15 Best '90s Movies On Amazon Prime

The 1990s rank among movie history's most fruitful and creatively dazzling heydays. Many movements and cinematic breakthroughs occurred, across Hollywood and down to smaller movies too. Big blockbusters got even more exciting, and independent film came into its own, as visionary filmmakers from different walks of life were given a chance to explore and share their art. The '90s were a crossroads for movies, and filmmakers went in all sorts of directions, creating more content for more people.

Many of the greatest and most indicative films of the '90s are available across streaming services, particularly Amazon's Prime Video outlet. So if you're feeling in the mood for some true gems from the end of the 20th century, here are the best '90s flicks currently available on Amazon Prime.

Updated on January 5, 2022: Amazon often adds and takes away films from its virtual catalog, so we'll keep this list updated to note all the cinematic comings and goings. Do check back each month for an updated list of what '90s movies are ready to watch on Amazon Prime.

"Eve's Bayou" is a simmering, intimate drama in the Southern gothic tradition and laced with deep-seated Louisiana culture, told through the eyes of Eve, a curious and observant 10-year-old. Taking place during a long, hot summer in the Black community of Eve's Bayou, Louisiana, young Eve is on the cusp of adolescence and forging her identity when the image of her father — a doctor and prominent member of the town his elders founded — is shattered when she witnesses his serial philandering. The summer grows ever the more uneasy for Eve and her family, with her only respite being her frequent meetings with her Aunt Mozelle, a seer who claims to possess a connection to the supernatural world — just like Eve.

• Starring: Jurnee Smollett, Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield
• Director: Kasi Lemmons
• Year: 1997
• Runtime: 108 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

"Fargo" is a high point of the innovative, indie-influenced 1990s filmmaking scene and one of the first masterpieces from sibling writer-director team Joel and Ethan Coen. It's a shockingly violent crime drama that speaks to the evil and desperation that lurks in the hearts of men, particularly those who need to make a little bit of money and fast. But "Fargo" is also a comic gem, with the laughs coming from bumbling criminals and the idiosyncratic behavior of quirky, no-nonsense tertiary characters in the movie's snowy North Dakota and Minnesota settings. At the center of the interconnected plots stands Marge Gunderson, a nine-months-pregnant police chief who starts putting the pieces together regarding a kidnapping, a local car salesman, and two bizarre yet frightening goons. 

• Starring: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy
• Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
• Year: 1996
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

Satirical, philosophical, unrelentingly violent, and gleefully nihilistic, there's a lot to unpack in "Fight Club," the head-spinning, electric adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's cult classic novel. A depressed insomniac has grown completely numb to modern life, getting and feeling nothing from doing what he's been told he ought to do as a member of modern American society (work mindlessly and buy stuff he doesn't need or really want). He feels alive for the first time when he falls into the orbit of Tyler Durden, a cocky soap maker. Together, they drop out of society and create an underground "fight club," where other disaffected men pummel each other just to feel something. Before long, the fight club evolves into a terroristic anarchist cell, and that's just one of the many baffling turns in "Fight Club."

• Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter
• Director: David Fincher
• Year: 1999
• Runtime: 139 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

The classic, Cold War-era spy show "Mission: Impossible" was a brainy, delicately paced espionage thriller that required close attention be paid. As one of the most taut and exciting small-screen dramas ever, it was a no-brainer for Hollywood to turn it into a movie in the '90s, when filmmakers were remaking old TV shows left and right. However, the franchise-starting "Mission: Impossible" breaks away from its source material immediately, with acclaimed director Brian De Palma and consummate movie star Tom Cruise teaming up to create an elegant, whip-smart, remarkably clever action movie that stands on its own. 

As for the plot, secret agent Ethan Hunt goes on the run when his mentor is killed during a hush-hush mission and he's framed for murder. Hunt puts an expert team together to plan and execute a daring break-in of a CIA facility to get the digital files that will exonerate him.

• Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Beart
• Director: Brian De Palma
• Year: 1996
• Runtime: 110 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66%

"The Opposite of Sex" is a comic femme fatale movie, with a wily protagonist who uses men to get whatever she wants and ensure her basic needs are met. But really, Christina Ricci's calculating Dede is a conduit to discuss, cynically and snidely, the intersection of love, sex, and relationships in the 1990s, when the definitions and boundaries of all three were in flux. 

Pregnant teenager Dede goes to live with her half-brother, Bill, following the death of her stepfather. But then, she convinces Bill's partner, Matt, that the baby is his as the result of a tryst, leading them to abscond with Bill's savings. This prompts a mini-manhunt involving, of all things, cremated ashes, wild allegations, and Lisa Kudrow. 

• Starring: Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow
• Director: Don Roos
• Year: 1998
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

In the 1980s, the HIV and AIDS epidemic killed millions, and the 1993 drama "Philadelphia" reckons with that tragedy. It also condemns the ingrained homophobia that allowed the disease to run rampant for so long, particularly in the United States. 

A deeply sad movie but a landmark moment for representation in film, "Philadelphia" is technically a courtroom drama. The amiable, lovable Tom Hanks — in one of his first dramatic roles — portrays Andrew Beckett, a gay lawyer fired by his elite Philadelphia law firm, he believes, because of his orientation and HIV-positive status. And so, he sues for discrimination, enlisting the only lawyer he can find who will help, and together, they put the whole system on trial.

• Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas
• Director: Jonathan Demme
• Year: 1993
• Runtime: 125 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%

A remake of the 1947 Cary Grant romantic comedy "The Bishop's Wife," "The Preacher's Wife" is a gentle, warm, and spiritual story, updating the action to a predominantly Black Baptist church in a low-traveled area of New York City. The film also weaves in some of the most powerful and dynamic gospel music of the '90s, as sung by Whitney Houston and other vocal powerhouses. 

Reverend Henry Biggs presides over a struggling church with declining membership and money problems, and he's grown inattentive to his wife, Julia, and family. Help arrives via Dudley, who purports to be an angel sent from Heaven, and he inspires newfound drive and motivation in Henry while also complicating things when developing a powerful crush on Julia.

• Starring: Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, Courtney B. Vance
• Director: Penny Marshall
• Year: 1996
• Runtime: 123 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 60%

It's not writer-director Wes Anderson's first movie, but it's the first of the filmmaker's offerings that bears his distinctive cinematic look, favors a soundtrack of '60s British rock, and features a fussy, nerdy, well-dressed main character processing some issues out loud. 

Max Fisher runs dozens of different clubs at the esteemed Rushmore Academy, but he never quite fits in with the rich kids and entitled bullies. On the verge of flunking out because he spends too much time on activities and not enough on grades, he becomes more determined to stay at Rushmore (but more distracted) when he gets a huge crush on new teacher Rosemary, who sees a lot of her adventurous and deceased husband in Max. 

Our hero makes some grand gestures for his affections, funded by his new friend — depressed, divorcing businessman Herman Blume. That relationship sours when Herman develops a thing for Rosemary too. It all ends, as love triangles never do, at Max's play about the Vietnam War.

• Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams
• Director: Wes Anderson
• Year: 1998
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Among the most ambitious, emotionally powerful, and harrowingly realistic film depictions of World War II, "Saving Private Ryan" includes wartime heroics, horrors, and the toll it takes on those who fight. Following a visceral, 25-minute sequence detailing the Normandy Beach landings on D-Day, Captain Miller leads a small group of his brave and frightened troops into enemy territory to recover Private James Ryan, the only surviving brother in his family. It's a journey that will leave some of the men (played by big '90s stars like Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Burns, and Vin Diesel) dead and some forever changed.

• Starring: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Year: 1998
• Runtime: 169 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

An absolutely magical and engrossing cinematic journey to coastal Ireland, "The Secret of Roan Inish" plays on Gaelic mythology to form a modern-day fairy tale that's as charming as it is unpredictable. According to legends in and around Ireland and Scotland, the waters hold creatures called selkies, seals that can transform themselves and live amongst humans. In the post-World War II years, young, ill, grieving Fiona goes off to live with her grandparents in a fishing town, and when she visits the mysterious, animal-loving island of Roan Inish, she thinks she's found her long-lost baby brother — a selkie, in his seal form.

• Starring: Mick Lally, Eileen Colgan, John Lynch
• Director: John Sayles
• Year: 1994
• Runtime: 102 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Whoopi Goldberg is at her funniest and most charismatic in this early '90s hiding-out comedy. In "Sister Act," Goldberg is Deloris, a second-rate Reno nightclub singer having an affair with a mob boss. Then she witnesses a gang hit and has to hide to avoid getting offed herself. Because this is a comedy, Deloris lays low in an amusingly unlikely and audacious place — a convent. Deloris pretends to be a godly woman to gain acceptance into the nunnery, where she's put to work by Mother Superior (Maggie Smith, Professor McGonagall from "Harry Potter") to make use of musical skills and transform the terrible choir into a gospel sensation. The singing nuns become famous, which just might pull too much attention back on Deloris, potentially exposing her whole ruse.

• Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, Harvey Keitel
• Director: Emile Ardolino
• Year: 1992
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

When it comes to rom-coms, they don't get much better than Nora Ephron movies. And when it comes to Ephron's filmography, perhaps the best movie she ever directed is "Sleepless in Seattle." 

This delightful tale finds Sam Baldwin doing his best to raise his son after the recent loss of his wife. But Sam's kid, Jonah, sees that his dad is incredibly lonely, so he phones up a radio talk show psychologist for some advice. Sam's story makes waves across the nation, and it gets the attention of one Annie Reed, who instantly falls head over heels for poor Sam. These two are perfect for each other ... only they live on opposite coasts, Annie is engaged, and Sam doesn't know she exists. Will these two eventually meet up? 

Come on, this is a '90s rom-com starring Tom Hanks an Meg Ryan. You know the answer. But watching it play out is so incredibly charming.

• Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger
• Director: Nora Ephron
• Year: 1993
• Runtime: 104 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%

Life is full of choices, and every day, people make decisions that send them down particular paths that shape their careers or personal lives. Whether they're happy or not, it's human nature to wonder what could've been, and the compelling, innovative romantic comedy "Sliding Doors" explores that idea, presenting two parallel movies about the same person and how her life could be entirely and dramatically different. 

Helen has an important job as an advertising executive in London ... well, until she's fired and grabs a train. One Helen goes home and catches her boyfriend in the middle of a tryst, prompting her to blow up her life in search of happiness. The other Helen gets a train that doesn't arrive in time for her to discover the affair, and her life only gets worse.

• Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch
• Director: Peter Powitt
• Year: 1998
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 65%

Christopher McQuarrie won an Academy Award for his precise, calculated, and exciting screenplay, providing a labyrinthine plot that rewrites cinema's rules about crime dramas, unreliable narrators, and how to properly execute twists. The film is told in flashbacks that are based on the police interrogation room testimony of a low-level con artist named Verbal Kint. And through Verbal's recollections, we come to meet a slew of known criminals who are thought to be involved in a harbor heist with a body count. However, all the clues lead to Keyser Soze, an almost mythically evil crime boss who may not even exist. 

• Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Benicio del Toro
• Director: Bryan Singer
• Year: 1995
• Runtime: 105 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

An emotionally stunning and provocative drama about addiction and enabling (co-written by, of all people, longtime "Saturday Night Live" satirist Al Franken), "When a Man Loves a Woman" doesn't offer an easy, cut-and-dried depiction of alcoholism but rather a realistic slice of life that rings true, messy, and complicated. 

Alcoholism develops for wife and mother Alice as middle age approaches, leaving her family, particularly her husband, to deal with the emotional and physical fallout of the illness. After a drinking binge puts her kids in jeopardy, Alice seeks professional help, which is only the first step in trying to put her fractured life and marriage back together.

• Starring: Andy Garcia, Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino
• Director: Luis Mandoki
• Year: 1994
• Runtime: 125 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).