Didn’t make plans for Mother’s Day this year? Just want to chill inside and let the other families over pay for brunch? Then you’ve come to the right place, because there are plenty of Mother’s Day movies on Netflix, streaming free for subscribers, that you can watch in 2026. Your local restaurant servers will thank you for staying home, and you’ll save a ton of money!
If you really want to show your mom you appreciate her, you should probably ask her what she wants to watch, first. If she’s not sure, then Decider is here to help, with a list of the best pro-Mom movies on Netflix. The streaming service tends to put out a new mom-themed Netflix original to choose from every year, so there’s plenty of options. This year, you and your mom can cry together over Sally Field’s friendship with an octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures.
And if that’s not you or mom’s speed, there are plenty of other choices, too. If you’re looking for Mother’s Day movies to watch on Netflix in 2026, you’ve come to the right place. Scroll through the list below for recommendations of holiday-appropriate movies on Netflix to watch on Mother’s Day, from comedy to action to sci-fi to drama. No matter the genre, moms deserve to be celebrated.
Netflix tends to put out a new, mom-themed original movie every year for Mother’s Day weekend, and this year that movie is Remarkably Bright Creatures, the film adaptation of the best-selling 2022 mystery novel by Shelby Van Pelt. Sally Fields stars as a 70-year-old widow named Tova, still grieving the death of her son, who died in a tragic accident years back, when he was just 18. With a little help from a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus, Tova forms a new maternal relationship with a young, lost drifter named Cameron (Lewis Pullman). Remarkably Bright Creatures is a movie that celebrates maternal grief and non-traditional motherhood, and all the complicated feelings that come with that.
Garry Marshall’s late-career holiday ensemble movies (which also includes 2010’s Valentine’s Day and 2011’s New Years Eve) were a fairly transparent attempt to recreate the success of Love, Actually. It’s unfortunate that this romantic comedy—which was panned by critics—ended up being Marshall’s last film before his 2016 death. But honestly, the film is light, fun, and not nearly as bad as the haters would lead you to believe. It’s still with a revisit on Mother’s Day, if only for the ensemble cast that includes Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Jason Sudeikis, Britt Robertson, Timothy Olyphant, Héctor Elizondo, and Jack Whitehall. Plus, it’s on Netflix!
Moms have it tough even when they have help. But single moms who are doing it alone? Basically superheroes. But sometimes, even a superhero reaching a breaking point. That’s the premises of Straw, a tense, emotional thriller that takes over the course of one very bad day for protagonist Janiyah Wiltkinson Played by Oscar-nominated actor Taraji P. Henson, Janiyah is a struggling single mother who works two jobs, is late on her, and can’t afford to put food on the table for little girl, Aria. Aria suffers from seizures, and the medical bills have cleaned Janiyah out. After losing her job and getting evicted, Janiyah finally reaches her breaking point. (Or her final straw, you might say.)
If you’re looking for a more fun-and-action-packed vibe for Mom, you might try Netflix’s 2023 Mother’s Day movie, The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez stars as a mom who is forced to give up her baby for her own protection after she gets involved with some nasty criminals. Twelve years later, those criminals come after her little girl, and Lopez goes full Mama Bear mode on them. It’s a fun, fast-paced action flick that lets Lopez (literally) flex her muscles, and we’re here for it.
If your mom loves to laugh, then go ahead an cue up mthe Netflix comedy Otherhood, which couldn’t be more on-theme when it comes to Mother’s Day movies. You’ve got three iconic actresses— Patricia Arquette, Angela Bassett, and Felicity Huffman—playing suburban moms who decided to show up unannounced at their sons’ apartments when they forget Mother’s Day. Not only is this a movie your mom will love, but you’ll also make yourself look like a better child by comparison to the three lunk-heads (Jake Hoffman, Sinqua Walls, and Jake Lacy) in this film.
If Tom Hanks is America’s Dad, then Jennifer Garner is America’s Mom. No where does she prove that more succinctly than in the delightful family film Yes Day. Garner stars as a mom who once defined her life by saying “yes,” until she had three children and had to start saying “no.” When she realizes she doesn’t like the person she’s become, she and her husband (Edgar Ramírez) decide to try a “Yes Day:” for 24 hours, they will say “yes” to all of their kids’ demands (with a few ground rules, of course). Kids and moms can enjoy this silly film together!
AI can do a lot of things these days, but it couldn’t replace your mom… right? If you’re in the mood for a sci-fi mom-themed movie today, you might try this futuristic thriller on Netflix. Rose Byrne stars as the voice of a creepy robot called Mother, raising her wide-eyed, innocent, human daughter called Daughter (Clara Rugaard). The two live alone in an underground bunker, on a mission to repopulate the planet after an extinction event… until an injured human woman (Hilary Swank) shows up at their door and changes everything. I Am Mother is a smart, exhilarating, and well-paced thriller that will keep you guessing until the final shot.
Lou (2022)
Sometimes being a mom means having a truly terrible child. That’s the premise of Lou, which stars Allison Janney as an ex-CIA agent who must help her neighbor (Jurnee Smollett) retrieve her kidnapped daughter. The action is a blast, and it’s refreshing to see Janney tear it up in a role typically reserved for aging Hollywood men. And make sure you watch until the end—Lou gets deep about motherhood in ways that might surprise you. It’s not exactly a feel-good Mother’s Day movie, but it is a movie that empowers mothers to be their own person.
The Netflix comedy Mother of the Bride, directed by Mark Waters, and written by Robin Bernheim, has no relation to Steve Martin’s Father of the Bride. But it is a fun, light-hearted, Mother’s Day watch. Brooke Shields stars as a serious, high-strung, single mother, Lana, who’s forced to take a backseat during the surprise wedding for her influencer daughter, Emma (iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove). Lana needs to learn to treat Emma like the grown woman she is, and Lana needs to learn that, occasionally, mother does know best. It’s hardly reinventing the wheel of on-screen mother-daughter relationships, but the easy chemistry between Shields and Cosgrove is a delight to watch.
