(Photo by Open Road/courtesy Everett Collection)
Jake Gyllenhaal Movies Ranked by Tomatometer
We’re ranking the films of Jake Gyllenhaal! We start with his Certified Fresh films, dating back to his starring debut with October Sky, and his cult classic two years later, Donnie Darko. Gyllenhaal has been a critics and audience favorite throughout his career, with more Certified Fresh-awarded projects like Brokeback Mountain, David Fincher‘s Zodiac, Denis Villeneuve‘s Prisoners, the transformative Nightcrawler, and even a superhero blockbuster stint as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
#1
Adjusted Score: 108452%
Critics Consensus: Restless, visually sleek, and powered by a lithe star performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler offers dark, thought-provoking thrills.
Synopsis: Los Angeles denizen Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) survives by scavenging and petty theft. He stumbles into a new career as...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 105949%
Critics Consensus: Wildlife's portrait of a family in crisis is beautifully composed by director Paul Dano -- and brought brilliantly to life by a career-best performance from Carey Mulligan.
Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry -- a housewife and a golf pro -- in a...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 102662%
Critics Consensus: Finding the human story amidst the action, director Duncan Jones and charming Jake Gyllenhaal craft a smart, satisfying sci-fi thriller.
Synopsis: Helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is part of a top-secret military operation that enables him to experience the last...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 94230%
Critics Consensus: Rich in sweet sincerity, intelligence, and good old-fashioned inspirational drama, October Sky is a coming-of-age story with a heart to match its Hollywood craftsmanship.
Synopsis: John Hickam (Chris Cooper) is a West Virginia coal miner who loves his job and expects his sons, Jim (Scott...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 115580%
Critics Consensus: A breezily unpredictable blend of teen romance and superhero action, Spider-Man: Far from Home stylishly sets the stage for the next era of the MCU.
Synopsis: Peter Parker's relaxing European vacation takes an unexpected turn when Nick Fury shows up in his hotel room to recruit...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 101433%
Critics Consensus: Stronger rises on the power of its well-chosen ensemble to offer an emotionally resonant fact-based story that transcends inspirational drama clichés.
Synopsis: Jeff Bauman loses both of his legs when two bombs explode during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. After...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 100791%
Critics Consensus: A quiet, dialogue-driven thriller that delivers with scene after scene of gut-wrenching anxiety. David Fincher also spends more time illustrating nuances of his characters and recreating the mood of the '70s than he does on gory details of murder.
Synopsis: In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 97688%
Critics Consensus: A beautiful, epic Western, Brokeback Mountain's love story is imbued with heartbreaking universality thanks to moving performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Synopsis: In 1963, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre as sheep...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 90921%
Critics Consensus: Richard Kelly's debut feature Donnie Darko is a daring, original vision, packed with jarring ideas and intelligence and featuring a remarkable performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled title character.
Synopsis: In a funny, moving and distinctly mind-bending journey through suburban America, one extraordinary but disenchanted teenager is about to take...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 98416%
Critics Consensus: The Sisters Brothers rides familiar genre trails in occasionally unexpected ways - a satisfying journey further elevated by its well-matched leading men.
Synopsis: It's 1851, and Charlie and Eli Sisters are both brothers and assassins, boys grown to men in a savage and...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 100027%
Critics Consensus: Okja sees Bong Joon-ho continuing to create defiantly eclectic entertainment -- and still hitting more than enough of his narrative targets in the midst of a tricky tonal juggling act.
Synopsis: For 10 idyllic years, young Mija has been caretaker and constant companion to Okja - a massive animal and an...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 90130%
Critics Consensus: The bitingly truthful Lovely & Amazing is a smart and perceptive female character study.
Synopsis: A finely observed comedy, "Lovely & Amazing" is an intimate family portrait of four hapless but resilient women and the...
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#13
Adjusted Score: 93324%
Critics Consensus: End of Watch has the energy, devotion to characters, and charismatic performances to overcome the familiar pitfalls of its genre and handheld format.
Synopsis: Longtime LAPD partners and friends, Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Peña) patrol one of the most dangerous...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 89091%
Critics Consensus: A satisfying, well-acted war thriller with surprising dramatic depths, Guy Ritchie's The Covenant tells a solid story with impressive restraint.
Synopsis: Guy Ritchie's The Covenant follows US Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). After an...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 87225%
Critics Consensus: A dark dramedy with exceptional performances from Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal, The Good Girl is a moving and astute look at the passions of two troubled souls in a small town.
Synopsis: Justine (Jennifer Aniston) is the good girl. Thirty years old and working in a Texas discount store, she is dissatisfied...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 92708%
Critics Consensus: Prisoners has an emotional complexity and a sense of dread that makes for absorbing (and disturbing) viewing.
Synopsis: Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) faces a parent's worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter, Anna, and her friend go missing. The...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 88353%
Critics Consensus: Well-acted and lovely to look at, Nocturnal Animals further underscores writer-director Tom Ford's distinctive visual and narrative skill.
Synopsis: A successful Los Angeles art-gallery owner's idyllic life is marred by the constant traveling of her handsome second husband. While...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 77049%
Critics Consensus: Thanks to a strong performance from Jake Gyllenhaal and smart direction from Denis Villeneuve, Enemy hits the mark as a tense, uncommonly adventurous thriller.
Synopsis: A mild-mannered college professor (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs....
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#19
Adjusted Score: 83365%
Critics Consensus: The Guilty is another Americanized remake overshadowed by the original, but its premise is still sturdy enough to support a tense, well-acted thriller.
Synopsis: The film takes place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call center. Call operator Joe...
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#20
Adjusted Score: 84307%
Critics Consensus: Everest boasts all the dizzying cinematography a person could hope to get out a movie about mountain climbers, even if it's content to tread less challenging narrative terrain.
Synopsis: On the morning of May 10, 1996, climbers (Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin) from two expeditions start their final ascent toward...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 82264%
Critics Consensus: Life is just thrilling, well-acted, and capably filmed enough to overcome an overall inability to add new wrinkles to the trapped-in-space genre.
Synopsis: Astronauts (Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds) aboard the International Space Station are on the cutting edge of one of...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 69012%
Critics Consensus: It plays more like a traditional melodrama than the Susanne Bier film that inspired it, but Jim Sheridan's Brothers benefits from rock-solid performances by its three leads.
Synopsis: Siblings Sam (Tobey Maguire) and Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal) are as far apart as brothers can be; while Sam serves...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 67872%
Critics Consensus: Though the story feels rather contrived, Moonlight Mile is redeemed by the good performances of its cast.
Synopsis: When Joe Nast's (Jake Gyllenhaal) plans for marriage change due to an unexpected loss, he wants to be the man...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 67023%
Critics Consensus: Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins give exceptional performances in a film that intelligently tackles the territory between madness and genius.
Synopsis: Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a 27-year-old grieving after the loss of her father (Anthony Hopkins), a genius mathematician whose mind...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 67359%
Critics Consensus: This first person account of the first Gulf War scores with its performances and cinematography but lacks an emotional thrust.
Synopsis: In the late 1980s, Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) enlists as a Marine, training in boot camp under a sadistic drill...
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#26
Adjusted Score: 71139%
Critics Consensus: If you only watch one art-world satire with horror overtones this year -- or most others -- it should probably be Velvet Buzzsaw.
Synopsis: After paintings by an unknown artist are discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 71570%
Critics Consensus: Jake Gyllenhaal delivers an impressively committed performance, but Southpaw beats it down with a dispiriting drama that pummels viewers with genre clichés.
Synopsis: Billy "The Great" Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), the reigning junior middleweight boxing champion, has an impressive career, a loving wife and...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 64098%
Critics Consensus: Demolition benefits from a stellar cast, even if their solid work isn't always enough to prop up a confused story that aims for profundity but too often settles for clichés.
Synopsis: Grieving investment banker Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal) returns to work after losing his beloved wife in a tragic car accident....
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#29
Adjusted Score: 55596%
Critics Consensus: It's a pleasure to see Hollywood produce a romance this refreshingly adult, but Love and Other Drugs struggles to find a balance between its disparate plot elements.
Synopsis: Handsome pharmaceutical salesman Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) always has good luck with women. A chance encounter with Maggie Murdock (Anne...
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#30
Adjusted Score: 53241%
Critics Consensus: While it might be a passable diversion for younger viewers, Spirit Untamed is a middling sequel that lacks the essential energy suggested by its title.
Synopsis: An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her...
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#31
Adjusted Score: 52836%
Critics Consensus: The impressive cast cannot rescue Rendition, which explores complex issues in woefully simplified terms.
Synopsis: Isabella El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon), the wife of an Egyptian engineer, tries desperately to track down her husband after he disappears...
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#32
Adjusted Score: 52349%
Critics Consensus: The Day After Tomorrow is a ludicrous popcorn thriller filled with clunky dialogue, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster.
Synopsis: After climatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by U.N. officials when presenting his environmental concerns, his research proves true when...
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#33
Adjusted Score: 46309%
Critics Consensus: It doesn't offer much in the way of substance, but Prince of Persia is a suitably entertaining swashbuckler -- and a substantial improvement over most video game adaptations.
Synopsis: In the holy city of Alamut resides the Sands of Time, which gives mortals the power to turn back time....
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#34
Adjusted Score: 34545%
Critics Consensus: Bubble Boy bounces along with lame, offensive jokes that are more tasteless than funny.
Synopsis: A coming-of-age comedy follows the life of Jimmy Livingston (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young man born without immunities and raised in...
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#35
Adjusted Score: 9841%
Critics Consensus: Cobbling together an unfinished satire on the healthcare system and contorting it into a dopey romance, Accidental Love is a cynical repurposing of unrealized potential.
Synopsis: A clueless politician falls in love with a waitress whose erratic behavior is caused by a nail stuck in her...
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95%
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