The 10 Best Rachel McAdams Movies, Ranked

Not everyone would find space for The Vow in their favourite McAdams’ movies, but we would be wrong not to list one of her most successful romantic roles here. We could have punted for The Family Stone or Wedding Crashers, both of which she’s great in, but they feel more like supporting parts.

For The Vow, McAdams is front and centre as a woman who falls into a coma only to return with significant memory loss — including, significantly, a blind spot where her marriage to Channing Tatum’s music producer, Leo, should be. Based on a true story, this is a classic romantic weepy that fans of movies like Dear John will eat right up. 

Sam Raimi loyalists have been waiting patiently for him to make a movie like Send Help for a while now. The influential and remarkably versatile filmmaker’s output since Drag Me to Hell (2009) has consisted of one forgettable Oz prequel, a pretty decent addition to the MCU (which McAdams features in), and that’s it.

Now, after returning to the gory, gross-out fun of his earliest successes, the director feels back to his best. And with the film proving to be a hit, he has his actors to thank for its success. Dylan O’Brien is excellent (further confirming his reputation for playing delightfully awful slimeballs) but McAdams should come away with the lion’s share of recognition for her portrayal of the movie’s unlikely, Survivor-stan heroine. 

Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man is probably best known for being the last movie that Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in. The legendary actor would appear in two Mockingjay movies after his death, but this John le Carré adaptation (think Bourne meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) remains his last great role. 

That’s all true, but Corbijn’s movie also boasts a wonderful supporting cast — not least the great German actors Daniel Brühl and Nina Hoss (as intelligence officers), as well as Willem Dafoe and, of course, McAdams — who gets to don an accent to play a German immigration lawyer. 

For all her talents as a romantic lead, it’s a shame that more directors haven’t looked to McAdams for genre roles — she might actually be at her best when there’s a little ham to chew on. Released in 2005, Red Eye is probably Wes Craven’s last great movie and it features the superb central duo of McAdams and Cillian Murphy — who was then hot on the heels of playing Scarecrow in Batman Begins.

Set almost entirely on an airplane, the movie is a claustrophobic thriller told with Craven’s typical blend (think Scream or New Nightmare) of humour, horror and style.

If you’ve never seen Game Night, you’re in for a really good time. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (who mined similar levels of entertainment from their excellent 2023 fantasy flick, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), the movie mashes up genres (dark comedy, mystery, action) with playful ease.

McAdams and Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) star as a married couple who host a game night for their friends that naturally turns into a very real murder mystery, with additional star turns from the likes of Jesse Plemons and Kyle Chandler.

About Time is the McAdams movie to watch if you like a romantic story with a sprinkling of fantasy — think The Time Traveler’s Wife but with Domhnall Gleeson (The Paper) at his most charming.  

The story follows a young man with the ability to time travel — something passed down from father to son in his family. This allows for some slightly dubious behavior in his relationship with Mary (McAdams), at least by 2026 standards, but it also allows for some incredibly touching moments, too — especially with his ailing father, who is played beautifully by the great Bill Nighy.

For most people, the mention of McAdams is enough to inspire memories of her rainy kiss with a bearded Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. Set in South Carolina, the movie is an epic love story that begins in the 1940s and takes us all the way up to a nursing home in the present day — where McAdams’ Allie is played by the late, great Gena Rowlands.

The movie is directed by Rowlands’ son, Nick Cassavetes, which makes the Woman Under the Influence actress’ appearance here feel even more touching. Come for that, but stay for McAdams and Gosling’s delightful chemistry.

Given the amount of relish that McAdams gives to her iconic performance as Regina George in Mean Girls, it’s surprising she never got asked to play many villains afterwards. As the head of The Plastics, she got to have some of the movie’s best and most meme-able lines — “Is butter a carb?” — and basically stole every scene.

Written by Tina Fey and starring Lindsay Lohan, Mean Girls was the post-millennium answer to movies like Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You — so naturally, if you’re a fan of either one of them you’re probably already a fan of this one, too. 

One of the least talked about tragedies of the last few years at the Oscars was McAdams getting snubbed for Best Supporting Actor in 2024 after her beautiful performance in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Based on Judy Blume’s beloved adolescent novel, the movie is a gorgeous and benevolent coming-of-age tale about a teenage girl growing up in suburban America in the 1970s. Abby Ryder Fortson, who played Cassie in the first Ant-Man, is wonderful in the lead, but McAdams’ beautiful portrayal of her mother is really the film’s beating heart.

There are more culturally iconic movies on this list, but Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight gave McAdams her juiciest dramatic role to date and she more than rose to challenge — rightly earning her first nomination at the Oscars in the process. The movie itself — which focuses on the story of a group of reporters at the Boston Globe who attempted to expose the Catholic Church in the early 2000s — is also a wonderfully written and acted piece of work that locks you in like the best journalistic yarns.

The obvious comparisons are All The President’s Men and Spielberg’s The Post, but McCarthy’s unlikely Best Picture winner might be the most rewatchable of the three. Plus, those movies didn’t have McAdams.