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(Photo by Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic. TEXAS RANGERS.)

All James Van Der Beek Movies and TV Ranked by Tomatometer


“I’m mad at the world, Joey. I’m a teenager.” From 1998 to 2003, every angsty adolescent saw themselves in James Van Der Beek’s Dawson Leery, the hopeless romantic dreamer who wanted to be the next Steven Spielberg. Van Der Beek was 21 when he starred in Dawson’s Creek and became a household name overnight, thanks to the show’s breakout success (it didn’t hurt that he was also listed in People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world).

Van Der Beek would go on to appear in a series of cult classic films, including Varsity Blues, Texas Rangers, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. He returned to TV to guest star in Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, One Tree Hill, and Medium. Sadly, James Van Der Beek passed away in early 2026 after a prolonged battle with cancer. Celebrate his life by checking out our list, where we rank all of his movies and TV shows, sorted by Tomatometer. — Bryce Marrero


#2

Pose: Season 1
Tomatometer icon 96% Popcornmeter icon 88%

#2
Critics Consensus: Charged with energy, poise, and confidence, Pose pirouettes between artistic opulence and deliciously soapy drama to create a fresh new addition to Ryan Murphy's lexicon.

#3

Castle in the Sky (1986)
Tomatometer icon 96%

#3
Critics Consensus: With a storytelling palette as rich and brilliant as its animation, Castle in the Sky thrillingly encapsulates Studio Ghibli's unique strengths.
Synopsis: Young orphan Sheeta and her kidnapper, Col. Muska, are flying to a military prison when their plane is attacked by [More]
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki

#4
Critics Consensus: An odd couple sitcom with a modern twist, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 is sleeker and smarter than expected, thanks to strong acting and snappy dialogue.


#6
Critics Consensus: The unique pairing of Krysten Ritter and Dreama Walker continues to entertain in the second snarky season of Don't Trust the B----, which further hones its comedic voice and snide asides.

#7
Critics Consensus: How I Met Your Mother ends not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with an uneven final season that captures the show's best and worst tendencies.

#8

Harvest (2024)
Tomatometer icon 74%

#8
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Over seven hallucinatory days, a village with no name, in an undefined time and place, disappears. In Athina Rachel Tsangari's [More]
Directed By: Athina Rachel Tsangari

#9
Critics Consensus: Dawson's Creek's hyper-articulate teenagers and sexual frankness can be more cloying than pithy, but this teenage drama succeeds because of the fundamentals -- an appealing cast and juicy drama.

#10

Angus (1995)
Tomatometer icon 67%

#10
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Shy, obese teen Angus Bethune (Charlie Talbert) lives with his 18-wheeler-driving mom (Kathy Bates) and oddball grandfather (George C. Scott). [More]
Directed By: Patrick Read Johnson

#11

Bad Hair (2020)
Tomatometer icon 62%

#11
Critics Consensus: Bad Hair's unwieldy ambitions are easy to respect -- even if the film's tonal jumble and uneven execution are impossible to ignore.
Synopsis: Terror strikes when a woman's new hair weave seems to take on a life of its own. [More]
Directed By: Justin Simien

#12
Critics Consensus: How I Met Your Mother wears out its welcome this season, with an anticlimactic reveal and rote, less-than-fruitful humor.

#13

Varsity Blues (1999)
Tomatometer icon 46%

#13
Critics Consensus: This is a predictable football movie that lacks intensity.
Synopsis: In West Canaan, Texas, high school football reigns supreme. When starting quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker) turns up injured, the [More]
Directed By: Brian Robbins

#14
#14
Critics Consensus: A tiresome movie about unsympathetic college kids engaging in self-destructive behaviors.
Synopsis: Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, "Rules" centers around Patrick Bateman's younger brother and his college friends' bizarre [More]
Directed By: Roger Avary

#15
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Daisy (Claire Danes) is a smart and pretty teen who attends a prestigious private academy. Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy [More]
Directed By: Billy Hopkins

#16

Standing Still (2005)
Tomatometer icon 40%

#16
Critics Consensus: This coming-of-age film's young, attractive cast helps to mitigate the stultifying dialogue and uninspired direction.
Synopsis: A chain reaction of confrontations and romantic encounters occurs when college friends reunite for one's wedding. [More]
Directed By: Matthew Cole Weiss

#17
#17
Critics Consensus: While stocked with impressive talent, CSI: Cyber fails to add anything truly new to the franchise, settling for a slightly modernized twist on the same typical crimefighting scenarios.

#18

Labor Day (2013)
Tomatometer icon 34%

#18
Critics Consensus: Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin make for an undeniably compelling pair, but they can't quite rescue Labor Day from the pallid melodrama of its exceedingly ill-advised plot.
Synopsis: At the tender age of 13, Henry Wheeler (Gattlin Griffith) grapples with the pains of adolescence while caring for his [More]
Directed By: Jason Reitman

#19

Formosa Betrayed (2009)
Tomatometer icon 33%

#19
Critics Consensus: Though the real-life drama it was inspired by could certainly form the basis for a worthwhile political action thriller, Formosa Betrayed isn't it.
Synopsis: A murder investigation takes a federal agent (James Van Der Beek) to the victim's native Taiwan. [More]
Directed By: Adam Kane

#20

Backwards (2012)
Tomatometer icon 28%

#20
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Failing to make the Olympic rowing team, a young woman (Sarah Megan Thomas) moves back in with her widowed mother [More]
Directed By: Ben Hickernell

#21

Mercy: Season 1
Tomatometer icon 25% Popcornmeter icon - -

#21
Critics Consensus: Mercy is a heavy-handed medical drama that tries to draw blood from an overworn, cliched stone.

#22

The Big Bang (2010)
Tomatometer icon 19%

#22
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: The search for a boxer's missing girlfriend and diamond fortune leads a detective (Antonio Banderas) to a reclusive billionaire and [More]
Directed By: Tony Krantz

#23

Stolen (2012)
Tomatometer icon 18%

#23
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A former thief (Nicolas Cage) has just 12 hours to come up with $10 million after his former partner (Josh [More]
Directed By: Simon West

#24
Critics Consensus: With uninspired writing and a lack of chemistry between its leads, Friends With Better Lives is one you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

#25

Texas Rangers (2001)
Tomatometer icon 2%

#25
Critics Consensus: As far as westerns go, Texas Rangers is strictly mediocre stuff.
Synopsis: Texas, 1875. In a land without justice, where chaos reigns, one legendary man, Leander McNelly (Dylan McDermott), is chosen to [More]
Directed By: Steve Miner