Mr. Church

Mr. Church is currently streaming in Australia on Netflix, and in the US on fuboTV and Philo, and it rewards the patience it asks of you. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. Its 7/10 TMDB score, built from 530 ratings, reflects a title that consistently delivers. Eddie Murphy anchors it with a performance that rewards close attention. Start it on Netflix whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

Mr. Church arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Mr. Church trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years. Eddie Murphy and Britt Robertson lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2016. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Viewers drawn to character-driven storytelling will find plenty to sit with in Mr. Church. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Eddie Murphy is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.