
(Photo by WB/Courtesy Everett Collection. A MINECRAFT MOVIE.)
All Jack Black Movies Ranked
The latest: A Minecraft Movie starring Jack “Steve” Black is taking over theaters!
He was raised by satellite engineers, he grew up to wield the Pick of Destiny, and he’s amassed an impressive — and impressively eclectic — filmography as a manic funnyman, dramatic actor, and everything in between. We’re talking, of course, about the one and only Jack Black, a movie star whose singularly effusive charisma has helped fuel a string of blockbuster hits — King Kong, Tropic Thunder, the Jumanji revival — and cult classics — High Fidelity, Nacho Libre, School of Rock — stretching back for more than a quarter of a century. Clearly, this is a collected achievement worth celebrating — which is exactly why we’ve gone to the effort of rounding up his major film roles and sorting them by Tomatometer. How many Jack Black movies have you seen, and where do your favorites rank? Read on to find out!
92%
Critics Consensus: Black's exuberant, gleeful performance turns School of Rock into a hilarious, rocking good time.
Synopsis: Overly enthusiastic guitarist Dewey Finn (Jack Black) gets thrown out of his bar band and finds himself in desperate need of work. Posing as a... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman
Directed By: Richard Linklater
91%
Critics Consensus: The deft hand of director Stephen Frears and strong performances by the ensemble cast combine to tell an entertaining story with a rock-solid soundtrack.
Synopsis: Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is the owner of a failing record store in Chicago, where he sells music the old-fashioned way -- on vinyl. Although... View Full Synopsis
Starring: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black
Directed By: Stephen Frears
91%
Critics Consensus: The sweetly nostalgic Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood finds Richard Linklater reusing visual and thematic ingredients in a deeply personal, freshly inspired way.
Synopsis: Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood tells the story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives --... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Bill Wise, Lee Eddy, Milo Coy
Directed By: Richard Linklater
88%
Critics Consensus: Richard Linklater's Bernie is a gently told and unexpectedly amusing true-crime comedy that benefits from an impressive performance by Jack Black.
Synopsis: Assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede is one of the most-beloved residents in the small Texas town of Carthage. Sunday-school teacher, choir member and creator of... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman
Directed By: Richard Linklater
87%
Critics Consensus: Kung Fu Panda has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation makes for winning Summer entertainment.
Synopsis: Po the panda works in his family's noodle shop and dreams of becoming a kung-fu master. His dream becomes a reality when, unexpectedly, he must... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, David Cross
Directed By: John Stevenson, Mark Osborne
87%
Critics Consensus: Kung Fu Panda 3 boasts the requisite visual splendor, but like its rotund protagonist, this sequel's narrative is also surprisingly nimble, adding up to animated fun for the whole family.
Synopsis: Living large and loving life, Po realizes that he has a lot to learn if he's going to fulfill the next challenge from his beloved... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie
Directed By: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni
84%
Critics Consensus: Featuring state-of-the-art special effects, terrific performances, and a majestic sense of spectacle, Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong is a potent epic that's faithful to the spirit of the 1933 original.
Synopsis: Peter Jackson's expansive remake of the 1933 classic follows director Carl Denham (Jack Black) and his crew on a journey from New York City to... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis
Directed By: Peter Jackson
82%
Critics Consensus: With biting satire, plenty of subversive humor, and an unforgettable turn by Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder is a triumphant late summer comedy.
Synopsis: Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), pampered action superstar, sets out for Southeast Asia to take part in the biggest, most-expensive war movie produced, but soon after... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte
Directed By: Ben Stiller
82%
Critics Consensus: The storyline arc may seem a tad familiar to fans of the original, but Kung Fu Panda 2 offers enough action, comedy, and visual sparkle to compensate.
Synopsis: Now known as the Dragon Warrior, Po protects the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, the Furious Five. However, a... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman
Directed By: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
78%
Critics Consensus: Slight yet ultimately absorbing, Jesus' Son makes effective use of its period setting and talented ensemble cast.
Synopsis: Set in the early 1970's, "Jesus' Son" is a series of linked yet discrete stories that chart the to-hell-and-back journey of a young man known... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Denis Leary, Jack Black
Directed By: Alison Maclean
78%
Critics Consensus: Goosebumps boasts more than enough of its spooky source material's kid-friendly charm to make up for some slightly scattershot humor and a hurried pace.
Synopsis: Upset about moving from the big city to a small town, young Zach Cooper finds a silver lining when he meets his beautiful neighbor Hannah.... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee
Directed By: Rob Letterman
77%
Critics Consensus: Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot avoids inspirational biopic clichés thanks to sensitive work from writer-director Gus Van Sant and the admirable efforts of a well-chosen cast.
Synopsis: After nearly dying in a car accident, the last thing Oregon slacker John Callahan intends to do is give up alcohol. Encouraged by his girlfriend... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black
Directed By: Gus Van Sant
76%
Critics Consensus: Even though Ice Age is treading over the same grounds as Monsters, Inc. and Shrek, it has enough wit and laughs to stand on its own.
Synopsis: Twenty-thousand years ago, Earth was a wondrous, prehistoric world filled with great danger, not the least of which is the beginning of the Ice Age.... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Goran Visnjic
Directed By: Chris Wedge
77%
Critics Consensus: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle uses a charming cast and a humorous twist to offer an undemanding yet solidly entertaining update on its source material.
Synopsis: Four high school kids discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game's jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose.... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
72%
Critics Consensus: Like many classic games, Jumanji: The Next Level retains core components of what came before while adding enough fresh bits to keep things playable.
Synopsis: When Spencer goes back into the fantastical world of Jumanji, pals Martha, Fridge and Bethany re-enter the game to bring him home. But the game... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
71%
Critics Consensus: Kung Fu Panda 4 offers enough eye-catching entertainment to sustain the franchise's young fans, although it's starting to feel like this series is running out of steam.
Synopsis: After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his unmatched courage and mad martial arts skills, Po, the Dragon Warrior (Golden Globe nominee Jack Black),... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Dustin Hoffman
Directed By: Mike Mitchell
71%
Critics Consensus: An entertaining, topical thriller that finds director Tony Scott on solid form and Will Smith confirming his action headliner status.
Synopsis: Corrupt National Security Agency official Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight) has a congressman assassinated to assure the passage of expansive new surveillance legislation. When a videotape... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet
Directed By: Tony Scott
66%
Critics Consensus: Despite moments of hilarity and a talented ensemble, discordant direction and a sloppy script keep The Polka King from truly singing.
Synopsis: The rise and fall of Pennsylvania polka sensation Jan Lewan, who ultimately fleeced millions from investors through his polka-related activities.
Starring: Jack Black, Jenny Slate, Jason Schwartzman, Jacki Weaver
Directed By: Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky
65%
Critics Consensus: An entertaining PG detour for gore maestro Eli Roth, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a family-friendly blend of humor and horror with an infectious sense of fun.
Synopsis: Ten-year-old Lewis goes to live with his oddball uncle in a creaky old house that contains a mysterious ticktock noise. He soon learns that Uncle... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle MacLachlan
Directed By: Eli Roth
65%
Critics Consensus: Witty and provocative.
Synopsis: As labor strikes break out throughout the country, New York is alive with Cultural Revolution. Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) commissions Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack
Directed By: Tim Robbins
59%
Critics Consensus: While it's nowhere near as thrilling as turtle tipping your way to 128 lives, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a colorful -- albeit thinly plotted -- animated adventure that has about as many Nintendos as Nintendon'ts.
Synopsis: Mario and Luigi go on a whirlwind adventure through Mushroom Kingdom, uniting with a cast of familiar characters to defeat Bowser.
Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black
Directed By: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
56%
Critics Consensus: Tim Burton's alien invasion spoof faithfully recreates the wooden characters and schlocky story of cheesy '50s sci-fi and Ed Wood movies -- perhaps a little too faithfully for audiences.
Synopsis: A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim,... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan
Directed By: Tim Burton
57%
Critics Consensus: The Cable Guy's dark flashes of thought-provoking, subversive wit are often -- but not always -- enough to counter its frustratingly uneven storytelling approach.
Synopsis: Oddball cable installer Chip Douglas (Jim Carrey) attempts to strike up a friendship with customer Steven Kovacs (Matthew Broderick) by offering him premium channels at... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black
Directed By: Ben Stiller
55%
Critics Consensus: The D Train offers Jack Black a too-rare opportunity to showcase his range, but its story and characters are too sloppily conceived to hold together as a film.
Synopsis: A nebbish (Jack Black) spins a web of lies around a famous former classmate (James Marsden) to win his friendship and persuade him to attend... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor
Directed By: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
53%
Critics Consensus: Tenacious D fans will find this movie hilarious; everybody else will see only a low-brow concept movie and a small assembly of jokes stretched past the 100-minute mark.
Synopsis: Musicians JB (Jack Black) and KG (Kyle Gass) begin a friendship that could lead to the formation of the greatest rock band in the world.... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, JR Reed, Tim Robbins
Directed By: Liam Lynch
51%
Critics Consensus: Despite a great cast, the characters in Margot at the Wedding are too unlikable to enthrall viewers.
Synopsis: Self-absorbed writer Margot and her young son arrive at her family's seaside home as surprise guests at the wedding of her sister Pauline. The siblings... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, John Turturro
Directed By: Noah Baumbach
51%
Critics Consensus: While it's certainly sweet and even somewhat touching, The Holiday is so thoroughly predictable that audiences may end up opting for an early check-out time.
Synopsis: Two women, one from America and one from Britain, swap homes at Christmastime after bad breakups with their boyfriends. Each woman finds romance with a... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black
Directed By: Nancy Meyers
49%
Critics Consensus: While surprisingly sweeter and warm-hearted than previous Farrelly outings, Shallow Hal is also less funny and more bland.
Synopsis: The story revolves around Hal who, taking his dying father's advice, dates only the embodiments of female physical perfection. But that all changes after Hal... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, Jason Alexander, Joe Viterelli
Directed By: Robert Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
48%
Critics Consensus: Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween offers a handful of treats for very young viewers, but compared to the entertaining original, this sequel is a ding dong to ditch.
Synopsis: While collecting junk one day, best friends Sonny and Sam meet Slappy, a mischievous talking dummy from an unpublished "Goosebumps" book by R.L. Stine. Hoping... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Caleel Harris
Directed By: Ari Sandel
47%
Critics Consensus: Smarter than the average teen movie, but a little on the unmemorable side.
Synopsis: A smart high-school student with his heart set on going to Stanford is horrified when his guidance counselor accidentally sends the wrong transcript with his... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, Schuyler Fisk
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
47%
Critics Consensus: Ostensibly a film about celebrating creativity, A Minecraft Movie provides a colorful sandbox for Jack Black and Jason Momoa to amusingly romp around in a story curiously constructed from conventional building blocks.
Synopsis: Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn't just help you craft, it's essential to one's survival! Four misfits--Garrett "The Garbage Man" Garrison (Jason... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers
Directed By: Jared Hess
41%
Critics Consensus: Though made with care and affection for its characters, The Big Year plods along, rarely reaching any comedic heights.
Synopsis: Three men find that they have come to a turning point. Stu (Steve Martin) faces a late-life crisis, Kenny (Owen Wilson) is in the grip... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Brian Dennehy
Directed By: David Frankel
39%
Critics Consensus: At times hilarious, but other times offensive, Director Jared Hess is unable to recapture the collective charisma of his Napoleon characters, instead relying on a one-joke concept that runs out of steam. Sure to entertain the adolescents, however.
Synopsis: Ignacio (Jack Black), or Nacho to his friends, works as a cook in the Mexican monastery where he grew up. The monastery is home to... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Héctor Jiménez, Richard Montoya
Directed By: Jared Hess
35%
Critics Consensus: Derivative and full of pop culture in-jokes.
Synopsis: Underachiever Oscar (Will Smith) is a pint-sized fish with grand aspirations. When mob-connected great white shark Frankie (Michael Imperioli) is accidentally killed, Oscar concocts a... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Jack Black
Directed By: Rob Letterman, Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson
31%
Critics Consensus: Airborne skates downhill with a threadbare story, flat characters, and wince-inducing dialogue.
Synopsis: When his parents go to Australia for six months to work on a zoology project, young Mitchell (Shane McDermott) is sent to live with his... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Shane McDermott, Seth Green, Brittney Powell, Edie McClurg
Directed By: Rob Bowman
24%
Critics Consensus: The Jackal is a relatively simple chase thriller incapable of adding thrills or excitement as the plot chugs along.
Synopsis: During an FBI raid on a Moscow nightclub, the brother of Russian gangster Terek Murad (David Hayman) is killed. Murad wants revenge and hires anonymous... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora
Directed By: Michael Caton-Jones
19%
Critics Consensus: Though Jack Black is back doing what he does best, Gulliver's Travels largely fails to do any justice to its source material, relying instead on juvenile humor and special effects.
Synopsis: Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) works in a mailroom at a city newspaper. While he is on an assignment in the Bermuda Triangle, a vortex transports... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet
Directed By: Rob Letterman
18%
Critics Consensus: Dragged down by a plot lacking any sense of logic and obnoxious, unsympathetic characters, this comedy is more crude and mean-spirited than funny.
Synopsis: The film traces the misadventures of buddies J.D. (Jack Black) and Wayne (Steve Zahn), who begin to suspect that their best friend, Darren Silverman (Jason... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black, Amanda Peet
Directed By: Dennis Dugan
17%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: David (Luke Wilson) is an Oregon slacker content to sell pot and occasionally work on his art. When he meets the beautiful and vibrant Serena... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Luke Wilson, Alicia Witt, Amy Locane, Brittany Murphy
Directed By: Richard Sears
14%
Critics Consensus: Year One is a poorly executed, slapdash comedy in which the talent both in front of and behind the camera never seem to be on the same page.
Synopsis: After Neanderthal hunter Zed (Jack Black) is exiled for eating forbidden fruit, he and his sardonic buddy Oh (Michael Cera) leave their village and begin... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, David Cross
Directed By: Harold Ramis
7%
Critics Consensus: Jack Black and Ben Stiller fail to wring laughs from a script that's essentially one extended poop joke.
Synopsis: Tim (Ben Stiller) has a chance to invest in Vapoorizer, the latest harebrained venture by his friend Nick (Jack Black). While the details are sketchy,... View Full Synopsis
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz, Amy Poehler
Directed By: Barry Levinson

