Top 10 Movies To Watch This Week on Paramount Plus | August 17-23, 2025
So you’re stuck in scrolling purgatory again, huh? Endlessly thumbing through Paramount Plus, hoping something jumps out. We’ve been there. That’s why we pulled together the Top 10 Movies you would actually want to watch this week—no fluff, no filler. Whether you’re into thrillers, rom-coms, or indie gems, there’s something worth hitting play on. Here’s your movie cheat sheet for August 17-23, 2025—because your time is too valuable for another “meh” movie night.
1. Novocaine (2025)
Pain is temporary. Nate is… not.
Born with a rare condition that makes him unable to feel pain, Nate (Jack Quaid) spends most days coasting through life with zero direction—until his dream girl gets kidnapped. Cue a crash course in stunts, punches, bad decisions, and high-speed chaos. This one’s got just enough heart beneath the bruises, and Quaid makes a surprisingly charming action everyman.
2. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
He’s still got the need.
Thirty-plus years after Top Gun, Tom Cruise returns to the cockpit as Maverick—older, cockier, and just barely avoiding retirement. He’s brought in to train a new class of Navy hotshots for a mission that might kill them all. Miles Teller, Glen Powell, and Monica Barbaro lead the new crew, but let’s be honest—this is still Cruise’s movie, and that beach football scene alone is worth the rewatch.
3. Night Hunter (2019)
Catch the killer, but watch your back.
A dangerous predator is caught. Case closed, right? Not even close. What starts as a tight operation spirals into mind games, body doubles, and chilling revelations. Henry Cavill goes full brooding detective, Ben Kingsley plays a vigilante with moral gray zones, and Alexandra Daddario shines in a role that keeps twisting. If you like your crime thrillers dark and knotty, this one delivers.
4. The Infernal Machine (2022)
Careful what you write—it might write back.
Guy Pearce plays Bruce Cogburn, a reclusive author whose cult novel inspired a violent crime years ago. When a fan starts sending him disturbing messages, the past claws its way back. It’s a slow-burn psychological thriller with more questions than answers, and Pearce absolutely carries it. Think Misery meets Secret Window, but a little dustier and a lot more paranoid.
5. Scary Movie (2000)
The ’90s horror spoof that never dies.
Ghostface, The Matrix, and… Carmen Electra’s bathroom sprint? Scary Movie mashes up every teen horror cliché of the era into a chaotic, unapologetically raunchy spoof. Anna Faris makes her franchise debut here (legend), and the Wayans brothers bring the kind of no-holds-barred humor that defined early-2000s parody. It’s messy, it’s loud, it’s still hilarious.
6. Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Same crew. New ghosts. More bodily fluids.
This time, the parody crew takes on haunted-house tropes—The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Haunting—with Tim Curry and a possessed parrot in the mix. It’s grosser, weirder, and somehow even more unhinged than the original. Regina Hall steals every scene. If you’re in the mood for “I can’t believe they went there” comedy, this one brings the chaos.
7. Mean Girls (2004)
So fetch, forever.
Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, Rachel McAdams as Regina George, and one endlessly quotable script by Tina Fey. High school politics have never been sharper or funnier. From burn books to army pants and flip flops, Mean Girls holds up as a teen comedy classic. And if you’ve only seen the 2024 musical reboot? Yeah, this is where it all started.
8. South Park: The End of Obesity (2024)
Cartman can’t get Ozempic. You already know chaos follows.
South Park takes on weight-loss drugs, healthcare access, and Big Sugar—with Cartman, naturally, at the center of it all. It’s one of the best Paramount+ specials yet, blending body image commentary with absurdist gags (including a Lizzo moment you will NOT forget). Fast, furious, and deeply unfiltered.
9. South Park: Not Suitable for Children (2023)
OnlyFans goes elementary.
When a teacher’s online side hustle goes viral, Randy gets sucked into the world of influencer culture and digital “grindsets.” It’s classic South Park—gross, smart, and two steps ahead of whatever Twitter’s mad about this week. A sharp roast of parasocial fame, millennial parenting, and OnlyFans monetization… all packed into 48 minutes.
10. World War Z (2013)
The fast zombies are back.
Brad Pitt races across the globe trying to stop a pandemic that turns people into sprinting, pile-building zombies. It’s part horror, part globe-trotting disaster thriller, and still one of the slickest zombie blockbusters ever made. From a hair-raising Jerusalem sequence to that tense-as-hell lab finale, World War Z is less about gore and more about momentum.
And That’s a Wrap
This week’s Paramount+ lineup is all over the map—in the best way. You’ve got military jets, haunted mansions, fake influencers, killer fans, and undead hordes chasing Brad Pitt through Wales. Whether you’re here for nostalgia (Mean Girls, Scary Movie), psychological slow burns (The Infernal Machine), or wild genre mashups (Novocaine, South Park), there’s something to match every mood.
