5 Underrated Movies From 2025 You Need to Watch Immediately

Because 2025’s been such a slow year so far (especially at the box office), it can be easy to think of this as, so far, a very disposable year in the history of cinema. After all, what else has come out beyond a handful of treasures like One of Them Days and a bunch of subpar John Wick/Deadpool knock-offs? However, look beyond the features clogging up multiplexes every weekend and some true gems emerge. Now that 2025 is somehow nearly a third of the way over, now is an ideal time to look back on standout underrated films from the year that you need to watch.

These titles vary wildly in genre, thematic ambitions, and visual styles, but they’re all intertwined with displaying tremendous creativity that’s evaded the worst 2025 motion pictures. It’s easy to get frustrated with this year’s wide release cinematic offerings, but these five underrated 2025 films prove that this medium’s possibilities are still enduring into this new year.

Universal Language

Writer/director Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language follows a variety of distinctive citizens in a Canadian town as they navigate everyday life and fleeting pleasures, like two kids trying to retrieve money frozen in ice. His filmmaking gaze is as observational as it is compelling. Dry humor and rich empathy for Language’s central subjects abound in this visually masterful exercise. How many other movies can you name that feature a turkey taking a ride on public transportation? Or a person walking around town trapped inside a Christmas tree? Imaginative gags and profound humanity work in perfect tandem in this Canadian gem.

Eephus

Looking for a great new comedy with a melancholy center? Eephus has you covered. This motion picture chronicles a pair of dueling teams playing one last baseball game on Soldier’s Field, a Massachusetts domain that’s about to be demolished. What transpires is rife with hysterical bits of physical acting and sharply humorous dialogue as these two teams refuse to let this game end. However, underneath unforgettably funny lines like “pizza on ham”, there’s a powerful exploration of how hard it is to say goodbye to the places that made us. Nothing lasts forever, including comedies as good as Eephus.

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Grand Theft Hamlet

Many people see Grand Theft Auto as just a video game where you can shoot people and cause all kinds of debauchery. That’s all well and good, but the Brits at the heart of Grand Theft Hamlet see a lot more potential in this game. Specifically, they see it as a place where they could bring strangers together to perform Hamlet. So begins the impossible quest at the heart of Grand Theft Hamlet. What follows is often hysterical, as randomly exploding helicopters often are. However, Grand Theft Hamlet also functions as a moving testament to how unifying art can be (this production is being undertaken during COVID-19 lockdowns, after all) as well as how creativity can emerge anywhere. Plus, it’s a thrill to see a documentary entirely realized through Grand Theft Auto.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

The latest towering achievement from director Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, deals with incredibly heavy material related to sexual trauma and abusive familial relationships that don’t make it easy viewing. However, that feat is a testament to Nyoni’s searing filmmaking. Her steady camerawork (not to mention occasional forays into dreamlike imagery and flourishes) vividly reflects the point-of-view of a woman navigating the ceaseless long-term psychological aftermath of this trauma. The various supporting performances provide chillingly realistic portraits of how erasure and systemic misogyny shift the blame onto women rather than the perpetrators. An engrossing work, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl proves I Am Not a Witch was no fluke. Rungano Nyoni is one of the great filmmaking discoveries of the last decade.

Cannibal Mukbang

You may not know Aimee Kuge before watching Cannibal Mukbang (it’s her directorial debut, after all). However, this supremely warped and distinctive affair will ensure you’ll never forget her name. Cannibal Mukbang is all kinds of movies rolled into one, but it’s especially a demented romantic/horror film about a normal guy enamored with a lady who turns out to be a vigilante cannibal. Cannibal Mukbang has no shortage of terrific practical effects work, navigates a really complex tone with deftness, and even delivers a flashback sequence shot on richly textured film.

Leading lady April Consalo, meanwhile, is utterly transfixing in merging demented unpredictability, 2000s rom-com protagonist energy, and her own distinctive traits into one performance. Sit back and chow down on the twisted mayhem Aimee Kuge cooks up with Cannibal Mukbang. You’ll surely never find another cinematic feast quite like it this year!

Cannibal Mukbang is now available to rent or purchase from digital retailers. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is available to purchase from digital retailers, Grand Theft Hamlet is now streaming on Mubi. Universal Language and Eephus are now playing in select theaters.