Titles Available as of July 2022
This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.
DARK COMEDIES
Despite a terminal case of writer's block and the intrusions of a talkative neighbor, an earnest New York playwright struggles to complete his first screen-writing contract.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is a black comedy that tells the story of an actor (Michael Keaton) -- famous for portraying an iconic superhero -- as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.
Basket-case network news producer Jane Craig falls for news reporter Tom Grunnick, a pretty boy who represents the trend towards entertainment news she despises. Aaron Altman, a talented but plain correspondent, carries an unrequited torch for Jane. Sparks fly between the three as the network prepares for big changes, and both the news and Jane must decide between style and substance.
Cute variation on vampire sagas, with high school Valley Girl Swanson turning out to be "the chosen one" of her generation to kill roaming vampires. Sutherland is ideal as her mentor and guide, and Reubens (the former Pee-wee Herman) is fun as one of the fanged menaces.
Based upon Marvel Comics most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry's hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor - finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World's Best Lover.
Directed by Zhang Yang. In this soulful and humane comedy, Zhao, a middle-aged construction worker, struggles to fulfill a dying co-worker's last wish to be buried in China's Three Gorges region. Setting out with his colleague's body in tow, Zhao travels hundreds of miles across extraordinary countryside, encountering a number of colorful adventures and characters- and even discovering love in some unlikely quarters. Director Zhang Yang's humorous and moving tale of friendship offers a powerful, and sometimes slapstick, commentary on the value of community and human connectivity in modern China. Country of production: China.
Writer-director Mike Judge's ("Office Space") unique brand of humor examines an average guy who volunteers to be the subject of a hibernation experiment that goes awry. He wakes up 500 years in the future, discovering that he's the smartest guy on the planet.
Based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class), Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
Peter Gibbons just can't seem to catch a break. His girlfriend is cheating on him, he has an obnoxious neighbor, and he's completely miserable with his job as a small cog in a company called Initech. Then he visits a hypnotherapist, who dies just after putting Peter into a state of complete bliss. Free of worrying about making a living, he no longer feels the need to keep his job, just as the company is going through a massive downsizing. However, his new attitude only makes him more valuable in the company's eyes, and his friends Michael and Samir are fired instead. Together, they scheme to plant a virus inside Initech's computer system that will pull money into their own account.
Expect the unexpected from the innovative creators of Blood Simple! Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter star as an unconventional couple-she's a cop and he's a convenience store bandit-whose overwhelming desire for a child leads them to redefine the rules of parenthood.
Director Paul Mazursky and actress Jill Clayburgh combined their talents to create this funny, frank, and marvelously perceptive comedy about Erica, a woman who must "rediscover" herself when her husband leaves her.
LIGHT HEARTED COMEDIES
Jeff Marx wants to study medicine and become a physician. However, his grades are far from enough to get him into an American medical school. But instead he gets a chance to study medicine abroad, in a small Latin American dictatorship, governed by the dictator Ramon Madera, who fall in love with Jeff's girlfriend, also a medical student.
Tom Hanks plays Josh Baskin, a 12-year-old boy who has been transformed into a 35-year-old man by a carnival wishing machine. Elizabeth Perkins plays Susan, the sophisticated lady executive who falls in love with him.
Tim Lippe (Helms) was the guy people always thought would go places but then he just ... didn't. He's been living in über-sleepy Brown Valley, Wisconsin his whole life, still "pre-engaged" to his 7th grade teacher Millie Vanderhei (Weaver), while selling insurance to protect other people's dreams. But now, Tim's stalled life is about to get a kick-start because, for the first time in his 34 years, he's headed to a "major" metropolis - Cedar Rapids, Iowa - where he must try to save his company at a do-or-die insurance convention that, for him, will be entirely nonconventional. From the minute he checks into his hotel with his ancient American Tourister and cummerbund money-belt, it's clear Tim has no idea how the modern world really works. He is soon smitten with seductive Nebraskan insurance agent Joan (Heche) and awed by his experienced roommates, the straight-shooting Wilkes (Whitlock Jr.) and the suspicious Zeigler (Reilly)...
A successful small-town football coach and his wife lead a surprisingly idyllic -- if necessarily regimented -- life with their family of twelve children. When dad gets an offer he can't refuse to coach a Big Ten football team, they move to the city, his increasing workload, and his wife's book tour, turn the clan upside down.
To Greg Heffley, middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented. It's a place rigged with hundreds of social landmines, not the least of which are morons, wedgies, swirlies, bullies, lunchtime banishment to the cafeteria floor - and a festering piece of cheese with nuclear cooties. To survive the never-ending ordeal and attain the recognition and status he feels he so richly deserves, Greg devises an endless series of can't-miss schemes, all of which, of course, go awry. And he's getting it all down on paper, via a diary - "it's NOT a diary, it's a journal!" Greg insists, preferring the less-sissyfied designation - filled with his opinions, thoughts, tales of family trials and tribulations, and (would-be) schoolyard triumphs. "One day when I'm famous," writes Greg, "I'll have better things to do than answer peoples' stupid questions all day." So was born the Wimpy Kid's diary.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
In this sequel to 2010's surprise hit, Greg Heffley, the kid who made "wimpy" cool is back in an all-new family comedy based on the best-selling follow-up novel by Jeff Kinney. (Kinney's Wimpy Kid" series has thus far sold 28 million books.) As he begins seventh grade, Greg and his older brother - and chief tormentor - Rodrick must deal with their parents' misguided attempts to have them bond.
He's cynical, lazy and, literally, a fat cat. Now, Garfield, America's favorite feline, is about to become a major motion picture star, in a film with broad-audience appeal. The live action / CGI picture is adapted from the syndicated cartoon strip read in 2600 newspapers by 260 million readers around the globe. In his film debut, Garfield's owner, Jon, takes in sweet but dimwitted pooch Odie, turning Garfield's perfect world upside down. Now, Garfield wants only one thing: Odie out of his home and life! But when the hapless pup disappears and is kidnapped by a nasty dog trainer, Garfield, maybe for the first time in his life, feels responsible.
Directed by Zhang Yang. In this soulful and humane comedy, Zhao, a middle-aged construction worker, struggles to fulfill a dying co-worker's last wish to be buried in China's Three Gorges region. Setting out with his colleague's body in tow, Zhao travels hundreds of miles across extraordinary countryside, encountering a number of colorful adventures and characters- and even discovering love in some unlikely quarters. Director Zhang Yang's humorous and moving tale of friendship offers a powerful, and sometimes slapstick, commentary on the value of community and human connectivity in modern China. Country of production: China.
GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.
Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) are salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital world. Trying to prove they are not obsolete, they defy the odds by talking their way into a coveted internship at Google, along with a battalion of brilliant college students. But, gaining entrance to this utopia is only half the battle. Now they must compete with a group of the nation's most elite, tech-savvy geniuses to prove that necessity really is the mother of re-invention.
'Kissing Jessica Stein' is a laugh-out-loud comedy with a fresh take on sex and the single girl. After a dating spree from hell, Jessica happens upon an intriguing personal ad with one drawback -- it is in the "women seeking Women" section. On a whim, she answers it and meets Helen, a woman with whom she has instant chemistry. With conventional gender roles absent, the two women proceed to muddle through an earnest, but hilarious courtship, making up the rules -- it blurs the lines between friendship and romantic love, and finds the funny, surprising and ultimately poignant overlap between the two.
La Vie Est Belle : Life is Rosy
La Vie est belle tells the rags to riches story of Kourou, a poor rural musician who realizes that to succeed in today's music world he must go to the city and break into radio and television. In Kinshasa he uses his wit and talent to win a beautiful wife, trick his greedy boss and succeed in singing his "theme song" on national television. Although the film is primarily entertainment, it reveals much about class divisions, male-female relations, the desires of the urban poor, and the economic and social problems confronting rural immigrants to the cities of Zaire.
Teen hip hop sensation, Lil' Bow Wow portrays 14-year-old orphan Calvin Cambridge, who dreams of being a famous professional basketball player. But his diminutive stature and limited ability make this goal a far-off fantasy. Or is it? When Calvin dons a pair of old sneakers, with the faded initials "M.J." inscribed inside, he displays amazing hoop skills, and leads a struggling NBA team to victory.
When unemployed dad Robin Williams loses custody of his three children, he transforms himself into an elderly British nanny so he can spend more time with them. As "Mrs. Doubtfire" Robin Williams becomes the perfect mate - until his ex-wife finds out.
From Preston, Idaho comes Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), a new kind of hero complete with a tight red 'fro, some sweet moon boots, and skills that can't be topped. Napoleon lives with his Grandma (Sandy Martin) and his 30-year-old, unemployed brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), who spends his days looking for love in Internet chat rooms. When Grandma hits the road on her quad runner, Napoleon and Kip's meddling Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) comes to town to stay with them and ruin their lives.
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM is an action-adventure-comedy that comes to life by night. Good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), despite being perpetually down on his luck, thinks he's destined for something big. But even he could never have imagined how "big," when he accepts what appears to be a menial job as a graveyard-shift security guard at a museum of natural history. During Larry's watch, extraordinary things begin to occur: Mayans, Roman Gladiators, and cowboys emerge from their diorama to wage epic battles; in his quest for fire, a Neanderthal burns down his own display; Attila the Hun pillages his neighboring exhibits, and a T-Rex reminds everyone why he's history's fiercest predator.
The adventures of young Ramona Quimby come to life in this all new film based on the best-selling books (over 91 million... and counting) by Beverly Cleary. Ramona's vivid imagination, boundless energy, and accident-prone antics are put to the test when she helps her family face its biggest challenge. Along the way, Ramona must deal with her over-achieving older sister Beezus and the on-again, off-again romance between her Aunt Bea and Bea's former beau.
Homer adopts a pig who's run away from Krusty Burger after Krusty tried to have him slaughtered, naming the pig "Spider Pig." At the same time, the lake is protected after the audience sink the barge Green Day are on with garbage after they mention the environment. Meanwhile, Spider Pig's waste has filled up a silo in just 2 days, apparently with Homer's help. Homer can't get to the dump quickly so dumps the silo in the lake, polluting it. Russ Cargill, the villainous boss of the EPA, gives Arnold Schwarzenegger 5 options, forcing him to choose 4 (which is, unfortunately, to destroy Springfield) and putting a dome over Springfield to prevent evacuation. Homer, however, has escaped, along with his family. Can he stop the evil Cargill from annihilating his home town, and his family, who have been forced to return to Springfield?
Jonah Hill as "The Sitter" is the last person you want watching your kids. But this time, The Sitter has met his match in three manipulative brats. When a shady endeavor he finds himself in goes bad, The Sitter and the malevolent youngsters embark on a wild chase through Manhattan. From the director of "Pineapple Express."
Outrageous comedy and a lot of heart are joined at the hip in this latest exercise in hilarity from The Farrelly Brothers (There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber). Bob and Walt Tenor are more than just brothers -- they're conjoined twins who never leave each other's side...and wouldn't have it any other way. That is, until Walt decides he wants to follow his dreams of making it as a Hollywood actor, and persuades his reluctant sibling to go along for the ride.
The movie takes place when the trio are dumped out as newborns at the door of an orphanage. The comedy follows them to adulthood and is very much in the spirit of the original shorts, in which the blue collar bumblers got the best of the wealthy society matrons that tried to exploit them.
Two strangers awaken together to discover they've gotten married following a night of debauchery in Sin City, and that one of them has won a huge jackpot after playing the other's quarter. The newlyweds devise ever-escalating schemes to undermine each other and get their hands on the money - only to find themselves falling in love amid the mutual backstabbing.
Gene Wilder is the professor who creates a new zippernecked monster. Marty Feldman is his assistant; Cloria lady of the castle; and Madeline Kahn is Dr. Frankenstein's fiancee!