New movies to stream this week: 'Roe v. Wade,' 'Every Breath You Take' and more Michael O'Sullivan, The Washington Post April 1, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail 8 1of8John Schneider, left, and Jon Voight play Supreme Court justices in "Roe v. Wade."Quiver DistributionShow MoreShow Less 2of8Matt Smith in "Mapplethorpe: The Director's Cut."Samuel Goldwyn FilmsShow MoreShow Less 3of8 6of8 7of8A scene aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in the documentary "The Last Cruise."HBOShow MoreShow Less 8of8 Arriving amid controversy and with a chip on its shoulder, the drama "Roe v. Wade" lands on premium video-on-demand services after premiering at February's Conservative Political Action Conference. Billed as the true story of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case affirming the right to safe and legal abortion, the film was produced, co-written and co-directed by Nick Loeb, who also plays the film's main character: Bernard Nathanson, best known as the co-founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (now NARAL Pro-Choice America) and an abortion provider who renounced his practice to become a prominent opponent of the procedure. (The real-life Nathanson narrated the infamous 1984 antiabortion documentary "The Silent Scream.") Loeb, for his part, is less known for his acting than for being Sofia Vergara's ex-husband, who recently lost on appeal his custody lawsuit over frozen embryos he and the actress created while married. Loeb's performance in "Roe" is not what anyone will be talking about after watching this polemic abortion narrative - one that centers on a man (ironically, given its subject matter). Those who have already made up their minds in favor of abortion rights are unlikely to be swayed by the film's arguments against them, but persuasion seems hardly the point. Mostly, the movie plays like catnip to confirmed abortion opponents, and in addition to some brief, shockingly graphic images - it includes performances by Donald Trump-supporting actors Jon Voight, John Schneider and Stacey Dash - along with a bizarrely unshaven Corbin Bernsen as Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion in "Roe." Viewers on the left may come looking for unintended comedy in cameos by Tomi Lahren (as Blackmun's daughter) and Milo Yiannopoulos (as a doctor who teaches Nathanson a timesaving abortion technique), but these blink-and-you'll-miss-them performances are less deliciously overripe than simply dull. PG-13. Available on demand via Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and cable/satellite. Contains mature thematic elements and some bloody and disturbing images. 112 minutes.