What to stream: Wonka, Ricky Stanicky, Friends in Low Places
Here’s a collection of notable movies and series available to stream this week.
Movies
• While he’s off wrestling sand worms in Dune: Part 2, in theatres, Timothée Chalamet’s last box-office hit, Wonka, arrived Friday on Crave. Fashioned as a musical prequel to the Roald Dahl-scripted 1971 original, Paul King’s film stars Chalamet as a young, wide-eyed Wonka setting out to establish his candy empire. Though the film benefits greatly from Chalamet’s charisma and King’s Paddingtonlike designs, in my review I wrote that the film “is lively but too neutered to do Dahl justice.”
• In Ricky Stanicky, a trio of friends have long relied on a made-up pal named Ricky Stanicky for excuses to keep them out of trouble with their spouses. When their families get suspicious, the three friends (Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino) hire a struggling actor known as “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena) to impersonate the fictional Stanicky. The film, directed by Peter Farrelly, debuted Thursday on Prime Video. — Jake Coyle
Series
• Theo James stars in Guy Ritchie’s new series The Gentlemen, a spin-off of the 2019 film of the same name. James plays Eddie, whose late father has bequeathed him the title of Duke, along with a run-down country estate that he views as a money pit and a major burden. Eddie is thrown for a loop when he discovers his homestead has also operated a marijuana-growing business for years, and he’s inherited that, too. The Gentlemen is on Netflix.
• Friends in Low Places is arguably Garth Brooks’ best song, as it never fails to get people to smile, sing along and have a great time. That’s the vibe Brooks is hoping for with his Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk, which opened last week in Nashville. A Friends in Low Places docuseries about the making of the bar is now on Prime Video. Cameras rolled as Brooks, his wife, Tricia Yearwood, and their team created this new business.
• A critically acclaimed BBC dramedy called Boarders is coming to Canada via Tubi. The show is about five Black teens from the inner city who receive scholarships to St. Gilberts, one of the oldest and most posh boarding schools in Britain. Adjusting to change is never easy and adjusting to St. Gilbert’s is even harder. All six episodes are on Tubi now.