Total Recall: Ryan Gosling's Best Movies
We count down the best-reviewed work of the Gangster Squad star.
Ryan Gosling has three movies scheduled for release this year -- and with the first, Gangster Squad, making its long-delayed arrival in theaters this weekend, we decided not to waste any time giving the impressively prolific (not to mention widely eclectic) leading man his due by taking a fond look back at his ever-growing filmography's critical highlights. And you know what that means, folks: It's time for Total Recall!
52%
10. The Notebook
We never like to see rotten movies on our Total Recall lists, but this is one case where a non-fresh film's omission would have actually been a shame. Maligned by critics and boyfriends, 2004's The Notebook positioned Gosling for romantic weepie superstardom, placing him opposite the lovely Rachel McAdams in a Nick Cassavetes-directed adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller about star-crossed lovers whose beautifully filmed affair is torn asunder by her controlling parents (and World War II). It's the kind of stuff that has served as grist for countless Lifetime movies, and not a few scribes rolled their eyes at the swelling music and sweeping cinematography -- but for others, The Notebook represented a sensitively assembled, solidly acted paean to a style of filmmaking long out of vogue. Opined an appreciative Rex Reed for the New York Observer, "How rare to see a film that says there is still a value system out there, that being thoughtful and caring is not uncool."
72%
9. Fracture
A slickly twisty crime thriller from Primal Fear director Gregory Hoblit, Fracture stars Gosling as a young district attorney who's using his office as a springboard to a promising career in corporate law -- and eagerly takes what he thinks is the open-and-shut case of a wealthy engineer (Anthony Hopkins) who confessed to shooting his wife (Embeth Davitz) after discovering she was having an affair with a local police officer (Billy Burke). Of course, things aren't quite what they seem, and the state's forced to let the confessed attempted murderer go free -- at which point, the story's gears truly start whirring into motion. "The main interest here is the juxtaposing of Gosling's Method acting with Hopkins's more classical style," observed the Chicago Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum, calling their interaction "a spectacle even more mesmerizing than the settings."
73%
8. The Slaughter Rule
Gosling followed his breakout turn in The Believer with The Slaughter Rule, a little-seen but critically respected indie starring David Morse as a semi-pro football coach whose friendship with a troubled player (Gosling) forces both men to deal with suppressed emotions -- not to mention the whispers of small-town life. Both leads attracted copious critical praise for their work, as did writer/directors Alex and Andrew J. Smith, whose sensitive screenplay and judicious use of small-town setting inspired Netflix's James Rocchi to write, "Montana's wide-open spaces -- and the closed hearts of the people who live there -- make for a sincere, superbly acted story of loss and need."
78%
7. Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Released near Gosling's swoon-tacular, meme-generating matinee idol peak, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's Crazy, Stupid, Love. found him aiming for the mainstream after spending a few years in the indie trenches -- albeit in the services of a romantic comedy with enough of a self-aware streak to keep the critics happy. Starring Steve Carell as a milquetoast middle-aged guy who's gutted by the sudden discovery that his wife (Julianne Moore) is cheating on him with a co-worker (Kevin Bacon) -- and Gosling, natch, as the suave, impeccably dressed ladies' man who takes Carell under his wing -- Crazy hit all the requisite rom-com beats, but tossed some dramatic wrinkles and soulful performances into the mix; the result was, in the words of Empire's Olly Richards, "The kind of film that makes you want to call someone the minute it's over, even if just to tell them to go see this movie."
81%
6. Lars and the Real Girl
It may have a perfectly tasteless-sounding plot, but Lars and the Real Girl is actually far more empathetic, wise, and finely shaded than any movie about a man in a relationship with a sex doll has a right to be -- and that's largely because few actors could have grounded its largely inscrutable and possibly demented central character as sensitively as Gosling, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work. Gosling was supported with a solid cast and a tender script that, in the words of the Globe and Mail's Rick Groen, offered "A sweet little fable about how a delusional man-child is helped by the loving ministrations of his family and community, the kind of throwback flick where human nature is seen as inherently good -- a notion so quaint that it feels damn near buoyant."
Xavier Con
I can't believe Drive is only 7th in the RT's users' score and The Notebook is 1st...
Jan 9 - 02:02 PM
Magnus Grant
I agree. Drive is by far his best film, so badass. The Notebook was really sappy and corny. At least Drive's his number one film according to the overall consensus.
Jan 9 - 02:10 PM
Patrick Mullen
Keep in mind for the most part women are the only people who see The Notebook and I haven't met one woman who doesn't love it. That might explain the high community appreciation.
Jan 9 - 03:24 PM
Jola Borys
I'm a woman and I found it most disappointing Gosling's movie to date. Definitely do not love it. Drive on the contrary... <3
Jan 10 - 11:01 AM
N Wallis
Woman here. Couldn't stand that schmaltz that was The Notebook. The power of the internet -- Patrick has reached a different subset of women! We are out here, although we are the minority.
Jan 13 - 12:27 PM
Nova Qi
I'm a girl and I hated the Notebook! Although it's true, most girls do love it, for reasons I cannot understand...
Jan 15 - 03:16 PM
Vikki Johnson
"Drive" is way too violent. I only went to see it because Gosling was in it. But, even his overwhelming sex appeal and acting talent could not save that movie.
Jan 9 - 06:24 PM
Shane Hoche
I have heard people saying that but in a overall sense it is not very violent. Why do people consider James Bond and PG-13 action movies/war less violent when life is treated so carelessly.
Jan 9 - 11:02 PM
Zach Idiculla
No, it"s definitely violent. haha. Not sure which movie you saw.
Jan 10 - 05:50 AM
Max Power
Really, the fact that its violent makes it bad? That's a horrible benchmark for the quality of a film. Its like saying Notebook is bad because its got too many dresses in it. A ridiculous assertion that ignores everything that the movie accomplishes, which hinges on a tiny fraction of the content.
Jan 10 - 07:05 AM
Will Smart
sorry you are a baby...baby.
Jan 10 - 10:29 AM
James Lin
I don't blame you Vikki. You're a woman so your feelings for that movie is expected. :)
Jan 10 - 10:50 AM
King Simba
Oh the irony at all this disrespect to women when Transformer: Revenger of the Fallen is currently sitting at a 76% positive rating by users.
Jan 10 - 12:32 PM
Paul Thomas
Friggin' THANK YOU, King Simba.
Jan 10 - 07:19 PM
scifi mark
lol nice simba. There are plenty of guy flicks that arent good that are liked by men so to each their own
Jan 10 - 08:41 PM
Mick Travis
Look THE NOTEBOOK is shower nozzle material for a lot of women I get it...but Gosling is an ACTOR, he's not fucking model.
Jan 11 - 12:45 PM
Sam Silbert
Well said.
Jan 11 - 01:23 PM
Daniel Draghici
It dealt with people trying to kill him and him trying to save people, how could it not be violent? James Bond goes around killing hundreds of people and women love him, but driver kills 3-4 and the movie's bad because of it? The fact that you went to see a movie only because of the actor and his "sex" appeal, when the movie has nothing to do with that, shows how intelligent of an opinion you can give.
Jan 12 - 09:41 PM
Michael Coutermarsh
The movie was extremely violent. Were as a pg-13 violent movie like Bond has puffs of smock and people falling over everywhere and things blowing up. Drive has a woman's head being blown open with a shut gone. it's not amount of violent acts that depict rating it's the acts committed and the extreme nature of the violent act.
Personally I disliked the movie, slow, overly violent, and everyone seemed depressed. There were also aspects of the movie that simply made no sense.
The notebook did better because the movie has more draw from a broader age range and more then one sex.
Jan 13 - 09:54 AM
Mitchell Nash
I think this is because of how the movie was advertised as an action-packed thrill ride when it wasn't really that at all. Even though it was a good movie you had people going into it having expectations and having not met those, they felt it was a bad movie.
Jan 10 - 05:21 AM
Zach Idiculla
Or maybe just people were trolling the ratings.
Jan 10 - 05:51 AM
Mitchell Nash
Also note that the average for Drive is 3.9/5. Every other one of those movies is lower [besides Crazy, Stupid, Love. with the same 3.9/5 score].
Jan 10 - 05:25 AM
Jaris Dominguez Padilla
I agree, but I understand people, Drive is an ARTHOUSE movie that not everyone will get
Jan 10 - 06:42 AM
Max Power
Drive is not an arthouse film, not even close.
Jan 10 - 07:06 AM
Dave Mart
Please be so kind as to describe the terms of an arthouse film.
Jan 10 - 02:38 PM
ram bond
movies that mostly have a sexual theme are arthouse films, like the late 80's early 90's softcore films(two moon junction,wild orchid)..
Jan 11 - 12:45 PM
Zach Dugan
not even I would say an arthouse film is just a movie that is shot differently than your average movie where the plot has a clear beginning middle and end. Such as sin city, pretty much any terrance mallick film, and pulp fiction. I don't know whether I would say drive qualifies
Jan 11 - 12:54 PM
Jack Schrute
I can understand it. It's not the fastest-paced film, and while I loved it, I know it alienated a lot of people.
Jan 11 - 04:44 AM