Credit: Netflix

Ryan Reynolds genuinely cannot stay out of headlines lately, can he? One minute, people are chatting about Deadpool rumours again, and the next thing you know, Marvel fans are convinced he is secretly preparing some project for their favourite franchise. It happens constantly with him, and we get it.

And honestly, the Deadpool talk alone has been enough to send fans contemplating again because Reynolds recently admitted he already has ideas for the character’s future, even though he doesn’t want to rush another solo movie. Which, of course, immediately turned the internet into conspiracy detectives trying to figure out where Deadpool might pop up next in the MCU. Fair enough, really… once Reynolds starts mentioning Marvel publicly, social media completely loses its head for a few days.

But that’s sort of Ryan Reynolds’ whole thing now. Even outside superhero stuff, he is constantly everywhere online. Wrexham clips go viral all the time, and interviews turn into memes within minutes. How can we ignore his and Blake’s hilarious jabs at each other on social media?

And every single time Reynolds starts trending again, viewers run to his Netflix movies. Probably because people already know what they’re getting with him at this point. The typical Ryan Reynolds energy is what we all need after an exhausting day. Lucky for you, Netflix does have some of the best movies in its catalogue, and we have brought you five of them.

Five best Ryan Reynolds movies streaming on Netflix

The Proposal (Anne Fletcher, 2009)

It’s mad how a fake engagement film from 2009 still gets people running back every single year, isn’t it? But watching Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds playing enemies-to-lovers in The Proposal reminds you exactly why everybody got obsessed with this film in the first place. Bullock plays Margaret as this terrifying New York editor who discovers she is getting deported back to Canada after visa problems blow up in her face. So naturally, instead of behaving rationally, she blurts out that she is engaged to her assistant, Andrew Paxton, played by Ryan Reynolds, right in front of immigration officials.

Then poor Andrew gets dragged into this ridiculous fake engagement situation involving family and awkward lies, but things take a serious turn when they take a trip to Alaska, where literally everybody becomes far too emotionally invested in the relationship. And once the film gets to Alaska, the entire thing becomes massively cute. Yes, there are arguments and tiffs, but people falling in love while pretending they hate each other… lovely stuff.

The Adam Project (Shawn Levy, 2022)

Imagine crashing your jet in the middle of nowhere and stumbling into your childhood home! How great would that be? Didn’t some part of us just want to go back in time and see that? But just as you do that, you realise that the awkward kid standing in front of you is literally a younger you. That’s basically what happens to Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project, and it only gets more emotional from there. Reynolds plays older Adam Reed, a pilot from the future who travels back through time after stealing a jet, then accidentally lands in 2022, where he runs into 12-year-old Adam, played by Walker Scobell.

Now obviously the two versions of Adam spend half the film arguing because they’re basically the same sarcastic person separated by twenty years, but eventually they end up working together to stop a massive time-travel disaster linked to Maya Sorian and Louis Reed, Adam’s late father. And genuinely, the father-son stuff is going to catch you a bit off guard because from the covers, The Adam Project looks like a funny sci-fi adventure, but inside the wraps, it’s family trauma.

IF (John Krasinski, 2024)

This is a bit different from the usual Ryan Reynolds madness. Instead of sarcastic criminals or exhausted men shouting at people for two hours, IF went gaga over imaginary friends and childhood emotions. Sounds great, right? Wait until the film gets all touchy-feely. Cailey Fleming plays Bea, a young girl dealing with a rough time at home who discovers she can see abandoned imaginary friends wandering around New York. Reynolds plays Cal, an odd guy helping reunite forgotten imaginary friends with new children before they disappear completely.

And listen, the actual imaginary friends are mental as well. Giant purple creatures, dancing flowers, old cartoon-style characters… The whole thing has got that slightly bizarre energy if we are being honest. But beneath all that, the film’s really about growing up and trying not to lose that childlike part of yourself entirely. Dead cheesy in places, sure, but it’s so good. A bit emotional after a long week and all, especially if you weren’t expecting it.

The Change-Up (David Dobkin, 2011)

And then you’ve got The Change-Up, which basically asks a very important question… what if two grown men completely ruined each other’s lives for two hours because of a magical fountain? It might sound weird until you hear the plot. Dave Lockwood’s exhausted trying to balance work, marriage and kids, while Mitch Planko is still behaving like life is one long uni holiday. So after a drunken night out, the pair somehow wake up trapped in each other’s bodies and immediately starts panicking. Fair enough, really, because neither of them could handle the other’s life for more than about ten minutes.

Mitch tries dealing with Dave’s family and job without having a breakdown, while Dave gets thrown into Mitch’s reckless lifestyle and spends most of the film looking stressed and confused. Ryan Reynolds chatting rubbish while making awful decisions the entire time tells you everything you need to know here. The best part is that the whole film is dead silly… people yelling at each other and horrible choices constantly making things worse. Very early-2010s comedy energy.

Red Notice (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2021)

Red Notice held the title of Netflix’s most-watched movie of all time until Kpop Demon Hunters came along. And it makes sense because look at the cast: we have Reynolds himself along with Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot! It’s the perfect recipe for a hit. The film follows FBI profiler John Hartley, played by Dwayne Johnson, who ends up reluctantly teaming up with Reynolds’ character Nolan Booth after an international art heist turns into a disaster. The problem is, nobody trusts anybody for more than five minutes throughout the entire story.

Nolan Booth spends most of the film chatting absolute nonsense while trying to rob priceless Cleopatra artefacts. In between, we have Gal Gadot turning up, making things go even more wrong. With explosions and chasing scenes, this film is what you would call a completely entertaining package. This is a proper Friday night Netflix film. And while some criticised it for being a shallow comedy… every film needs to change cinema forever, does it?