Memorial Movies
What better way to kick off summer than spending Memorial Day inside and on the couch? From coming-of-age classics to passionate romances, we’ve rounded up a list of the summer-iest movies currently streaming on Netflix. Some are great, and others less so (we still love you, High School Musical 2), but all will make you nostalgic for the dead-end jobs, steamy flings, and bizarre sleepaway camps of summers past.
Adventureland
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Jesse Eisenberg stars as a college graduate who trades his dreams of a European vacation for a disappointing job at the local theme park. With its late-’80s soundtrack and subtle nostalgia, captures the summer of 1987 perfectly.
Camp Takota
YouTube vloggers Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart star in this story of a young woman who ends up working at her childhood summer camp when her personal and professional lives fall apart. Perfect for anyone who’s ever tried to recapture the magic of their youthful summers — or anyone who’s ever wished a Grace Helbig video was longer.
Dirty Dancing
Has there ever been a more iconic summer romance? Also the movie that made us all want to summer in the Catskills.
The Endless Summer
Bruce Brown’s classic 1966 documentary follows two surfers around the globe as they search for the perfect wave. It introduced the sport to the rest of the world, and it’ll make you long for the beach, even if you live miles away.
The Graduate
The original summer existential crisis classic.
Grease
Sure, much of it takes place in the halls of Rydell High School, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better ode to summer love.
High School Musical 2
It’s no cinematic masterpiece, but it features what is arguably the finest musical moment of Zac Efron’s career: his dramatic performance of the golf course classic “Bet On It.”
The Lifeguard
Kristen Bell stars as a reporter about to turn 30 who quits her job in New York and returns home, where she begins working as a lifeguard for the summer. It’s there that she starts an illicit (and ill-advised) romance with a teenager.
Say Anything…
The reason we sleep with our windows open in the summer: to listen for the sound of Lloyd Dobler’s boombox.
Stand by Me
The ultimate coming-of-age tale follows four boys as they search for a dead body in the summer of 1959. It’ll make you want to call your childhood friends.
Wet Hot American Summer
Journey back to Camp Firewood in 1981 with an all-star comedy cast of Janeane Garofalo, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, and more. It’s the perfect way to prep for the July 31 release of the Netflix prequel series.
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