From The Notebook to Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling's 10 Most Essential Movies, in Order
With 29 roles to choose from the last 30-odd years, whittling Ryan Gosling's career down to 10 essential movies is trickier than you might think. While Project Hail Mary continues to lay waste to the global box office, the actor could rightly be considered the most powerful movie star in Hollywood. Yet, his choices up until this point have rarely skewed in that particular direction.
The Canadian heartthrob’s career in the industry began when he was 12-years-old, joining The Mickey Mouse Club alongside fellow future stars like Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. That led to the title role in the TV series Young Hercules, but Gosling’s movie beginnings were far more indie-coded. He has managed, I think, to maintain that hard-won credibility because of this, even as he’s moved into some of the biggest comedic, romantic and action movies of the last three decades.
In the list below, you’ll find 10 movies that represent each of those parts of his career, which, in the interest of plot, I’ve listed in chronological order. Read on to learn a bit more and use the guide below to find them on services like Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
There were roles before The Notebook, even some pretty big ones like Remember the Titans and The Believer. Nothing did more to help create the phenomenon of Ryan Gosling than this Nick Cassavetes film — a lovely, yearning romance told over 60 years that’s endured as one of the great Hollywood weepies of the 21st century.
For this one, Gosling got to prove his chops as a romantic lead and enjoyed some wonderfully effortless chemistry with Rachel McAdams along the way. There was also that beard. There was also that kiss. In a word: iconic.
One thing that Gosling doesn’t get enough credit for is that, when it comes to working with kids, he’s probably the best actor we have — certainly the best I’ve seen. Early evidence for this (just a few years before his kid’s choir musical project Dead Man’s Bones) came in Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson, a tremendously moving indie gem in which Gosling played a high school teacher struggling with addiction.
The film was a breakout hit that year in Sundance and earned Gosling his first nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars. It also made me a lifelong fan.
Gosling’s second great screen romance was arguably the one he shared with an inanimate doll in Craig Gillespie’s Lars and the Real Girl, but his third is the one that really stuck in the craw. We’re talking about the 112-minute blend of warmth and devastation that is Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine.
For this one, Gosling and Michelle Williams get to act out one of the sweetest first dates ever put to celluloid while also — in an almost cruel twist on the ending of The Notebook — showing the horrible breakdown of that relationship six or seven years later. It’s an absolute killer, but it’s also a knockout.
Gosling fans in need of a romantic tonic after Valentine's Day thankfully didn’t have to wait too long. The following year, the actor appeared fresh-faced, lean and cocky to play the supporting part in Crazy Stupid Love — a movie that has gradually earned its rightful reputation as one of the best recent rom-coms.
The film is chiefly focused on Steve Carell’s Man on the Verge of a Midlife Crisis, but the film really pops off when Gosling and Emma Stone start to share the screen. If you like them in La La Land, it’s well worth going back to see how that on-screen electricity first came alive.
If Half Nelson provided movie fans with an early reminder that Gosling was an actor to be taken seriously, he cemented his reputation among arthouse audiences with his performance in Drive.
This endlessly stylish neo-noir from the Danish provocateur Nicholas Winding Refn saw Gosling take the lead alongside Carey Mulligan in a role that required minimal dialogue and maximum presence — which of course, he delivered. The director and star collaborated again on Only God Forgives — a film too divisive for inclusion on this list, but, if you’re up for something freaky, one that’s well worth seeking out.
Another key theme in Gosling’s career has been the actor’s endearing ability to make fun of himself. One of the best examples of this is 2016’s The Nice Guys, a movie in which he plays a man with very few redeeming qualities alongside a similarly game Russel Crowe. If you are a fan of odd couple buddy comedies like Rush Hour or 48 Hours, this one is a joy to watch.
Set in L.A. in the 1970s and written and directed by the great Shane Black (Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), it’s a laugh-a-minute movie, and Gosling crushes every scene. I’m still waiting for a sequel.
Five years after Crazy Stupid Love, Damien Chazelle had the bright idea of bringing Stone and Gosling back together in a movie that allowed them to sing, dance and fall in love. That movie was called La La Land, and it made half a billion at the box office and almost won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
It achieved those things thanks to Justin Hurwitz’s music, the gorgeous colours, the sense of joy, but most importantly, the chemistry between its two stars. The film quickly earned its place amongst the most beloved of modern romances — it’s no coincidence that it’s consistently among Letterboxd’s most logged movies of all time. It also landed Gosling his second nomination at the Oscars.
This was always going to be a bit of a wild card position on our list — the auteur passion project in which Gosling downplays his charisma in the lead role. We could have easily gone for Chazelle’s First Man, in which Gosling played the Apollo mission legend Neil Armstrong, or Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines, a film with a reputation that only seems to grow as the years go by (and on which Gosling met Eva Mendes, the love of his life). But we simply couldn’t look past Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.
This is a movie that attempted the seemingly impossible task of reimagining and updating Ridley Scott’s untouchable masterpiece for a new audience. That it managed to do so is a remarkable achievement, and our guy Gosling deserves enormous credit for being a part of it.
Nineteen years after hearing his name read out as an Oscar nominee for the first time, Gosling found himself on stage at the Dolby Theatre — not as a winner just yet, but as a singing, dancing performer who blew the roof off the place with his performance of I’m Just Ken from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie — a cultural juggernaut of a movie (if ever there was one) in which Gosling respectfully stole the show.
The film is significant for Gosling’s career for many reasons, of course, but the fact that he committed to that performance (both on screen and at the Oscars) and came away with his legend and credibility enhanced says all you need to know about his charisma and his current standing in the industry.
For all of his incredible achievements, one question that’s always hung over Gosling is whether he could leverage those charms and talents into a genuine blockbuster leading role — a big swing movie that wasn’t really tied to well-known IP and that would live or die on the strength of his performance.
After a couple of shaky attempts (The Gray Man, The Fall Guy), we’ve finally got to see it happen with Project Hail Mary — a movie based on an Andy Weir novel (he also wrote The Martian), but one in which Gosling is rarely not on screen. This has been his Cast Away, and even though the great Sandra Hüller pops up to steal a few scenes, it really feels like Gosling's moment.
We look towards his upcoming turn in Star Wars: Starfighter with plenty of new hope.
