Welcome to another edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything, a weekly guide to all the new movies released on Friday. I'm Brett Arnold, film critic and host of At the Movies Again, a weekly Siskel & Ebert-style movie review show.

In theaters this week is an incredibly bold dark comedy that's sure to alienate audiences: The Drama starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. But that movie is playing second fiddle to what will surely be one of, if not the, highest-grossing movies of the year, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

At home, you can rent or buy Emerald Fennell's buzzy Wuthering Heights as well as Scream 7, which just became the highest-grossing movie in that franchise's 30-year history.

And on streaming services you're likely already paying for, a new stoner comedy classic emerges in Pizza Movie on Hulu, and Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried's The Housemaid is now on Starz.

Read on, as there's a lot more, and there's always something for everyone.

• What to watch in theaters

• Movies newly available to rent or buy

• Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have

🎥 What to watch in theaters

My recommendation: The Drama

Why you should see it: How well do you know your partner? We all think we know the people in our lives, but do we really? How much of what we know about our spouse was learned during courtship, when you were two different people than you are today? Can a person fundamentally change?

The Drama, a pitch-black comedy about marriage that's actually about much bigger ideas, including race — but also a plot twist I can't tell you that is the centerpiece tease of the above trailer — asks these questions. But let's just say that the unmentioned detail (click here if you want the spoiler) makes it about American culture in a very specific way.

Kristoffer Borgli's fourth film, his second in a row at A24 after the Nicolas Cage-starring Dream Scenario, stars Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a couple preparing for their wedding. During a night of wine and food tasting to finalize their menu, Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) play an off-the-cuff game with their best man, Mike (Mamoudou Athie), and maid of honor Rachel (Alana Haim, who gets to shine here like never before).

They all drink and reveal the worst things they’ve ever done. What Emma decides to share is the big reveal. The rest of the movie revolves around Charlie convincing himself that he married a psychopath and that he must not actually know her as he thought he did. There's definitely a racial element at play, too, with two interracial couples and their differing reactions to certain revelations shaping Borgli's point on how these characters see one another. You'll appreciate my vaguery when you watch it!

The Drama is slyly brilliant in the way it gets at the inherent performance involved in the dating process: how we all want to serve up the best version of ourselves, accentuate the positives and maybe leave out some of the negatives entirely. It's a movie about the disconnect between how we present ourselves and who we actually are, and the hypocrisy that can come with pretending otherwise. There are several characters in the movie who spill dark secrets, and what they reveal, and how they react to the other reveals, speak volumes.

It's also impeccably crafted and particularly well edited; the first act lays the foundation for their relationship via flashback as Pattinson reads his speech aloud to his best man, cutting to the moments in jarring fashion for comedic effect, purposefully subverting rom-com meet-cute tropes with the more uncomfortable truth beneath them. Is it creepy that he lied about reading a book to get her attention?

Thankfully, Borgli is as interested in making the audience laugh as he is in making them squirm, and he excels at both. The Drama builds to an incredibly satisfying third act of chaotic madness, and ends on a surprisingly tender note that made me want to experience it all again. It's a conversation starter about intimacy and transparency that will either be a fun date night or the last one you ever go on; either way, a memorable night out!

What other critics are saying: Reviews are all over the place! William Bibbiani at TheWrap writes, "It's disquieting, and even though it’s also riveting, it’s difficult to shake the sense that everyone is getting away with something they shouldn’t." Time's Stephanie Zacharek, however, says, "It’s hard to have any idea what The Drama is trying to say or do, beyond tease its audience with its lack of specificity."

How to watch: The Drama is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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My not-quite-a-recommendation: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Why you should still maybe see it (because your kids are likely dragging you anyway): This sequel to 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which coasted on the success of the iconic Nintendo video game name brand to the tune of $1.3 billion, is actually an improvement on the first film, despite making a lot of the same mistakes.

It's a frenzied movie that kids will go crazy for, and parents will simply have to endure. It's full of Easter eggs, references and newly introduced characters for fans of all ages to appreciate. If you played the original 1985 NES game, you'll recognize a subtle nod to the sound cues from the underground cave levels at an appropriate moment. If you played the 2007 game Super Mario Galaxy, upon which the movie is sort of based, you'll appreciate the "worlds" and how the characters travel to get to them. The list goes on and on since there are hundreds of games.

Having thwarted Bowser’s (Jack Black) previous plot to marry Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) now face a fresh threat in Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), who is determined to liberate his father from captivity and restore the family legacy. Alongside companions new and old (hello, Yoshi!), the brothers travel across the stars to stop the young heir’s crusade.

The computer animation is impressive and occasionally quite inventive, and really nails the look and feel of the games. Two moments that had me smiling: a map that Mario and Luigi have to plant a flag in, and a chase sequence at a gravity-defying casino.

But those moments are fleeting, and the rest is unsatisfying on a story level because the constant references and Easter eggs take up all the oxygen. It's, somehow, both too plot-heavy and incoherent plotwise. All attempts to give these characters emotional weight fall flat, which makes sense, as this is a children's movie based on thinly drawn video game characters who, due to their cultural footprint, feel more like mascots than people.

It's a fool's errand to try to review The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as there's simply not much to it. It will easily gross well over a billion dollars, and your kids will probably watch it nearly that many times. It also not-so-slyly introduces the concept of the Nintendo Cinematic Universe, so get used to seeing IP from your childhood on the big screen. Next up? A live-action Legend of Zelda! Let's hope that those games' more cinematic nature leads to better adaptations than these.

What other critics are saying: Reviews are generally quite negative, though most agree it's better than the first. The Telegraph's Robbie Collin writes, "It’s a testament to just how bad the original Super Mario Bros. Movie was that this sequel can be a noticeable improvement in every respect — animation, storytelling, humor, vocal performances, you name it — while still comfortably qualifying as absolute rubbish." Lindsay Bahr at the AP nails it with this: "There is, of course, something inherently cynical about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is that on a certain level it exists primarily to make more money off these characters, through the games, the merchandise and the inevitable theme park rides."

How to watch: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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💸 Movies newly available to rent or buy

My recommendation: Wuthering Heights

Why you should see it: My colleague Kelsey Weekman covered this one: Director Emerald Fennell has a bad reputation among film enthusiasts online: Her movies, like Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, are ridiculously stylish, but some say they fumble their moral and thematic messaging where it counts, swerving commentary about rape culture and class in favor of shock value and vibes. Here she is now with a massive budget to adapt the beloved book she has a deep personal connection to.

There are high expectations for Fennell, who many immediately believed would fumble such precious intellectual property. The scare quotes in the official title "Wuthering Heights," as seen in the movie poster, are intended to remind you that this is just one woman’s take on the story. But that’s what you risk when adapting a book. You will have to drop some things (at least half the plot, in this case) and pick some up (several kinky sex acts that, no shade to author Emily Brontë, probably had not graced Victorian public consciousness before her early death).

Here's the plot, in case you don’t remember high school English class: As a child, Catherine’s family takes in Heathcliff, a mistreated boy, and forces him to work with them. Catherine and Heathcliff are best friends, though they are divided by class and status. As she grows up, Catherine realizes, with an air of mean-spiritedness, that she’ll need to marry rich to get out of here. She does so, betraying Heathcliff, who runs off and unexpectedly also becomes rich.

When he returns, they continue their toxic situationship, torturing each other by flirting with their wealthy neighbors, the Linton siblings. They both suck — they’re cruel and sadistic to everyone around them — but they have an otherworldly draw to one another, fueled by a series of some of the greatest lines in literary history: “You say I killed you? Haunt me then!” Come on. “He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

Because this adaptation has to have a reasonable runtime, it zeroes in on that one relationship and drops the second generation of torture Heathcliff and Catherine inflict on one another, in life and beyond. Without that layer of nuance, what’s left is basically fan fiction. It simplifies their trauma and class struggles and omits racial tension that scholars are still debating. But I’d argue that it has to. It’s just one adaptation, with walls made of flesh and comically large strawberries. We have so many other versions out there. This one’s for the fans of aesthetics and sensuality.

The choice to focus on toxicity and tension makes sense in the broader context of the novel too. When Brontë’s novel was published, critics decried its “vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors.” That same reviewer wrote, “How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery.” In 1848! Good grief!

But back to the movie. Infused with distinct visuals, the most gorgeous anachronistic costuming I’ve seen since Marie Antoinette, original music from party girl poetess Charli xcx and near-incessant horniness between its two leads, it is never boring. After all, Fennell is the woman who gave us those Saltburn bathtub and grave scenes. I can’t say Wuthering Heights is good in all the ways I wanted it to be — I craved a deeper exploration of its themes. But, to paraphrase the source material, I know this adaptation will be with me always and drive me mad.

What other critics are saying: With a divisive 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics are deliciously split on the film. Many of its biggest critiques also contribute to its strengths. Vulture’s Alison Willmore writes that it’s “Fennell’s dumbest movie, and I say that with all admiration, because it also happens to be her best to date” because it focuses on the “smooth-brained sensuality” of its two messy main characters. The AP’s Lindsey Bahr says it’s “oddly shallow and blunt: garish and stylized fan fiction with the scope and budget of an old-school Hollywood epic.” No one can say it isn’t gorgeous, though.

How to watch: Wuthering Heights is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.

Rent or buy

My bonus not-a-recommendation: Scream 7

Why you should skip it: In Scream 7, when a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Campbell's Sidney has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target. Determined to protect her family, she must face the horrors of her past to put an end to the bloodshed once and for all. Essentially, Sidney must face off against the most terrifying adversary yet ... her teenage daughter!

Without delving into spoiler territory, the biggest problem with Scream 7 is that the series has now fully completed its transition from espousing wisdom on the genre at large to commenting entirely on itself, a phenomenon that's become truer with each new entry since the 2022 reboot.

This time it's Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy listing new rules that the 2026 version of Ghostface will follow, a half-hearted attempt at pontificating on nostalgia that includes references to Halloween (2018) and Laurie Strode's trauma. If she kept talking, maybe Mindy would eventually realize the movie she's in is guilty of the very thing she's critiquing by bringing back Sidney Prescott to be tormented yet again — or that Kevin Williamson basically already made this movie way back in 1998 with Halloween: H20.

It wants to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to the use of deepfakes and AI. That sounds like fertile ground for a modern Scream movie in theory, considering the film's iconic use of phone calls, but in practice, it's inherently uncinematic, low-rent and cheap-feeling.

Scream 7 is constantly talking out of both sides of its mouth, indulging in the very behavior it's meant to be satirizing, like when Sidney flat-out says that a certain plot element would make for a "better story" than what the movie is actually doing. The ending, i.e., the killer's big "here's what motivated me" reveal, is clearly meant to make fun of a certain type of Scream fan and their response to the last movie, yet it still winds up feeling like it's endorsing that view by including it.

Scream (2022) lovingly targeted the idea of fandom run amok through a not-so-subtle reference to The Last Jedi by having the killers' motivations revolve around fans' reactions to Stab 8, the in-universe movies based on the "real" events of Scream. Scream 7 has, sadly, come full circle in that it's absolutely the Rise of Skywalker of the series: a bizarre attempted course-correct that feels like an apology for the last movie, which was actually a hit and is more beloved than this one will ever be.

What other critics are saying: It's the worst-reviewed entry in the franchise since 2000's Scream 3. IndieWire's Alison Foreman writes, "Williamson’s greatest failure comes in the film’s relationship to meta-commentary. Once the series’s calling card, self-awareness has here been dulled into self-soothing." Variety's Owen Gleiberman declares, "Williamson has gone back to basics, but the result is a Scream sequel that, while it nods in the direction of being seductively convoluted, is really just … basic."

How to watch: Scream 7 is now available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and other VOD platforms.

Rent or buy

But that's not all ...

• Avatar: Fire and Ash: It's frankly stunning the degree to which Avatar: Fire and Ash feels like the same movie as the last one. In the film, conflict on Pandora escalates as Jake and Neytiri's family encounter a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe led by the evil Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, who delivers the film's standout performance. She's Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter, and there's something quite special about tracing the history of cinema from the silent era to this instance of high-tech futurist cinema. While it's as incredible an achievement as ever on a technical level, if you're one of those "I don't get Avatar" people, Fire and Ash doesn't do anything new to make it make sense. It's simply more of the same, which is certainly enough for some, considering they are the highest-grossing films of all time. Rent or buy

• Pillion: Alexander Skarsgård and Henry Melling star in this unexpectedly sweet and funny romantic comedy about a gay BDSM-centric relationship. It's more romantic than you'd expect for a movie about a dom-sub relationship. Rent or buy

📺 Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have

My recommendation: Pizza Movie

Why you should watch it: Don't let the unassuming title fool you: Pizza Movie is one of the year's funniest films, a "stoner comedy" that's hilarious and clever in equal measure, with a premise seemingly conceived for maximum silliness.

The movie follows two college roommates (Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone of ABC's The Goldbergs) after they take some special drugs called "M.I.N.T.S." and experience a terrifying (and very, very funny) hallucinogenic high. The only way to counteract the drug is to eat pizza.

It leans into its very dumb premise at every turn and keeps surprising you with how far it's willing to go to make you laugh and squeeze in one more joke. The humor is all over the place, from fart jokes to special effects-heavy sequences, to seemingly random allusions to movies and fourth-wall-breaking deconstructions of the form. The performances from all the cast members, especially Giambrone — a clear standout in what should be a breakout performance — sell everything expertly.

I don't want to ruin any of the jokes, many of which require context to be funny, but let me just lay out how cleverly structured it is: Their high has distinct phases, and each phase has its own goofy rules. In one, they suddenly can't tell lies, like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar, and in another, whenever they swear, their heads explode, which is so far over the top that I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face.

The humor doesn't lie just in these scenarios themselves, but in how the characters react to them and push their limits with each new, insane concept. The movie has shades of other teen/college comedy classics like Superbad, making you emotionally invested in these characters alongside all the comedy. It's a movie about friendship, ultimately!

Pizza Movie may be stupid, but it's really smart in how it goes about it. Most importantly, it's laugh-out-loud funny throughout and an instant stoner-comedy classic.

What other critics are saying: Reviews are overall very good, but there are definitely some naysayers. Guy Lodge at Variety writes that it is "disposable, practically by design, but it may have happened upon a comic duo worth reteaming."

How to watch: Pizza Movie is now streaming on Hulu.

Watch on Hulu

My recommendation: The Housemaid

Why you should watch it: Amanda Seyfried, in particular, has an absolute blast in The Housemaid, .Paul Feig's adaptation of the bestselling novel that, if the movie is any indication, must read like a trashy airport paperback, and I mean that as a compliment

Hoping for a fresh start, a young woman (Sydney Sweeney) becomes a live-in maid for a wealthy couple (Seyfried’s Nina and her husband, played by Brandon Sklenar), who harbor sinister secrets.

We quickly learn that Sweeney's character might have a secret of her own, but the movie is clever and twisty enough that just when you think you've got a handle on what's going on, the rug gets pulled out from under you.

It's as sexy as it is kind of bonkers, and the less said about what transpires, the better. It's tough to talk about without spoiling the fun, as any comparison I make will give away and ruin something that is better discovered in real time. But let's just say it's sneakily ... feminist in a way that will feel familiar. It's a shame it takes the film until the third act to really let its themes — and Sweeney — fly.

Feig (Bridesmaids, A Simple Favor) might not seem to be the best fit for such lurid material, but I must admit being impressed with how wacko things get. It overstays its welcome maybe just a hair too long, as it runs over two hours, but you won't be bored.

What other critics are saying: It's getting great marks! AP's Mark Kennedy writes, "It is exactly what we didn’t know we needed: a twisty, psychological horror-thriller with nudity that’s all wrapped up in an empowerment message." William Bibbiani at TheWrap agrees, calling it "glorious, angry, hilarious, nail-biting fun from a director, writer and cast who all know exactly what they’re doing, and relish in the fact that they’re practically getting away with murder."

How to watch: The Housemaid is now streaming on Starz.

Watch on Starz

But that's not all ...

• 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is one of the most audacious movies I've ever seen from a big-studio franchise, subverting zombie-movie tropes at every turn and delivering a singular, memorable experience that's as thought-provoking as it is purely entertaining. I may prefer the overall look and feel of the previous entry, but as a full-on moviegoing experience, I enjoyed my trip to The Bone Temple even more. It's strangely crowd-pleasing for how depraved it gets; a movie that's hilarious at one moment and, the next, depicts the most sadistic, nihilistic and upsetting violence I've ever seen in a major studio movie. Human beings are skinned alive as sacrifices, and it's still chilling any time Samson rips someone's head off so hard that their spine is still attached. It also features Ralph Fiennes dancing with a huge naked zombie and listening to a bunch of killer '80s vinyl, so it's not all doom and gloom! Now streaming on Netflix.

• Crime 101: My colleague Kelsey Weekman also covered this one, which has an insanely stacked cast including Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan and Nick Nolte: "Adapted from a Don Winslow novella, it’s an action movie with limited action, deciding instead to zero in on those characters, zigging and zagging them out of each other's lives. The film cobbles together tropes, characters and plot points from pretty much every other crime movie, but that worked for me — it’s about theft, after all." Now streaming on Prime Video.

• Dolly: If you ever wondered, "What would The Texas Chain Saw Massacre look like if Stifler was in it?" Dolly is the movie for you. While it's great to see Seann William Scott again, the movie itself feels like a pale imitation of better fare, serving as a feature-length excuse to show off a particularly jarring prosthetic that's featured so often it starts to feel like a joke. As for the plot itself, a woman (she's about to be proposed to by Scott's character before they're ... interrupted) is abducted by a deranged figure who wants to raise her as its child. Dolly was shot on 16mm film and has a nice, nasty look to it, and I dug the porcelain mask the killer wears, but there's little here to get excited about. Every time it pays direct homage to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it's just another reminder that your time would be better spent watching that. Now streaming on Shudder.

• The Testament of Ann Lee: Amanda Seyfried is a revelation in this one-of-a-kind musical about the true story of Ann Lee, the founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers. The movie brilliantly works the hymns into rapturous musical numbers — some of which are earwormy enough to get stuck in your head — and really makes you understand how Lee’s religious rise was based in trauma and sexual repression. Worth noting: Director Mona Fastvold’s husband, Brady Corbet, directed The Brutalist last year. Both films are notable for looking like they cost tens of millions more than they actually did, which is an impressive feat in and of itself. Now streaming on Hulu.

That's all for this week — we'll see you next week at the movies!

Looking for more recs? Find your next watch on the Yahoo 100, our daily list of the most popular movies of the year.