(Photo by Fox/ courtesy Everett Collection)
All Tom Hanks Movies Ranked by Tomatometer
Big celebrates its 35th anniversary!
After making a literal Splash for his leading movie-star debut, nice guy Tom Hanks would become the king of yuppie ’80s slapstick, starring in classics like Big and fan favorites such as Joe Versus the Volcano, The ‘Burbs, and The Money Pit. Tuned-in audiences up to that point knew him primarily from the two-season ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies, and just as Hanks’ obvious talent couldn’t be contained to television, it was likewise apparent he wouldn’t always be stuck doing “just” comedies.
1992’s A League of Their Own established Hanks as an ally for women and sports, and set up a grand slam in 1993. Sleepless in Seattle fashioned Hanks and Meg Ryan as a rom-com dream team, while Philadelphia represented his first foray into drama, leading straight into a Best Actor Oscar win. More importantly, it gave a harrowing, human face to the AIDS epidemic that American society at large had struggled – or refused – to fully comprehend at that point; during his Oscar acceptance speech, he referenced mentors and peers who were gay and who had influenced his life.
The following year, Hanks picked up a consecutive Best Actor Oscar for boomer nostalgia blockbuster Forrest Gump, which would also take Best Picture. With his career in official sky’s-the-limit mode, Hanks went exactly there, blasting off into space for Apollo 13 in 1995. That same year, he voiced Woody in the groundbreaking Toy Story, a role he has returned to over the decades and into the present.
Saving Private Ryan in 1998 marked the first time Hanks would work with Steven Spielberg, a fruitful creative partnership that has produced an abundance of critically acclaimed films, including Catch Me If You Can, Bridge of Spies, and The Post. Also, The Terminal.
In recent years, much of Hanks’ acclaim and accolades has been directed at his biopics. Think Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Banks, Sully, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. His latest film were Greyhound, a WWII naval thriller that he co-wrote, News of the World, and Elvis. See where they place on all Tom Hanks movies ranked! —Alex Vo
#1
Adjusted Score: 108829%
Critics Consensus: The rare sequel that arguably improves on its predecessor, Toy Story 2 uses inventive storytelling, gorgeous animation, and a talented cast to deliver another rich moviegoing experience for all ages.
Synopsis: Woody (Tom Hanks) is stolen from his home by toy dealer Al McWhiggin (Wayne Knight), leaving Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen)...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 107124%
Critics Consensus: Entertaining as it is innovative, Toy Story reinvigorated animation while heralding the arrival of Pixar as a family-friendly force to be reckoned with.
Synopsis: Woody (Tom Hanks), a good-hearted cowboy doll who belongs to a young boy named Andy (John Morris), sees his position...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 110976%
Critics Consensus: Deftly blending comedy, adventure, and honest emotion, Toy Story 3 is a rare second sequel that really works.
Synopsis: With their beloved Andy preparing to leave for college, Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 121646%
Critics Consensus: Heartwarming, funny, and beautifully animated, Toy Story 4 manages the unlikely feat of extending -- and perhaps concluding -- a practically perfect animated saga.
Synopsis: Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang embark on a road trip with Bonnie and a new toy...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 105146%
Critics Consensus: Refreshingly sweet and undeniably funny, Big is a showcase for Tom Hanks, who dives into his role and infuses it with charm and surprising poignancy.
Synopsis: At a carnival, young Josh Baskin wishes he was big, only to wake up the next morning and discover his...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 102912%
Critics Consensus: With help from a strong performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life wunderkind con artist Frank Abagnale, Steven Spielberg crafts a film that's stylish, breezily entertaining, and surprisingly sweet.
Synopsis: Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer, and as a co-pilot for a major airline --...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 103207%
Critics Consensus: In recreating the troubled space mission, Apollo 13 pulls no punches: it's a masterfully told drama from director Ron Howard, bolstered by an ensemble of solid performances.
Synopsis: This Hollywood drama is based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission, astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 115335%
Critics Consensus: Much like the beloved TV personality that inspired it, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood offers a powerfully affecting message about acceptance and understanding.
Synopsis: Lloyd Vogel is an investigative journalist who receives an assignment to profile Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers. He approaches the...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 106235%
Critics Consensus: Smart, powerfully acted, and incredibly intense, Captain Phillips offers filmgoers a Hollywood biopic done right -- and offers Tom Hanks a showcase for yet another brilliant performance.
Synopsis: In April 2009, the U.S. containership Maersk Alabama sails toward its destination on a day that seems like any other....
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#10
Adjusted Score: 103431%
Critics Consensus: Anchored by another winning performance from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg's unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre.
Synopsis: Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 96871%
Critics Consensus: A light, sweet, and thoroughly entertaining debut for director Tom Hanks, That Thing You Do! makes up in charm what it lacks in complexity.
Synopsis: Wily band manager Mr. White helps a small town band achieve big time success when they release a Beatles-style pop...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 106526%
Critics Consensus: Bridge of Spies finds new life in Hollywood's classic Cold War espionage thriller formula, thanks to reliably outstanding work from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Synopsis: During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane....
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#13
Adjusted Score: 95226%
Critics Consensus: Flawed but fascinating, Cast Away offers an intelligent script, some of Robert Zemeckis' most mature directing, and a showcase performance from Tom Hanks.
Synopsis: Obsessively punctual FedEx executive Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is en route to an assignment in Malaysia when his plane crashes...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 110699%
Critics Consensus: The Post's period setting belies its bitingly timely themes, brought compellingly to life by director Steven Spielberg and an outstanding ensemble cast.
Synopsis: Katharine Graham is the first female publisher of a major American newspaper -- The Washington Post. With help from editor...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 103783%
Critics Consensus: News of the World takes a slow but absorbing ride down a comfortingly familiar Western trail, guided by Tom Hanks in peak paternal mode.
Synopsis: Five years after the end of the Civil War, Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl taken...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 101726%
Critics Consensus: As comfortingly workmanlike as its protagonist, Sully makes solid use of typically superlative work from its star and director to deliver a quietly stirring tribute to an everyday hero.
Synopsis: On Jan. 15, 2009, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) tries to make an emergency landing in New York's Hudson...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 90181%
Critics Consensus: Charlie Wilson's War manages to entertain and inform audiences, thanks to its witty script and talented cast of power players.
Synopsis: In the 1980s U.S.Rep. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), Texas socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) and CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 89343%
Critics Consensus: Somber, stately, and beautifully mounted, Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition is a well-crafted mob movie that explores the ties between fathers and sons.
Synopsis: Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is an enforcer for powerful Depression-era Midwestern mobster John Rooney (Paul Newman). Rooney's son, Connor (Daniel...
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#19
Adjusted Score: 89139%
Critics Consensus: Sentimental and light, but still thoroughly charming, A League of Their Own is buoyed by solid performances from a wonderful cast.
Synopsis: As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up...
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#20
Adjusted Score: 91269%
Critics Consensus: Aggressively likable and sentimental to a fault, Saving Mr. Banks pays tribute to the Disney legacy with excellent performances and sweet, high-spirited charm.
Synopsis: Spurred on by a promise he made to his daughters, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) embarks on what would become a...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 99542%
Critics Consensus: The standard rock biopic formula gets all shook up in Elvis, with Baz Luhrmann's dazzling energy and style perfectly complemented by Austin Butler's outstanding lead performance.
Synopsis: The film explores the life and music of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), seen through the prism of his complicated relationship...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 85772%
Critics Consensus: Though The Green Mile is long, critics say it's an absorbing, emotionally powerful experience.
Synopsis: Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) walked the mile with a variety of cons. He had never encountered someone like John Coffey...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 86978%
Critics Consensus: Philadelphia indulges in some unfortunate clichés in its quest to impart a meaningful message, but its stellar cast and sensitive direction are more than enough to compensate.
Synopsis: Fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 91677%
Critics Consensus: Greyhound's characters aren't as robust as its action sequences, but this fast-paced World War II thriller benefits from its efficiently economical approach.
Synopsis: U.S. Navy Cmdr. Ernest Krause is assigned to lead an Allied convoy across the Atlantic during World War II. His...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 80651%
Critics Consensus: Sleepless in Seattle is a cute classic with a very light touch and real chemistry between the two leads -- even when spending an entire movie apart.
Synopsis: After the death of his wife, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) moves to Seattle with his son, Jonah (Ross Malinger). When...
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#26
Adjusted Score: 74270%
Critics Consensus: By turns fluffy and biting, this show biz comedy is given girth by comic heavyweight John Malkovich and made all the more charming by Emily Blunt.
Synopsis: Defying his father and dropping out of law school, aspiring writer Troy Gable (Colin Hanks) looks for a way to...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 76655%
Critics Consensus: A Hologram for the King amiably ambles through a narrative desert, saved by an oasis of a performance from the ever-dependable Tom Hanks.
Synopsis: A beautiful doctor (Sarita Choudhury) and a wise-cracking taxi driver (Alexander Black) help an American businessman (Tom Hanks) who's trying...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 87192%
Critics Consensus: Tom Hanks' rigorously earnest performance keeps Forrest Gump sincere even when it gets glib with American history, making for a whimsical odyssey of debatable wisdom but undeniable heart.
Synopsis: Slow-witted Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) has never thought of himself as disadvantaged, and thanks to his supportive mother (Sally Field),...
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#29
Adjusted Score: 75231%
Critics Consensus: Great chemistry between the leads made this a warm and charming delight.
Synopsis: Struggling boutique bookseller Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) hates Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), the owner of a corporate Foxbooks chain store...
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#30
Adjusted Score: 80008%
Critics Consensus: Its sprawling, ambitious blend of thought-provoking narrative and eye-catching visuals will prove too unwieldy for some, but the sheer size and scope of Cloud Atlas are all but impossible to ignore.
Synopsis: Actors (Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent) take on multiple roles in an epic that spans five centuries. An attorney...
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#31
Adjusted Score: 68581%
Critics Consensus: Joe Versus the Volcano erupts with plenty of screwball energy and thoughtful observations about living to the fullest, but its existential ambition may prove too goofy for some audiences.
Synopsis: Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) is dying, apparently. This is good news, since his life was not much worth living anyway....
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#32
Adjusted Score: 67898%
Critics Consensus: The Terminal transcends its flaws through the sheer virtue of its crowd-pleasing message and a typically solid star turn from Tom Hanks.
Synopsis: When Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), an Eastern European tourist, arrives at JFK in New York, war breaks out in his...
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#33
Adjusted Score: 58112%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Lilah Krytsick (Sally Field) is a mother and housewife who's always believed she could be a stand-up comedian. Steven Gold...
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#34
Adjusted Score: 58274%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Hoping to avoid gambling debts, rich playboy Lawrence Bourne (Tom Hanks) stows away on a plane of Peace Corps volunteers...
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#35
Adjusted Score: 63012%
Critics Consensus: Though the movie is visually stunning overall, the animation for the human characters isn't lifelike enough, and the story is padded.
Synopsis: When a doubting young boy takes a train ride to the North Pole, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery...
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#36
Adjusted Score: 60211%
Critics Consensus: Hanks' performance in the lead role is inspired, but this is a relatively minor offering from the Coen brothers.
Synopsis: Professor G.H. Dorr (Tom Hanks), a courtly Southern gentleman, arrives at the home of devout, elderly Marva Munson (Irma P....
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#37
Adjusted Score: 55870%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: On the eve of his wedding to his longtime girlfriend, Debbie (Tawny Kitaen), unassuming nice guy Rick (Tom Hanks) is...
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#38
Adjusted Score: 59710%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A successful advertising executive, David Basner (Tom Hanks), is working on a project that could make him partner at his...
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#39
Adjusted Score: 59183%
Critics Consensus: The 'Burbs has an engaging premise, likable cast, and Joe Dante at the helm -- so the mixed-up genre exercise they produce can't help but feel like a disappointment.
Synopsis: Settling in for some time off in his suburban home, Ray Peterson's (Tom Hanks) vacation becomes a horror when the...
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#40
Adjusted Score: 51670%
Critics Consensus: While it's sporadically funny and certainly well-cast, Dragnet is too clumsy and inconsistent to honor its classic source material.
Synopsis: No-nonsense Los Angeles detective Sgt. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) is partnered with the wisecracking Pep Streebeck (Tom Hanks), a hip...
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#41
Adjusted Score: 51863%
Critics Consensus: Tom Hanks makes Turner and Hooch more entertaining than it might look on paper, but ultimately, this is still a deeply silly comedy about a cop and a canine.
Synopsis: Det. Scott Turner (Tom Hanks) is an uptight, by-the-book police officer who hopes to leave his sleepy California town and...
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#42
Adjusted Score: 51485%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Young lovers Walter (Tom Hanks) and Anna (Shelley Long) are house-sitting the New York City apartment owned by Max (Alexander...
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#43
Adjusted Score: 47593%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: As government official Cooper (Dabney Coleman) plays a nasty game of one-upsmanship with his rival in hopes of landing a...
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#44
Adjusted Score: 51444%
Critics Consensus: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has a story worth telling, but it deserves better than the treacly and pretentious treatment director Stephen Daldry gives it.
Synopsis: Oskar (Thomas Horn), who lost his father (Tom Hanks) in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, is convinced...
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#45
Adjusted Score: 46511%
Critics Consensus: Angels and Demons is a fast-paced thrill ride, and an improvement on the last Dan Brown adaptation, but the storyline too often wavers between implausible and ridiculous, and does not translate effectively to the big screen.
Synopsis: When Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon discovers the resurgence of an ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati, he flies to Rome...
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#46
Adjusted Score: 43847%
Critics Consensus: Despite the relaxed, easy chemistry of stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, Larry Crowne is surprisingly bland and conventional.
Synopsis: Once well-respected at his company, Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) finds himself on the unemployment line after a wave of corporate...
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#47
Adjusted Score: 36531%
Critics Consensus: Visually dazzling but soulless, the largely inert Pinocchio reaffirms that you should always let your conscience be your guide… away from unnecessary remakes.
Synopsis: Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live action and CGI retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet...
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#48
Adjusted Score: 34625%
Critics Consensus: What makes Dan Brown's novel a best seller is evidently not present in this dull and bloated movie adaptation of The Da Vinci Code.
Synopsis: A murder in Paris' Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings lead to...
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#49
Adjusted Score: 34845%
Critics Consensus: Senselessly frantic and altogether shallow, Inferno sends the Robert Langdon trilogy spiraling to a convoluted new low.
Synopsis: Famous symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) follows a trail of clues tied to Dante, the great medieval poet. When Langdon...
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#50
Adjusted Score: 21473%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: During the summer of 1942, a 14-year-old (Alex Neustaedter) looks after his widowed mother (Meg Ryan) and two siblings while...
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#51
Adjusted Score: 22607%
Critics Consensus: The Circle assembles an impressive cast, but this digitally driven thriller spins aimlessly in its half-hearted exploration of timely themes.
Synopsis: Mae Holland (Emma Watson) seizes the opportunity of a lifetime when she lands a job with the world's most powerful...
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#52
Adjusted Score: 19089%
Critics Consensus: The Bonfire of the Vanities is a vapid adaptation of a thoughtful book, fatally miscast and shorn of the source material's crucial sense of irony. Add it to the pyre of Hollywood's ambitious failures.
Synopsis: In this adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel, powerful Wall Street executive Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is riding with his...
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