5 Best Drama Movies to Watch in September, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes Score

Almost all of the major streaming services have a deep library of drama movies for subscribers to enjoy.

But sometimes, if you want to have access to the top-shelf dramas, then you have to subscribe to more than one streamer.

This month, the Watch With Us team has selected the five best dramas to watch from across the major streamers, as ranked by their Rotten Tomatoes scores.

The list includes a mixture of modern dramas as well as a handful of picks from the last four decades of cinema.

5. ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes rank: 79 percent

Jordan Belfort is arguably one of the greatest criminals in American history because his crimes didn’t involve guns, and he walked away largely free of legal consequences. That’s the kind of story that director Martin Scorsese couldn’t resist telling in The Wolf of Wall Street, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort.

The film chronicles Belfort’s rise and fall as one of the most gifted scam artists in the stock market, alongside his friend Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill). This film also gave Margot Robbie her big break as Belfort’s wife, Naomi Lapaglia, and she radiates star power in all of her scenes.

The Wolf of Wall Street is streaming on Paramount+.

4. ‘Dead Poets Society’ (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes rank: 85 percent

Robin Williams‘ comedy movies outnumber his dramas, but one of his most touching performances came in Dead Poets Society. Williams plays John Keating, an English teacher at an all-boys school in 1959. Keating is a former student of the school himself, and his teaching methods are anything but conventional.

His passion strikes a chord with his students, Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman), Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) and the rest of their class. In Keating’s honor, the boys resurrect his old club, the Dead Poets Society, and challenge the authority figures in their lives. Unfortunately, their actions come with grave consequences that they couldn’t have predicted.

Dead Poets Society is streaming on Hulu.

3. ‘Rain Man’ (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes rank: 88 percent

Dustin Hoffman is the brother Tom Cruise never knew he had in Rain Man. For most of his life, Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) believed that he was an only child. It wasn’t until the death of his estranged father that Charlie realized he had an older brother, Raymond Babbitt (Hoffman), an autistic savant who had been institutionalized most of his life.

Charlie initially absconds with Raymond because the latter is the primary beneficiary of their father’s estate. But as they travel across the country, Charlie begins to truly appreciate his brother for who he is. It’s the road trip of a lifetime, and they may not get another chance to get it right.

Rain Man is streaming on Prime Video.

2. ‘Phantom Thread’ (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes rank: 91 percent

Daniel Day-Lewis reunited with There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson for the period drama Phantom Thread. Day-Lewis plays fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock, a talented and controlling artist who leaves the business side of his operation to his sister, Cyril Woodcock (Lesley Manville).

Over time, Reynolds recruits a young woman, Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps), to be his muse and inspiration. But when Reynolds makes her life Hell, Alma finds an unexpected way to take control of their relationship and put herself in a position of strength.

Phantom Thread is streaming on Netflix.

1. ‘Goodfellas’ (1990)

Rotten Tomatoes rank: 94 percent

We started this list with a Martin Scorsese film, so it’s only appropriate that we end with one as well. Without Goodfellas, there would be no shows like The Sopranos. Henry Hill is an antihero for the ages, and the late Ray Liotta plays him without a hint of remorse for his actions.

In the ’60s and ’70s, Hill and his friends, James “Jimmy” Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), find a place among the mafia despite not being Italian. But enough is never enough for Hill, as he flouts the mafia’s rules and makes decisions that may shatter his friendships and his connections to the crime family.

Goodfellas is streaming on HBO Max.