The Best TV Shows and Movies to Stream on Hulu in July

It's slim pickings for originals on Hulu in July 2020, with only three new titles coming to the streaming service: the Andy Samberg-Cristin Milioti romantic comedy Palm Springs, the latest monthly installment of the Into the Dark horror anthology series called The Current Occupant, and a documentary about what Lin-Manuel Miranda was doing before he became the Hamilton guy that was supposed to come out in June, but got pushed back. (Hamilton itself is coming to Hulu's corporate sibling Disney+.)     

So instead, our recommendations for July are tipped more heavily toward movies, including the acclaimed James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro, a collection of mockumentaries from Christopher Guest, the undisputed master of the form, and the fun Romanian crime movie The Whistlers, which will put you in mind of the Coen Brothers.

Our whole list of suggestions is below, but here's the full list of what's new on (and what's leaving) Hulu in July. We also have our picks for what to watch in July on Netflix, as well as a list of everything coming to streaming in July. If you're looking for even more hand-picked recommendations, click over to our Watch This Now! page.

The Best Shows and Movies on Hulu This Month

Christopher Guest movies

Available July 1
Hulu is adding four comedies from mockumentarian Christopher Guest: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration. These fake documentaries about the delusional members of self-important subcultures are known for their improvisational format and stellar ensemble casts, including Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, and the late, great Fred Willard. Noticeably absent from the lineup is This Is Spinal Tap, Guest's first and greatest mockumentary, which isn't included because it was directed by Rob Reiner, not Guest. 

Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist 

Available July 1
Allow me to get personal with you for a minute. This deliriously silly parody of '70s kung fu movies was my favorite movie when I was in 6th grade, and there are dozens of lines from it that are lodged in my brain forever even though I haven't seen it in probably 15 years. It tells the story of the Chosen One, played by writer-director Steve Oedekerk, who has to save his village from the evil Betty with the help of his sentient tongue, Tonguey. ("Yi yi!") It's a mix of digitally altered footage from a real kung fu movie, Tiger & Crane Fists, and original footage. This one's for the 12-year-olds and 12-year-olds at heart. (Trailer)  

The Whistlers

Available July 2 
This Coenesque Romanian crime movie follows a crooked cop named Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) and a beautiful, mysterious woman named Gilda (Catrinel Marlon) as they study the whistled language of La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands -- a real thing! -- in order to pull off a high-stakes heist. It was Romania's submission to the Academy Awards last year, but it wasn't nominated, probably because it's too much fun. For fans of international Spanish crime capers like White Lines and Sexy Beast. (Trailer)

I Am Not Your Negro

Available July 3
This Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary from director Raoul Peck explores the United States' history of racism through the words of writer and activist James Baldwin. The film adapts Baldwin's unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, which is about his memories of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., into a movie that interrogates the present moment through the past. Baldwin died in 1987, but his ideas about Black liberation are as relevant now as they ever were. (Trailer)

Palm Springs

Available July 10
This romantic comedy takes the Groundhog Day premise and adds another person. Andy Samberg and Cristin Miliotti are both trapped in a time loop, cursed to live the same day over and over again, but at least they have each other. When life is meaningless, you have to derive meaning from love for the people around you. The stars have terrific chemistry, and it's a lot of fun to see the typically grounded Miliotti cut loose and get real weird with it. (Trailer)   

Into the Dark: The Current Occupant

Available July 17
Big shoutout to Blumhouse and Hulu for managing to get this episode of the monthly horror anthology finished during the coronavirus shutdown. It tells the story of a man imprisoned in an asylum who comes to believe that he's the President of the United States and the subject of a diabolical political conspiracy. It was written by Alston Ramsay, a former speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, so he knows a thing or two about diabolical political conspiracies. (no trailer yet)  

We Are Freestyle Love Supreme

Available July 17
Before he was Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man behind Hamilton and the winner of Tonys, Emmys, Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize  -- heck, before he was the guy known for In the Heights -- he was just Lin-Manuel Miranda, member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop improv group that also included talented director Thomas Kail and performers Christopher Jackson and Anthony Veneziale. This documentary, from director Andrew Fried, chronicles a journey that began in 2005, when Fried captured the early beatbox beginnings of the group, and it all leads up to the reunion performance that took place in New York in 2019. -Kaitlin Thomas (Trailer) 

Want to know what else is coming to Hulu? Here's everything new on Hulu in July.