5 Essential Noah Baumbach Movies To Queue Up After Jay Kelly
With Noah Baumbach’s latest film Jay Kelly putting him back in front of a wider crowd, a lot of viewers are now looking for the next Baumbach hit to line up at home. He’s an Oscar-nominated writer-director, a frequent Greta Gerwig collaborator, and one of the sharpest voices on messy families and creative burnout, so this is a quick, practical watchlist — five core titles, one-line hooks, and where you can actually stream or rent them in the U.S. right now.
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Baumbach’s work tends to circle the same emotional terrains — divorce, friendship, artistic compromise — but each film here hits a slightly different register, from raw family drama to loose, screwball comedy, so you can pick your lane or just run them in order.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Baumbach’s breakout is a semi-autobiographical Brooklyn family drama with Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, and a young Jesse Eisenberg navigating a brutal divorce and weaponized intellect. It’s essential after Jay Kelly because it’s the purest version of his “kids stuck in their parents’ fallout” mode, the emotional blueprint a lot of his later work keeps circling back to. In the U.S., it’s typically available via major digital rental platforms (Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play) rather than a long-term subscription slot, so expect to pay a few bucks to rent in HD.
Frances Ha (2012)
Shot in black-and-white and co-written with Greta Gerwig, this New York creative-life story follows Gerwig’s Frances as she flails through friendships, money problems, and stalled ambition with a loose, bittersweet comedy vibe. As a follow-up to Jay Kelly, it’s the best way to see Baumbach lean fully into Gerwig’s energy — same sharp dialogue, but lighter on the angst and heavier on the awkward charm. It’s widely rentable on the usual digital storefronts, and often pops up in the rotation on film-focused streamers, so if you’re already tuning your setup for December drops, BDDS’s recent streaming guide is handy for making it look better than a background watch.
While We’re Young (2014)
Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts play a fortysomething Brooklyn couple pulled into the orbit of a younger, hipper pair (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried) in a generational comedy about aging out of the scene you thought you owned. It’s a smart next step after Jay Kelly because it shows Baumbach turning his usual coming-of-age lens on people who already came of age and aren’t thrilled with the results. In the U.S., it’s usually not locked to a single subscription service for long stretches, but it’s easy to find as a digital rental or purchase across the big platforms.
Mistress America (2015)
Another Baumbach–Gerwig team-up, this one is a fast-talking New York comedy where a lonely college freshman (Lola Kirke) gets swept up in the chaotic orbit of her future stepsister, played by Gerwig as a human tornado of half-finished schemes. It’s a great follow-up to Jay Kelly if you want the same sharp character work but with more screwball pacing and less heaviness — you can feel Baumbach loosening up without losing his bite. Like most of his mid-2010s films, it’s reliably available to rent or buy digitally, and sometimes cycles through the bigger subscription services alongside other Fox Searchlight-era titles.
Marriage Story (2019)
Starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, this is Baumbach’s big, bruising L.A.–New York divorce drama, balancing courtroom tactics with tiny, everyday humiliations; the tone is serious but never joyless, thanks to supporting work from Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta. If Jay Kelly is your entry point, this is the one that shows how far he can scale up his usual relationship chaos without losing the specific, lived-in detail. It’s a Netflix original, so in the U.S. it’s included with a Netflix subscription and easy to drop into any movie night built around the current Top 10 movies on Netflix lineup.
Why This Shortlist Works
For a lot of people, Jay Kelly will be the first time they’ve really clocked Baumbach’s name, and digging through his full filmography can feel like homework. This five-pack cuts straight to the essentials: two core family dramas, two Gerwig-driven New York stories, and one modern Netflix anchor, each with clear themes, a distinct mood, and easy ways to watch in the U.S. right now via either subscription or standard digital rental.
Line these up and you get a clean crash course in how Baumbach writes arguments, friendships, and creative frustration — enough of a foundation that whatever he releases next will land harder because you already know the rhythms he likes to play in.
