Ben Affleck's Best Movies
In this week's Total Recall, we count down the best-reviewed work of the Runner Runner star.
93%
5. Shakespeare in Love
Part of Miramax's 1990s hot streak -- an incredible run that also produced Pulp Fiction, The Piano, The English Patient, and many others, including some of the films on this list -- John Madden's Shakespeare in Love used a tremendously talented cast to explore what might have happened if the Bard experienced a little of the forbidden love he was so gifted at writing about. Here, Affleck plays Ned Alleyn, arguably the foremost actor of his generation (and, according to his characterization in the film, also a bit of a boor). It was a supporting role -- sort of ironic, given Alleyn's status -- and legend has it Affleck only signed on in order to spend time with Gwyneth Paltrow, who was his girlfriend at the time, but he'd go on to star in worse films for flimsier reasons. Winner of seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Shakespeare earned almost universal admiration from critics like Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote, "A happy conceit smoothly executed, this is one of those entertaining confections that's so pleasing to the eye and ear you'd have to be a genuine Scrooge to struggle against it."
94%
4. Dazed and Confused
Affleck had filmed small roles in School Ties and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he scored his most memorable early gig with the part of the lunkheaded bully Fred O'Bannion in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. Featuring a smartly assembled cast of 1990s phenoms (Jason London, Parker Posey) and future stars (including Affleck and Matthew McConaughey), Dazed was something of a bust at the box office, but the critics were always fond of it, and it's since gone on to enjoy a dedicated cult following. Summing up the appeal of this 1970s-set high school comedy, the Austin Chronicle's Marjorie Baumgarten pointed out, "Every one of these characters is completely familiar and recognizable; so far this has held true for every viewer I have spoken with, whether they graduated from high school 25 years ago or last week."
94%
3. The Town
Good Will Hunting taught us that Affleck was a capable screenwriter, but nothing in that movie's blend of comedy and drama suggested he might be able to script a hard-hitting crime drama like The Town. Working from Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves, Affleck co-wrote, directed, and starred in an ensemble piece about a bank robber who ends up falling for a woman his gang victimized during a bank heist (Rebecca Hall) over the strenuous -- and potentially violent -- objections of his longtime right-hand man (Jeremy Renner, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his work). "Affleck's direction is clipped when the plot requires, but he lingers on character-driven scenes (at a garden, a restaurant, a corner) in no apparent rush," observed Amy Biancolli for the Houston Chronicle. "Why hurry, after all? He's arrived."
96%
2. Argo
Affleck's segue from marquee actor to prestige director helped him pull off a remarkable 180-degree reversal of fortune, taking him from the laughingstock star of duds like Gigli to the guy behind the cameras for critical winners like Gone Baby Gone and The Town. And with 2012's Argo, an often unbearably tense dramatization of the secret CIA mission to rescue American ambassadors during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, he completed his career rehabilitation with a Best Picture-winning Oscar champ. "Ben Affleck doesn't merely direct Argo, he directs the hell out of it, nailing the quickening pace, the wayward humor, the nerve-frying suspense," argued Peter Travers for Rolling Stone. "There's no doubt he's crafted one of the best movies of the year."
97%
1. Good Will Hunting
The massively profitable drama that earned Affleck and Matt Damon an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Good Will Hunting opened every door in Hollywood to its young stars/creators -- and even if Affleck ended up using that power to star in Reindeer Games and Surviving Christmas, this story of friendship, forgiveness, and the importance of being true to one's self served as a powerful reminder of what made him a star. These days, Affleck has re-emerged as a talented director, as well as a more mature, seasoned actor -- a fine second act for a success story that took off with the movie the Cincinnati Enquirer's Margaret A. McGurk described as "another auspicious sign that the best of Young Hollywood is not only bringing back respect for the craft of acting, but for the cogent telling of tales as well."
In case you were wondering, here are Affleck's top 10 movies according RT users' scores:
1. Good Will Hunting -- 92%
2. Argo -- 91%
3. Dazed and Confused -- 88%
4. Dogma -- 83%
5. The Town -- 83%
6. Mallrats -- 80%
7. Chasing Amy -- 80%
8. Shakespeare in Love -- 75%
9. Armageddon -- 74%
10. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -- 74%
Take a look through Affleck's complete filmography, as well as the rest of our Total Recall archives. And don't forget to check out the reviews for Runner Runner.
Finally, here's a young Affleck dropping science in a clip from the PBS series The Voyage of the Mimi:
Dave J
Affleck will never be in a better movie than "Good Will Hunting"!
Oct 2 - 04:35 PM
Dr. Decker
Chasing Amy.
Oct 2 - 04:49 PM
Dave J
You may think so... but "Chasing Amy" only has 90% from RT and scored 80% from the users rating!
Oct 2 - 04:54 PM
Lance Reeder
Ending wasn't great for Chasing Amy though it's what most people remember it for now.
Oct 2 - 05:05 PM
Dave J
The percentage of a movie sometimes determines viewers whether or not it's worth watching or not, so when you say that percentages doesn't matter, that is completely false! And although, "Hugo" was enjoyed much more with critics than with users scoring it only 78%, this doesn't change the fact that more users liked "Good Will Hunting" than "Chasing Amy"!
And I still stand by what I initially said! I mean just because you think so it still won't change the overall consensus or in simplistic terms what the general audience really thought about them!
Oct 2 - 05:22 PM
Greg Dinskisk
Rotten Tomatoes isn't objectively right... Film enjoyment is subjective. I personally agree with Dave J, I think. GWH is close to better, though.
Oct 2 - 05:47 PM
Bradly Martin
What didn't you like about Hugo? I know everyone is entitled to there opinion but calling a Scorsese film shit should require rational reasoning.
Oct 2 - 11:17 PM
Dr. Decker
The film was overly sentimental. Yeah, I get it Scorsese, you loved films. Some aspects in the plot are just left alone. The characters were boring. I'm not gonna say all child actors suck, but a lot do. That Hugo kid was annoying after the first 10 minutes. He had no chemistry with Moretz or anyone in the film for that.
Oct 3 - 12:30 PM
Meltem Ceyhan
Hugo is a great movie! You have the worst taste in movies if you really think that Hugo is "shit" and Good Will Hunting is "not" better than Chasing Amy.
Oct 4 - 02:33 AM
Dr. Decker
Who are you to tell me my taste is bad? You liked Hugo? That movie was an ass.
Oct 4 - 03:07 AM
Meltem Ceyhan
Yeah, I liked Hugo. I liked it very much. How old are you? I ask this because I think you are a teenager if you did not understand that movie.
Oct 4 - 04:26 AM
Lance Reeder
Who is he? Someone who's not trolling, that's who which entitles him certain rights i.e. not having to create a thousand different accounts to continue posting because people find him so annoying.
Oct 4 - 08:56 PM
Diego Hard With an Anus
Hugo is one of the worst movies ever made. Fuck off, Meltem, you condescending asswipe.
Oct 4 - 10:43 PM
Meltem Ceyhan
Thanks Lance. I am not a he but thanks. :)
Diego, your accounts should be banned..
Oct 6 - 08:17 AM
Arslan Rasheed
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Oct 6 - 02:20 PM
Arslan Rasheed
Since I started fre+lancing I've been bringing in $90 bucks/h? I sit at home and i am doing my work from my laptop. Th? best thing is that i get more time to spent with my family and with my kids and in the same time i can earn enough to support them... You can do it too. Start here----
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Oct 6 - 02:20 PM
Anthony Procopio
Chasing Amy sucks! I mean it really sucks lol
Oct 3 - 01:09 PM
Dr. Decker
Is that a gay joke, or something? Cause Chasing Amy is about a lesbian, no sucking.
Oct 3 - 02:25 PM
Micah Berman
it's an awful movie in general anyways.
Oct 6 - 12:34 AM
Todd Alexander
It is highly unlikely.
Oct 2 - 04:55 PM
Darci Logan
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Oct 5 - 08:35 AM
Bryan Selwood
State Of Play, The Town and Argo are all better than Good Will Hunting imo
Oct 2 - 05:47 PM
Sagar Roy
Sorry dude ... u r wrong ... Argo is good ... if u go by original story ... Good Will .. State of play and the Town are way ahead of Argo ... Argo is very good but true story ... that its only weakness ... They had the plot and story ...
Oct 6 - 09:31 AM
Meltem Ceyhan
The Town is better. Argo is really good too.
Oct 3 - 04:57 AM
Anthony Procopio
Argo is but he wasn't good in it, he literally shows no emotion through the entire film!!
Oct 3 - 01:10 PM
Meltem Ceyhan
I don't agree with that.
Oct 3 - 04:56 PM
Dave J
Some have said that "The Town" is another carbon copy of Michael Mann's "Heat"!
Oct 3 - 01:51 PM
Meltem Ceyhan
But it is not. :)
Oct 3 - 05:00 PM
Dave J
Maybe I should've said something along the lines that Affleck is never going to get a higher score then he got from "Good Will Hunting"!
Oct 4 - 03:24 PM
Gerardo Medina Pérez
Argo, The Town... Many of them are so much better than Will Hunting. Percentage is critics opinion, but we have ours
Oct 4 - 03:57 AM
Dave J
If you mean the users opinion, "Good Will..." still has higher scores than both "Argo" and "The Town"!
Oct 4 - 03:10 PM
Arslan Rasheed
Since I started fre+lancing I've been bringing in $90 bucks/h? I sit at home and i am doing my work from my laptop. Th? best thing is that i get more time to spent with my family and with my kids and in the same time i can earn enough to support them... You can do it too. Start here----
http://www.jobs53.com
Oct 6 - 02:24 PM