For weeks now, regions all over the country have been suffering through some sizzling weather. And we’re not even halfway through July! But you know what they say: When the going gets hot, the hot get streaming. (That’s what they say, right?) 

So as we ride out one scorcher after another, the best thing to do is stay out of the relentless sun and queue up some heat wave–approved movies and TV shows. Choose between a documentary about the grand scheme of a businessman who’s full of hot air, a pair of zany summertime comedies running on dizzy hot-weather logic, or a collection of films sultry enough to make you sweat — even with the AC blasting. Hey, is it getting hot in here?  

But first, what’s new on Netflix?

A great catch. Receiver, the new football docuseries from the team behind last year’s Quarterback, is here. It takes you up close and personal with four wide receivers and one tight end during the 2023 NFL season. Not receptive to that? Fall in love with The Boyfriend, a groundbreaking new series that bears the distinction of being the first same-sex dating show to come out of Japan. The first episodes of the reality romance, in which a group of single men share a house and work together for a few weeks in hopes of finding love, are now streaming. 

If you have just a night … 

Fake out the thermometer with the false promise of more heat. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened isn’t technically about the scorching element of its title, but that doesn’t mean nobody got burned. Chris Smith’s 2019 documentary chronicles the elaborate scam that was 2017’s Fyre Festival, a music festival that had been promoted by A-list celebrities and advertised as having gourmet catering, an all-star lineup, and luxurious accommodations. It delivered on none of those promises, and the guests who traveled to the Bahamas expecting the best weekend of their lives went home — eventually — with a very different story to tell. 

If you have a whole day … 

Give in to the hot air. The more the temperature and humidity climb and the sweat on your eyelashes blurs your vision, the more the absurd world of Wet Hot American Summer makes perfect sense. While away a balmy day at Camp Firewood, first with David Wain and Michael Showalter’s 2015 prequel series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (released 14 years after Wain’s 2001 cult classic, with the starry original cast playing slightly younger versions of their teenage characters). The series chronicles the very beginning of the fateful summer of 1981. Next, fast-forward to 1991 with 2017’s Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, in which the counselors gather for a reunion. 

If you have the entire weekend … 

Make it steamy. A sexy sextet of movies will keep you sweating through the weekend, starting with a trio of acclaimed erotic thrillers. First, Michael Douglas and Glenn Close star as a married man and his obsessed mistress in Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction, a 1987 classic of the genre that is not to be ignored. Turn up the heat even more with Wild Things, John McNaughton’s racy 1998 mystery starring Denise Richards, Neve Campbell, and Matt Dillon. Keep breaking the rules with 2023’s Fair Play, a Sundance hit from Chloe Domont in which Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich play ambitious hedge-fund analysts in a secret relationship.

Next, honor the distinguished tradition of spicy literature, first with Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s 2022 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s shocking classic Lady Chatterley’s Lover, starring Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell as the lady and her lover. Take things a little more lowbrow from there with Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey, the 2015 adaptation of E.L. James’ infamous romance novel, with Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan taking up the handcuffs of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. (Its James Foley–directed sequels, 2017’s Fifty Shades Darker and 2018’s Fifty Shades Freed, will land on Netflix next week.) Finally, why not close things out with a little dessert? Magic Mike XXL — Gregory Jacobs’ 2015 sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s 2012 male-stripper dramedy — is here to provide one last thrust of entertainment (courtesy of Channing Tatum and co.) before you go back to the grind.  

Don’t forget, you have one last chance … 

… for a bit of Southern hospitality. Set in Virginia during the Civil War, Sofia Coppola’s 2017 thriller The Beguiled stars Nicole Kidman as the headmistress of a girls’ school and Colin Farrell as the Union soldier that throws her isolated pupils into jealous rivalry. After this weekend, all hope to see it will be lost. 

Find Your Next Netflix Obsession on TudumWhatever you love to stream, we’ve got tips on the latest releases, true crime, book adaptations, stand-up comedy, award-winning films and more.