New York, New York: It’s a wonderful town, haven’t you heard? New York City is currently home to more than 8 million people, so it makes sense that thousands of stories — real and imagined — come out of the Big Apple. It’s a city where anything can (and often does) happen, making it an inviting backdrop for filmmakers over the decades.
Whether you’re dreaming of the city’s bright lights or grew up riding the subway, there’s a New York movie for you. Here are 12 to start spreading the news about.
There’s a lot of New York City to see in this epic animated film, where multiverses abound — which means multiple Spider-Men, multiple Earths, and multiple Brooklyns. In this second installment in the Spider-Verse saga, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) reunites with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) in his Brooklyn — making his way around the city on the subway, in a cab, and by web-slinging his way around skyscrapers. It’s all fun and games until Miles is launched across the Spider-Verse, where he meets hundreds of other Spider-People who make up an elite society of superheroes from other versions of New York City — but they can’t seem to agree on how to handle their latest villain. The film boasts vibrant animation and a wildly creative premise, plus there’s plenty of Spider-Action to go around.
This sports drama, shot entirely on an iPhone 8, follows sports agent Ray Burke (André Holland) as he concocts a plan to use his new rookie client, Erick Scott (Melvin Gregg) to end a lockout of NBA players by team owners. But over time, Scott, who is also the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick selected by the New York Knicks, becomes suspicious of Ray’s motives. Most of the action in this movie takes place in the corporate offices and boardrooms, and the high-end bars and restaurants in New York City, rather than on the basketball court. It’s a movie about the behind-the-scenes negotiations that affect people’s lives, and is often set against the city’s skyline where all the power moves take place.
In this rom-com, two long-distance best friends swap houses on opposite coasts, giving each a chance to see what the other’s life actually looks like. Debbie (Reese Witherspoon) and Peter (Ashton Kutcher) are total opposites. She craves routine with her son, and he thrives on change. She’s a single mother, and he’s a bachelor marketing executive. She lives in sunny, laidback Los Angeles, and he lives in the bustling and energetic New York City. When Debbie and Peter swap homes — and responsibilities — for a week, they both realize there might be more to life than what they thought. And while this may be a love story about two best friends, it’s also one about loving the city you live in.
Almost as common as trying to make it big in the city is struggling with the decision to leave it. Living in New York can be busy, expensive, difficult, demoralizing — and wonderful. Leaving the less picture-perfect parts of it behind also means leaving the good ones, like your best friends (and 24-hour bodegas, almost as important). Jenny (Gina Rodriguez) is a music journalist preparing to move to San Francisco for her dream job at Rolling Stone, but before she goes, she’s due for one last hurrah with her two besties (Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise). They take the day off work and have an adventure in a quest to get tickets to a concert, and to heal Jenny’s dual heartbreak — leaving the city, and getting dumped by her boyfriend. It’ll make you want to eat a slice of pizza and call your best friends to schedule a hang.
Lifelong New Yorkers are a unique type, and The Meyerowitz Stories captures one such family perfectly. The Meyerowitzes are all miserable and resentful in their own way, clinging to each other for support as much as they cling to their grudges. There’s patriarch Harold (Dustin Hoffman), married four times and critical of a world that he feels looks down on him and the sculptures he creates. His eldest son, Danny (Adam Sandler), is divorced and moves in with him, but never felt he was the favorite child. There’s also Matthew (Ben Stiller) — who’s fled New York for Los Angeles, and urges his father to sell his townhouse when he comes to visit — and Jean (Elizabeth Marvel), who feels like an afterthought next to her brothers. It’s an intimate family story that has sweetness in its relatability, and you’ll laugh so you don’t cringe as you recognize some behavior you’ve almost certainly seen around one holiday dinner table or another.
If there was ever a quintessential New York filmmaker, Spike Lee is it. She’s Gotta Have It, released in 1986, is his first feature-length release, and is so beloved that it was selected in 2019 to be preserved by the Library of Congress and the United States National Film Registry for its cultural significance. Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) can’t decide what kind of man she’d like to be with, so she’s with three very different men, refusing to settle down — and settle on — just one. The story follows her relationships with the trio, and the highs and lows that come about when they learn about each other. It’s a New York City classic, and an indicator of the prolific Lee’s work to come, and it’s still an enjoyable watch nearly 40 years after its release.
Sometimes, you can’t be entirely sure you belong somewhere until you go somewhere else and realize that you definitely don’t belong in that place. That’s where Jessica James (Jessica Williams), a struggling playwright, finds herself as she takes a weekend trip to Ohio for a family baby shower. Dating in New York City can be the absolute worst, but there’s something to be said for knowing you’ve put down your roots in the right place. Jessica’s story is one of compromises and decisions, and manages to be hilarious all at the same time. And it’s a delightful performance from Williams — who is, in her character’s words, “freaking dope.”
Being named to a 30-under-30 list seems great, until you realize, years later, that you’re not going to be getting any 40-under-40 honors, nor will you even be under 40 for that much longer. That’s where Radha (Radha Blank), a once-promising playwright frustrated with the barren landscape of her current career, finds herself. Approaching the big four-oh, she decides it’s time to pivot and reinvent herself as a rapper. The movie is an emotional look at compromise, aging, family, and art, and was named one of the National Board of Review’s Top 10 movies of 2020 when it was released. If you want to feel inspired to stand by your own values and pursue your goals, this is the movie for you.
Spot the ’90s NYC landmarks in this adaptation of the musical by the same name, starring Andrew Garfield in an Oscar-nominated performance. The story is a semi-autobiographical lens into the life and artistic struggles of composer Jonathan Larson, who would go on to write the hit musical Rent before his untimely death at the age of 36. Before that, though, he was grappling with turning (gasp!) 30, his ambitions to create great art and how to generally be a person in the world, juggling friends, love, money, and creativity. Watch for incredible musical theater cameos, songs that’ll get stuck in your head, and a story of city living that feels very familiar and long past all at once.
New York City holds all types — and in this case, that includes the undead. In this unique 2020 horror comedy, a trio of teens bands together to save their Bronx neighborhood from both vampires and gentrification. No one believes them when they warn that supernatural happenings are afoot, so the kids take it upon themselves to fight back against the bloodsuckers (both in the literal and figurative sense) who are moving in. New Yorkers are stereotyped as being rude and standoffish, but a sense of community unites city dwellers when they need it, and that “all in it together” feeling is on full display here.
The magic of Broadway is unlike anything else, but sometimes you just can’t catch a show in person — because of geography, money or even time. Luckily for those who didn’t get to see the moving revival of The Boys in the Band in 2018, the entire cast signed on for a film adaptation. The story takes place over the course of one night in 1968 New York City, when a group of gay friends gather for a party that turns into an all-night examination of what it means to love yourself and someone else. The star-studded cast includes Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, and more.
If you’ve ever danced full-out to a song on the street — or even if you’ve just wanted to — Frances Ha is for you. Greta Gerwig stars as Frances, a young dancer who loves her life in the city, if only she could afford it. Her best friend, Sophie, decides it’s time to grow up, but Frances comes to realize that this doesn’t mean the same thing to her. As she struggles to make ends meet, examines her relationship with the increasingly distant Sophie and memorably dances it out to David Bowie’s “Modern Love,” Frances comes into her own in this memorable black-and-white movie. If you’re young now or have ever been young, you’ll see yourself in this story of indecision and coming of age.
