Anne Hathaway's Best Movies, Ranked by Metacritic
From a Batman title to 'Brokeback Mountain,' discover Anne Hathaway's best movies, ranked by Metascore.
Anne Hathaway
Rich Fury / Getty ImagesIn the earliest days of her career, Anne Hathaway became known for playing the lead in teenage romantic comedies, often with a royal twist. She starred as Mia Thermapolis, an unassuming American girl who learns she is the heir to a European throne in the coming-of-age Princess Diaries franchise, for example, as well as the eponymous Ella, who falls in love with a prince, in the fairy tale-inspired Ella Enchanted.
As time went on and she matured as an actor, so did the roles she was offered. Soon she was playing a fashion editor's assistant in the feature film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, Jane Austen in Becoming Jane, an addict in recovery in Rachel Getting Married, a soon-to-be bride in Bride Wars, and a cowboy's wife in Brokeback Mountain.
She crossed into more action-heavy dramas with roles in the spy dramedy Get Smart, the early-aughts Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, and the female-focused fourth installment of the "Ocean's" franchise, Ocean's 8. She also showed off her singing prowess in Les Misérables.
Although her career has been dominated by dozens of film roles, she does dip in and out of television from time to time, from voiceover work on The Simpsons and Family Guy, to appearing in live-action episodic anthology series Modern Love and Solos. Her latest project is for the smaller screen as well: starring as the real-life Rebekah Neumann, opposite Jared Leto, on Apple TV+'s limited series WeCrashed.
Here, Metacritic highlights the top 10 movies Hathaway has acted in, ranked by Metascore.
Brokeback Mountain
Metascore: 87
Best for: Fans of Westerns, period dramas, and LGBTQIA+ romance
Where to watch:
Runtime: 134 minutes
Ang Lee's Oscar-winning Western follows the secret romance between Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), who meet on a sheep-herding job one summer in the early 1960s. They connect then, but go on to marry women. The film covers two decades of their complicated lives as Ennis struggles with his sexuality due to childhood teachings, Jack turns to others for comfort, and their respective marriages fall apart. Hathaway plays Jack's wife, Lureen.
"Few films have captured so acutely the desolation of frustrated, repressed passion." — David Ansen, Newsweek
Rachel Getting Married
Metascore: 82
Best for: Fans of complex sibling dynamics and stories about recovery
Where to watch:
Runtime: 113 minutes
Jonathan Demme directed this family drama that centers on Kym Buchman (Hathaway, who received her first Oscar nomination for this performance) getting out of rehab to attend the titular Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. The two are sisters with a painful history, due in great part to Kym's addiction and the loss of their brother, and reintegrating into her family dynamics proves to trigger her now. As she navigates the tense situation she steps back into, she engages in some self-destructive behavior, but the family also works through some deep-rooted trauma.
"The longer it goes on, the more you're swept up into the jet stream of good feeling." — Marc Mohan, The Oregonian
The Dark Knight Rises
Metascore: 78
Best for: Fans of comic book adaptations and stunt-heavy action adventures
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Runtime:
This sequel to The Dark Knight is also the third and final installment in director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, based on the DC Comics character. In this story, Harvey Dent's crimes have been blamed on Batman, aka Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), who becomes a recluse, while Bane (Tom Hardy) wreaks havoc on Gotham and further implicates Batman. Of course, he is finally forced to put on his mask and cape once again to aid law enforcement and take down Bane's army. Hathaway portrays Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman.
"Big, beautiful, IMAX-size scenes that only Nolan could have conceived." — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Interstellar
Metascore: 74
Best for: Fans of futuristic space dramas
Where to watch:
Runtime: 169 minutes
In the near future, a former NASA pilot (Matthew McConaughey) learns about the existence of a wormhole that was opened years prior, presenting access to a galaxy with a dozen new worlds. He and other, current members of NASA (Hathaway and Wes Bentley) set off to investigate planets in that galaxy, looking for a way to ensure humanity's survival as the world continues to change.
"A bold, beautiful cosmic adventure story with a touch of the surreal and the dreamlike, and yet it always feels grounded." — Dave Calhoun, Time Out London
Dark Waters
Metascore: 73
Best for: Fans of ripped-from-the-headlines dramas and environmental law cases
Where to watch:
Runtime: 126 minutes
Todd Haynes directed this dramatization of Robert Bilott's case against chemical manufacturer DuPont, which he found contaminated a small West Virginia town. Mark Ruffalo stars as Robert, while Hathaway plays his wife, Sarah Barlage Bilott, and Bill Camp is Wilbur Tennant, a man who is diagnosed with cancer and sues the company, becoming ostracized for it because they so widely employ people in his community. The film follows Robert as he throws everything he has into this case, even at his own expense.
"Riveting, responsible and deeply unsettling, a first-rate film." — Rex Reed, Observer
Nicholas Nickleby
Metascore: 71
Best for: Fans of Charles Dickens and comedic period pieces
Where to watch:
Runtime: 132 minutes
Charles Dickens' third novel is adapted by Douglas McGrath, with Charlie Hunnam starring as the titular character, who becomes the patriarch of his family at age 19. Determined to help his sister, who has been the receiver of unwanted attention from his uncle Ralph's (Christopher Plummer) lecherous friends, Nicholas sets out to stop Ralph's schemes. But he is also tasked with caring for Smike (Jamie Bell), a boy he breaks out of an abusive boarding school. Although the situations these characters are in sound simply tragic, there is ample humor built into Nicholas' misadventures, too. Hathaway plays Madeline Bray, an artist who catches Nicholas' eye, but who has been promised to another man.
"The movie's enthusiasm is contagious." — Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
The Cat Returns
Metascore: 70
Best for: Fans of fantastical animation, cats, and journeys of self-discovery
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Runtime: 75 minutes
Hiroyuki Morita directed this feature film adaptation of the manga of the same title. Originally produced in Japanese, the film was later dubbed in English, as well. The story follows Haru, a high school student with the ability to talk to cats. When she saves the prince of the cat kingdom from death, she is offered his hand in marriage, and although she doesn't want it, she is assumed to have accepted. In order to get out of it, she sets out on a journey to the cat bureau, but ends up in the castle of the Cat King, transforming into a feline herself. Through the events of the film, she has to find her voice in order to return home. Chizuru Ikewaki voices Haru in the original, with Hathaway voicing her in the English version.
"The film offers a winning heroine and a joyful dip into Japanese folklore." — Ben Nicholson, Cinevue
Colossal
Metascore: 70
Best for: Fans of science fiction, metaphorical commentary, and dark comedy
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Runtime: 109 minutes
Hathaway stars as Gloria, an alcoholic, unemployed writer who accidentally manifests a monster thousands of miles away from where she is living. Unlike many things in her life that she feels powerless against, Gloria learns to control this monster, and she even shares the details with her childhood friend (Jason Sudeikis). This creates more problems for her and more destruction halfway across the world, though, leaving her to do some soul-searching to figure out why this is happening and what she can do about it.
"From its weird little prologue to a nearly perfect ending, Colossal is a trip in multiple meanings of that world." — Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
Don Jon
Metascore: 66
Best for: Fans of relationship dramas and introspective explorations of the male psyche
Where to watch:
Runtime: 90 minutes
This 2013 romantic drama is really a vehicle for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who proves he is a triple threat by writing, directing, and starring in the film as the titular character, Jon Martello. Jon is a single guy who even with relationships because the pornography he watches has given him unrealistic standards and expectations. That is not to say he doesn't attempt relationships throughout the course of the film, though, he has a lot to learn, emotionally, before he can make a true, deep connection. Hathaway appears as a fictional actor named Emily.
""[A] deceptively sincere movie about masculinity and its discontents." — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Les Misérables
Metascore: 63
Best for: Fans of musicals and morality tales, especially ones steeped in exploring justice
Where to watch:
Runtime: 158 minutes
The 2012 version of Victor Hugo's source material stars Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, a man who was imprisoned for almost two decades for stealing bread, but after his release ends up as a factory owner and Parisian mayor. However, he does this under a new identity, which almost gets found out by a run-in with Javert (Russell Crowe), a police official obsessed with capturing him. Set in France in the 1830s, the story juxtaposes Jean's moral actions, such as helping his workers and clearing the name of the man falsely arrested as him, with Javert's abuses of power. Hathaway portrays Fantine, a single mother and one of Jean's workers.TEST
"[It] rings with all the emotion and power of the source and provides a new model for the movie musical." — Helen O'Hara, Empire