5 Most Underrated A24 Movies

This article contains a discussion of sexual assault.

Some movies from the independent studio A24, regarded as the home of excellent cinema spearheaded by visionary directors, are overrated. Some are correctly rated; "Lady Bird" earned a Best Picture Oscar nod (whereas "Moonlight" and "Everything Everywhere All at Once" both won a Best Picture Oscar), and horror films like "Midsommar" and "The Witch" are regarded as modern classics. Directors like Benny and Josh Safdie, Greta Gerwig, Ari Aster, Alex Garland, Robert Eggers, Barry Jenkins, and Celine Song have also earned fame and acclaim thanks to their successful A24 films, while veterans like Noah Baumbach, Sofia Coppola, and Kevin Smith have joined the studio for some of their most interesting and boundary-pushing projects. Generally, then, an A24 movie is cause for excitement, but unfortunately, some slip beneath the radar. It happens! So, which A24 films are underrated?

This was, if I may speak candidly, a tough list to make specifically because there are so many excellent options when it comes to "underrated" A24 films. That's why I feel compelled to include some honorable mentions. "Tusk," "Bodies Bodies Bodies," "The Iron Claw," "You Hurt My Feelings," "Tuesday," and "We Live in Time" were all strong contenders, but ultimately, I went with these five picks. With that out of the way, here are five fully underrated A24 films that definitely deserve a lot more love and attention.

Gillian Robespierre's directorial debut, which she also wrote, is definitely one of A24's most underrated films — because I never hear anyone bring up "Obvious Child." That's a shame, because this sweet, weird, hilarious, and deeply real little movie deals with a topic that, since this film's 2014 theatrical release, has only become a bigger issue in the United States. When we first meet the movie's protagonist, Donna Stern (Jenny Slate), she's a comedian struggling to get by who just got dumped by her boyfriend Ryan (Paul Briganti), leaving her heartbroken. After finishing a set, Donna meets Max (Jake Lacy) and impulsively has a one-night stand with him, only to learn, afterwards, that she's pregnant.

A meeker and "safer" movie would have, frankly, been about Donna uprooting her life to parent her unexpected, unplanned child, but "Obvious Child" takes a very different approach. What Donna wants is not to be a parent; she wants to not be pregnant anymore, and she pursues termination. The scene where Donna actually gets the procedure (on Valentine's Day, no less) is one of the most stunning things I've ever seen in a movie, actually (it's 2026, and I've genuinely been thinking about this scene for years), and when Max shows up to comfort her afterwards, it's incredibly heartwarming. With a supporting cast flanking Slate and Lacy that includes Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, and Richard Kind, "Obvious Child" is a deeply felt and real movie about the choices we make under duress, and it should get way more attention than it currently does.

Even during his tenure as the titular boy wizard in the "Harry Potter" movies, Daniel Radcliffe clearly wanted to stretch his wings as an actor, appearing in the daring stage play "Equus" (a play that requires full nudity in an extended sequence) while he was still playing Harry. After putting away his magic wand, Radcliffe, emboldened by clear financial security and hungry for opportunities, got weird with it almost immediately, and to that I say "Thank god." This is particularly true of "Swiss Army Man," Radcliffe's defiantly bizarre A24 movie (as was directed and written by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan) that co-stars Paul Dano.

What makes "Swiss Army Man" so weird, for the uninitiated? Well, Radcliffe doesn't really play a "character" in any traditional sense. Instead, he plays a bloated, farting corpse. When Dano's Hank Thompson finds himself stranded on a deserted island, the corpse of Radcliffe's stranger washes up and starts farting when Hank attempts resuscitation; then, throughout the film, the corpse takes on the name of Manny and starts interacting with Hank, even regaining the ability to speak. "Swiss Army Man," a movie where — and this is real — Paul Dano rides a farting corpse version of Daniel Radcliffe like a speedboat, is delightfully bizarre, totally underrated, and worth watching for the astonishingly good performances from these two weirdos (complimentary).

"You wanna hear a story about how me and this b***h here fell out? It's kinda long, but it's full of suspense." Without question, this line — which kicked off the social media event that led to the A24 movie "Zola" — is one of the most exciting opening lines in cinematic history. Directed by Janicza Bravo (who co-wrote the script with "Slave Play" writer Jeremy O. Harris) and based on a series of what were, at the time in 2015, called "tweets" (now they're "posts" on the social media platform X, which we can all agree is nonsense) that were then chronicled in a Rolling Stone article, "Zola" centers around A'Ziah "Zola" King (Taylour Paige), who has a chance run-in with a fellow sex worker and exotic dancer named Stefani (a wild, perfectly deployed Riley Keough) at Zola's place of work in Detroit. Before Zola knows it, she's been roped into an absurd road trip with Stefani, Stefani's odd roommate Abegunde "X" Olawale (Colman Domingo), and Stefani's clownish boyfriend Derrek (Nicholas Braun) to Tampa, Florida, to go work at a club that Stefani promises will pay extremely well.

"Zola" is a wild ride from start to finish, anchored by its wildly talented central cast (Paige, Keough, Domingo, and Braun are all genuinely fantastic), but it's still not one of A24's biggest, buzziest movies. It should be! Everyone go watch "Zola" and post a giant social media thread about it! See what happens!

Like the aforementioned Daniel Radcliffe, Kristen Stewart, despite appearing in projects as a child actor, got extremely famous for her young adult franchise — The Twilight Saga, specifically — but has since become one of the most fascinating performers of her generation. This is thanks in no small part to her savvy choices as a performer, producer, and even director ... and bold, fresh projects like "Love Lies Bleeding," the 2024 A24 movie written and directed by Rose Glass. In this film, Stewart plays Lou, a gym manager who mostly keeps to herself and hangs out with her sister Beth (the always great Jena Malone), Beth's husband JJ (Dave Franco), and Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov). (Daisy is clearly carrying a torch for Lou, incidentally, who appears largely uninterested.) Then, one night, Lou meets Jackie (Katy O'Brian), a bicurious bodybuilder who starts taking steroids at Lou's behest, and the two women strike up an immediate romantic connection.

"Love Lies Bleeding" becomes a crime drama pretty quickly, and it's the kind of movie that drags you along for the ride and doesn't let go until the credits roll. Stewart and O'Brian are fantastic here (as is the rest of the cast, but they're the main focus), and you definitely don't want to miss this sexy, bloody, heightened, and bizarrely romantic A24 movie that flew under the radar for no good reason.

In Eva Victor's directorial debut "Sorry, Baby" (which released under the A24 umbrella in 2025 and is also written by Victor), their character, Agnes, endures a shocking and devastating sexual assault before the narrative begins in earnest. Though we see the immediate aftermath of this trauma in flashback, most of "Sorry, Baby" is about how Agnes moves on in the years after a professor advising her doctorate thesis assaults her, and it's one of the most raw, real, gutting, and uplifting movies I've ever seen about the subject. (In fact, considering that two movies centered this specific trauma in 2025, I can comfortably say that "Sorry, Baby" is the only one of the two that gets it "right.")

While Agnes struggles with her mental health and recovery, she also holds her friends, like Lydie (Naomie Ackie), close — and along the way, she "adopts" a kitten that she finds on the side of the road, strikes up an unexpected but sweet romantic entanglement with her neighbor Gavin (Lucas Hedges), and finds comfort in unexpected places ... like John Carroll Lynch's kindly sandwich shop owner. By the time Agnes delivers her final monologue to Lydie's infant daughter Jane about always being there, you'll be wiping away well-earned tears and telling everyone you know to watch "Sorry, Baby" as soon as possible.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).