The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in February

Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle. To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. Have fun.

Dear Edward
Apple TV+, February 3

Literary bona fides: based on Ann Napolitano’s Dear Edward (2020)

Connie Britton and Taylor Schilling lead this adaptation of Napolitano’s novel about a 12-year-old boy who is the only survivor of a plane crash who learns, through his connections with others affected by the tragedy, how to cope. Pack your tissues!

You (Season 4)
Netflix, February 9

Literary bona fides: based on the novel series by Caroline Kepnes

Joe Goldberg goes to London! (Yes, I’ll just keep watching this insane show, don’t @ me. Take all my free time, Sera Gamble.)

We Have a Ghost
Netflix, February 24

Literary bona fides: based on this short story by Geoff Manaugh (2017)

This looks so dumb . . . in the best way. David Harbour is haunting Anthony Mackie and his family, and of course, in 2023, when you have a ghost, you put it on social media. Add Jennifer Coolidge as a TV-famous medium, Tig Notaro as some kind of CIA ghosthunter, and it’s sure to be, at the very least, a ludicrous night.

A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Peacock, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun (1959)

Peacock has two adaptations of Hansberry’s classic on offer this month; the first is the powerful 1961 version that features the play’s original Broadway cast—Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil—and which has been preserved in the National Film Registry. This should be your first stop.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958)

Capote famously put Marilyn Monroe forward for the role of Holly Golightly, and was more than annoyed by the studio’s decision to cast Audrey Hepburn. “Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey,” Capote said. But that wasn’t the only reason he hated the film. “The book was really rather bitter,” he told Playboy in 1968, “and Holly Golightly was real—a tough character, not an Audrey Hepburn type at all. The film became a mawkish valentine to New York City and Holly and, as a result, was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly. It bore as much resemblance to my work as the Rockettes do to Ulanova.” Still—it’s a classic!

Dr. No (1962)
HBO Max, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Ian Fleming’s Dr. No (1958)

HBO Max is adding a bunch of Bond movies to its roster this month, but you might as well begin at the beginning.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
HBO Max, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988)

You know the one—still one of the most influential (and best) films in the history of American cinema.

Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Prime Video, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)

Denzel Washington plays Mosley’s Easy Rawlins with aplomb in this satisfying neo-noir, but it’s Don Cheadle as Mouse who really steals the show.

Trainspotting (1996)
Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (1993)

The literary adaptation that launched a thousand college dorm room posters (not to mention Ewan McGregor’s career).

Beloved (1998)
Peacock, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

No film could ever touch Morrison’s novel, but Oprah (along with Danny Glover and Thandiwe Newton) does a surprisingly great job in this classic (and underrated) adaptation.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Prime Video, Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955)

The rare case where the movie is (almost) as good as the book. And the book is very, very good.

Cruel Intentions (1999)
Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos (1782)

Man, Paramount + is really bringing back all my 90s faves this month. Sarah Michelle Gellar! Ryan Phillippe! Reese Witherspoon! Selma Blair! Joshua Jackson! Sean Patrick Thomas! The cocaine-filled crucifix! The lip gloss spit strand! Can’t beat it. No notes.

The Cider House Rules (1999)
Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on John Irving’s The Cider House Rules (1985)

Ah, the perfect old-fashioned ’90s obstetrics melodrama. John Irving won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Michael Caine won one too.

Wonder Boys (2000)
Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys (1995)

One of the best campus movies, based on one of the best campus novels.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)
Neftlix, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)

If you have 11 hours and want to escape the endless it’s-still-winter of February, Netflix has got you covered. Nerds and stoners (and everyone else who enjoys a good epic fantasy chill sesh) rejoice.

Seabiscuit (2003)
Prime Video, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand (1999)

Everyone’s favorite feel-good sports/animals/Tobey Maguire movie—based (as you can see) on a true story!

Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Peacock, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

Featuring one of the very best Mr. Darcys (Mr. Darcies?) known to screen, and I beg you, do not @ me.

A Raisin in the Sun (2008)
Peacock, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun (1959)

The second adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun on Peacock this month is, of course, the Diddy version, starring Mr. Combs as well as Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, and Sanaa Lathan. It’s definitely not better—but it’s not bad, either.

Julie & Julia (2009)
Neftlix, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme (2006), and Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (2005)

Meryl Streep is the perfect Julia Child, and Stanley Tucci is as charming as ever. No cinematic masterpiece, but certainly a nice way to spend an evening.

Eat Pray Love (2010)
Neftlix, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on the memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

Julia Roberts finds herself in this essentially bad (but pretty popular) adaptation of Gilbert’s bestselling memoir. I think with fondness on Peter Bradshaw’s review of it in The Guardian, which begins: “”Sit, watch, groan. Yawn, fidget, stretch. Eat Snickers, pray for end of dire film about Julia Roberts’s emotional growth, love the fact it can’t last for ever. Wince, daydream, frown. Resent script, resent acting, resent dinky tripartite structure. Grit teeth, clench fists, focus on plot. Troubled traveller Julia finds fulfillment through exotic foreign cuisine, exotic foreign religion, sex with exotic foreign Javier Bardem. Film patronises Italians, Indians, Indonesians. Julia finds spirituality, rejects rat race, gives Balinese therapist 16 grand to buy house. Balinese therapist is grateful, thankful, humble. Sigh, blink, sniff. Check watch, groan, slump.”

Ruby Sparks (2011)
Hulu, February 1

Literary bona fides: a movie about a novelist who falls in love with his own character—who then comes to life.

Paul Dano is a blocked novelist who writes about a girl he met in a dream—and then finds her (Zoe Kazan) in his kitchen, fully alive but also subject to his narrative pen. Yikes! I remember this being treated as a romantic comedy, but it’s really kind of a horror story about fragile male ego and consent and idealization and art. Wonder how it’ll land in 2023.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
HBO Max, February 1

Literary bona fides: concerned with Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”

A weird and wonderful film, about an aging, depressed, and possibly floating actor trying to put on a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” and presented (almost) in a single shot.

Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Netflix, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman (2007)

One of my very favorite adaptations of recent memory, Armie Hammer cringe notwithstanding.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Hulu, Peacock, Paramount +, February 1

Literary bona fides: based on James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk (1974)

It’s tough to adapt a book by so beloved a writer—and critics were divided on Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of Baldwin’s fifth novel. As Ben Rybeck wrote, “is this an inferior artist slaughtering a great artist’s work? Or is this one of those cases whose recent examples include In the Bedroom, No Country for Old Men, and Inherent Vice: not so much an adaptation of source material, but a translation of an artist who mastered one medium by another artist who has equally mastered another?” You’ll have to make up your own mind.