The Best Movies of 2017

Faces Places is the best-reviewed movie of 2017

For the first time in the 21st century, a documentary has taken the title of Metacritic's highest-scoring movie of the year.

Faces Places, which finds 89-year-old director Agnes Varda roaming the French countryside with 33-year-old photo-muralist J.R., outscored all other releases in 2017. It's the first time in five years that no film has exceeded a score of 95. And the year's highest-scoring, English-language narrative film, Dunkirk, scored "only" 94.

That said, 2017 marked the third consecutive year that the number of truly outstanding films—marked by Metascores of 90 or higher—was in the double digits. There were 11 such films in the past year, down just slightly from a record-high 12 in 2016. (See chart below.)

In all, 603 films released during 2017 received at least seven reviews from top professional critics. Of those, 357 received positive reviews (scoring 61 or higher). That's an almost shocking 59% approval rate, well up from 2016's figure of 53%.

A total of 69 of those films received a Metascore of 81 or higher, the cutoff we use to indicate "universal acclaim" from reviewers. That is also significantly higher than the number for 2016. And the average Metascore for all film crept up from 60.3 in 2016 to 62.3 in 2017. Either we just experienced a boom year in terms of cinematic quality, or grade inflation is on the rise. (It probably helps that only four 2017 releases scored lower than 20, compared to seven such horrendous films in both 2016 and 2015 and 14 in 2014.)

Total number of films scoring at least 90, by year

The year's best films

Below are 2017's highest-scoring overall films regardless of genre, followed by separate lists of the year's best movies in a variety of categories.

Highest-Scoring Movies Released in 2017

Movie Score Watch Now 1 Faces Places 95   2 A Fantastic Woman 94   3 Dunkirk 94 4 Lady Bird 94   5 Call Me by Your Name 93   6 Foxtrot 92   7 The Florida Project 92   8 Phantom Thread 92   9 EX LIBRIS: The New York Public Library 91   10 I Called Him Morgan 90 11 Loveless 90   12 Columbus 89 13 Uncertain 89 14 In Transit 88   15 Quest 88   16 Rat Film 88 17 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 87   18 Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan 87 19 The Farthest 87 20 Jane 87   21 My Journey Through French Cinema 87 22 The Shape of Water 86   23 My Happy Family 86 Chasing Coral 86 25 I Am Another You 86 26 The Big Sick 86 27 City of Ghosts 86 28 Baby Driver 86 29 Strong Island 86 30 The Salesman 85 31 God's Own Country 85   32 The Ornithologist 85 33 Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi 85   34 Mudbound 85 35 My Life as a Zucchini 85 36 Behemoth 85   37 Starless Dreams 85   The Departure 85   39 Dawson City: Frozen Time 85 40 After the Storm 84 41 BPM (Beats Per Minute) 84   42 The Other Side of Hope 84   43 The Work 84 44 Harmonium 84 45 Graduation 84   46 A Ghost Story 84 47 Get Out 84 48 Glory 84 49 The Post 83   50 The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki 83   51 The Woman Who Left 83   52 Nowhere to Hide 82   53 War for the Planet of the Apes 82 54 Our Time Will Come 82 55 Marjorie Prime 82 56 Sieranevada 82   57 Heal the Living 82 58 The Girl Without Hands 82   59 Step 81 60 The Levelling 81 61 Truman 81 62 Dolores 81   63 Blade Runner 2049 81 64 Raw 81 65 A River Below 81   66 White Sun 81   67 Whose Streets? 81 68 Menashe 81 69 Coco 81   70 Unrest 80 71 The Wound 80 72 Trophy 80   73 On the Beach at Night Alone 80   74 Bending the Arc 80   75 Good Time 80 76 Last Men in Aleppo 80 77 The Survivalist 80 78 The Force 80   79 California Typewriter 80   1945 80   81 Indivisible 80   82 Your Name. 79    83 Lucky 79 84 The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) 79 85 Sami Blood 79   86 One of Us 79   87 Walking Out 79 88 Hermia & Helena 79 89 Brawl in Cell Block 99 79 90 Contemporary Color 79 91 Long Strange Trip 78 92 It Comes at Night 78 93 Clash 78     Barracuda 78   95 A Silent Voice 78   96 The Lost City of Z 78 97 Beach Rats 78 98 Win It All 78 99 Endless Poetry 78 100 Detroit 78

For this and all tables in this article, only movies with seven or more reviews and released in at least one theater (or on a streaming service) in the United States between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017 were considered. Re-releases of older films are excluded. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). Although scores have been rounded to the nearest whole number, movies are ranked prior to rounding. All scores in this article are from January 3, 2018.

Best 2017 Films in Selected Genres

2017's Best Documentaries 1 Faces Places 95   2 EX LIBRIS: The New York Public Library 91   3 I Called Him Morgan 90 4 Uncertain 89 5 In Transit 88   6 Quest 88   7 Rat Film 88 8 Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan 87 9 The Farthest 87 10 Jane 87   11 My Journey Through French Cinema 87 12 Chasing Coral 86 13 I Am Another You 86 14 City of Ghosts 86 15 Strong Island 86 16 Behemoth 85   17 Starless Dreams 85 18 The Departure 85   19 Dawson City: Frozen Time 85 20 The Work 84 21 Nowhere to Hide 82   22 Step 81 23 Dolores 81   24 A River Below 81   25 Whose Streets? 81

2017's Best Foreign-Language Films (Live-action narrative films only) 1 A Fantastic Woman 94   2 Foxtrot 92   3 Loveless 90   4 My Happy Family 86 5 The Salesman 85 6 The Ornithologist 85 7 After the Storm 84 8 BPM (Beats Per Minute) 84   9 The Other Side of Hope 84   10 Harmonium 84 11 Graduation 84   12 Glory 84 13 The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki 83   14 The Woman Who Left 83   15 Our Time Will Come 82 16 Sieranevada 82   17 Heal the Living 82 18 Truman 81 19 White Sun 81   20 The Wound 80 21 On the Beach at Night Alone 80   22 1945 80   23 Indivisible 80   24 Sami Blood 79   25 Clash 78

2017's Best Animated Films 1 My Life as a Zucchini 85 2 The Girl Without Hands 82   3 Coco 81   4 Your Name. 79    5 A Silent Voice 78   6 The Breadwinner 76   7 Birdboy: The Forgotten Children 75   8 The LEGO Batman Movie 75 9 In This Corner of the World 73 10 Ethel & Ernest 72

2017's Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Superhero Films (English-language, live action) 1 The Shape of Water 86   2 Star Wars: The Last Jedi 85   3 War for the Planet of the Apes 82 4 Marjorie Prime 82 5 Blade Runner 2049 81 6 The Survivalist 80 7 Logan 77 8 Wonder Woman 76 9 Okja 75 10 Thor: Ragnarok 73

2017's Best Horror Films and Supernatural Thrillers 1 Get Out 84 2 Raw 81 3 It Comes at Night 78 4 Personal Shopper 77 5 Gerald's Game 77   6 Super Dark Times 75 7 mother! 74 8 Thelma 74   9 Hounds of Love 73 10 The Killing of a Sacred Deer 73 11 The Devil's Candy 72 12 The Lure 72 13 The Untamed 72 14 Prevenge 71 15 It 70

What about the year's worst movies?

Well, they were bad, for starters—though not quite as bad as 2016's worst. Find the 15 most awful titles released in 2017 in the gallery below:

What are your favorites?

What are your selections for the best and worst movies of the past year? Let us know in the comments section below.

If you are looking for even more of 2017's best films, be sure to check out our compilation of over 250 film critic top 10 lists as well as our 2017 Film Awards Scorecard.