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It’s finally September, which means it’s time to say goodbye to hot girl summer, and hello to moody girl fall. And there’s no better way to do that than by cueing up some fall movies on Netflix.
What is a fall movie, exactly? It is not, first of all, a horror movie. That’s a different thing! Nor is it necessarily a Halloween movie—that’s not until next month, no matter what the grocery store displays might tell you. A fall movie is simply a film that embodies the vibe of fall. These are movies that jive with the melancholy of summer ending and the crisp, fresh optimism of autumn beginning Movies like Knives Out, featuring Chris Evans in a cozy cable-knit, or When Harry Met Sally, featuring gorgeous shots of the colorful Central Park foliage.
Unfortunately, neither of those movies is currently streaming on Netflix. But don’t worry, because Decider is here to help. Scroll down for a list of seven fall movies that are streaming on Netflix, which will surely help you get in the mood for autumn.
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‘Stand By Me’
![STAND BY ME, Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, Corey Feldman, 1986]()
Everett Collection Stand By Me takes place over Labor Day Weekend, making it the perfect end-of-summer watch. After all, Rob Reiner’s 1986 coming-of-age classic—based Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body—is a movie about endings. The end of summer, the end of lives, the end of friendships, and the end of childhood innocence. The leaves may still be green behind those train tracks, but the tone couldn’t be more autumn-coded.
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‘tick, tick… BOOM!’
![tick, tick...BOOM! ANDREW GARFIELD wearing a scarf and jacket as JONATHAN LARSON in tick, tick...BOOM]()
Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX OK, yes, technically this musical—based on RENT composer Jonathan Larson’s unfinished, autobiographical, one-man “rock monologue”—takes place in the winter. But tell me that Andrew Garfield biking around New York City in knit scarves and wool jackets doesn’t feel like fall to you. Maybe that’s due in part to the fact that much of the production was filmed in September in NYC. Between that and the wide-eyed, earnest love letter to the city, art, and music, it’s the perfect fall watch.
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‘The Breakfast Club’
![THE BREAKFAST CLUB, from left: Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, 1985, both wearing jackets and about to kiss]()
©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection Fall means back-to-school for teens and below, and lucky for you, one of the quintessential teens-at-school movies is currently streaming on Netflix. John Hugh’s 1985 classic The Breakfast Club features some all-time autumn looks, from Judd Nelson’s red scarf, to Molly Ringwald’s leather jacket, to Anthony Michael Hall’s green wool sweater. Plus, it’s a really good movie about cliques and stereotypes. They weren’t lying!
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‘Marriage Story’
![Marriage Story]()
Photo: Netflix Though Marriage Story is decidedly not a horror movie (unless you’ve been through a divorce, in which case, maybe it is) a significant portion of the film does take place on Halloween—two Halloweens, in fact. Between the various Halloween scenes and the scenes of Adam Driver running around the city in the fall, grabbing coffees in orange cups from Mud Truck, Marriage Story is a decidedly fall movie.
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‘Spider-Man’ (2001)
![Willem Dafoe in Spider-Man]()
Photo: Sony Pictures I’ve already made my case for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man to be considered a Thanksgiving movie, thanks to that one excellent, memorable, tension-filled scene that takes place over Thanksgiving. Now I’m amending that to suggest that Spider-Man is a fall movie, point-blank. It even has the back-to-school beat covered! Plus, everyone knows that superheroes are totally Halloween-coded. Why else would they wear silly costumes?
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‘The Meyerowitz Stories’
![From left to right: Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, and Elizabeth Marvel in 'The Meyerowitz Stories']()
Photo: Everett Collection Yes, Noah Baumbach gets two movies on this list, because the man just loves fall so darned much! In Baumbach’s 2017 drama, The Meyerowitz Stories, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, and Elizabeth Marvel star as adult siblings, all attempting to live up to the legacy of their father, played by Dustin Hoffman. This movie includes trips to college campuses and famous art museums, aka fall movie staples.
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‘Not Another Teen Movie’
![NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, Deon Richmond, Chris Evans, Eric Christian Olson, Ron Lester, 2001. They all look ready for school]()
Photo: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection If your “back to school” vibes are less wholesome and pure and more goofy and raunchy, you should know that Not Another Teen Movie is streaming on Netflix. This 2001 parody film borrows from, and pokes fun at, all the teen movie classics, from She’s All That to Varsity Blues. It has all the staples of school in the fall, with the added bonus of featuring a very different version of the fall cozy sweater king, Chris Evans.
