pairing also promises to be a gastronomic film experience filled with fantastic dishes, so I hope you are hungry for one of the best new films on Netflix this May.