Stream Team Picks: The Best & Worst New Releases Across All Platforms This Week

The new Will Ferrell golf series on Netflix, The Hawk, was just described by one critic as "a weak sports drama that plays out more like a dull family drama instead." Last week we talked about navigating the streaming minefield in general—well, this week, one of the biggest mines is disguised as a blockbuster comedy. So let’s do a quick sweep of the landscape to find the safe ground. The big winner this week is on Apple TV+, a crime thriller called Lucky starring Anya Taylor-Joy that dropped on Wednesday. It’s tight, it’s tense, and it’s everything you want from that kind of star-led genre piece. Absolutely a must-watch. Over on Prime Video, they’ve released Elle, a prequel to La Revanche d’une blonde—you know it as Legally Blonde.

It’s a nostalgia play, pure and simple. If you’re a die-hard fan, maybe. For everyone else, it’s probably a skip. Meanwhile, Paramount+ is leaning into its true-crime sweet spot with The Real Wolf of Wall Street, a new documentary that promises to go beyond the Scorsese film. If you’re fascinated by the Jordan Belfort story, this is required viewing. Peacock also has a couple of strong entries: a thriller called Obsession that’s getting good buzz, and a rare documentary profile of the famously private Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live. Both are solid watches. And looking ahead, flag this for July twenty-seventh: Hulu and Disney+ are dropping a drama called Furious with Emmy Rossum, which looks like a very sharp, dark serial killer story.

Okay, so let's get back to the big story. A Will Ferrell project that doesn't land. This is the kind of thing that can really define a month in streaming. So what went wrong with The Hawk on Netflix, and why did Lucky on Apple TV+ get it so right? Here’s the pattern. It’s the classic star vehicle problem. Hollywood has been getting this right—and wrong—for a hundred years. A star vehicle is a project built entirely around the persona of its lead. When it works, it’s magic. Think of Tom Cruise in Top Gun. When it fails, it’s a cringey, expensive mess. The Hawk is a failure of that promise. You see Will Ferrell’s name on a golf comedy, and you expect... well, you expect Happy Gilmore or Talladega Nights.

You expect anarchic, over-the-top comedy. Instead, the show tries to be a serious family drama about a guy's comeback. But it’s not written well enough to be a compelling drama, and it completely neuters Ferrell’s comedic genius. It’s a project that is fatally out of sync with its star. It’s trying to be two things at once, and it ends up being NOTHING. That’s a skip. An emphatic one. Now, look at Lucky. Anya Taylor-Joy has cultivated this incredible persona over the last few years—she’s intelligent, intense, a little dangerous, always mesmerizing. And Lucky, a crime thriller about a woman pulled back into her criminal past, is built to showcase EXACTLY that. It’s not trying to make her someone she isn’t.

The script, the direction, the mood... it all serves her specific, magnetic talent. It knows what it is, and it delivers. That’s a MUST-WATCH. So what does it all add up to? The platforms are throwing everything at the wall, hoping something sticks. Nostalgia reboots like Netflix's Little House on the Prairie, prequels like Prime's Elle… it’s a flood. But the signal in all that noise isn't about which service you’re on. It’s about the promise a show makes to you. This week, the best bets are the shows that are honest about what they are. The biggest disappointment is the one that sold you a comedy and delivered a quiet, boring drama instead. The lesson isn't just about what to watch—it's about learning to spot the bait-and-switch before you waste your Friday night.