Every Keanu Reeves Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

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1 Every Keanu Reeves Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

Keanu Reeves has had a Hollywood career unlike any other. From Neo to John Wick to Theodore Logan, here are Reeves’ films ranked from worst to best.

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Keanu Reeves has been acting for more than 30 years, but how do his films rank from worst to best? A franchise fixture now involved in three trilogies, he’s had a vast and varied career, from young, soulful heartthrob to goofy dude-bro to one of the most bankable action stars working – twice.

It’s no surprise that many of Reeves’ films are far from great, with the actor often criticized for being stiff, wooden, and genuinely unemotive. It’s the great irony of the actor that his gift for Zen stillness can so easily transition into boring and disconnected performances. That said, when it’s employed correctly, it’s difficult to argue with the unique movie star charisma of the man who brought audiences Theodore Logan, Johnny Utah, and Neo.

With the Keanussance in full effect after the surprise success of the John Wick franchise, it’s worth taking a look back at the one-of-a-kind actor’s filmography. Here are his major films, ranked from worst to best.

56. Generation Um…

In this mumblecore-wannabe currently rocking a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, Keanu plays an escort-service driver wandering around New York with two friends documenting their misadventures with a stolen camera. It’s presumably aspiring for an aimless, hangout vibe movie à la Richard Linklater, but the result is as tedious and inarticulate as its title.

55. Exposed

Appraisals of Keanu’s career can often feel like a back-and-forth between calling him soulful and Zen, and stiff and boring. While he’s turned in plenty of performances that can be classified as the former, it’s hard to see this one as anything but a block of wood, even if he’s ultimately the best part of the movie. Playing a police detective investigating the death of his former partner, he often gets lost in the shuffle of a tangled, incomprehensible plot and bizarre tone which mixes fantastical bits of magical realism with a cringey handling of sexual violence.

54. The Watcher

A dud of a thriller with Hitchcockian ambitions, The Watcher tries for a reversal of expectations with its cat-and-mouse game between a serial killer and an FBI agent, casting the iconically-eccentric James Spader as the cop and Reeves as the murderer. It’s a role Keanu may be able to handle now, but in 2000 his performance is more Bill and Ted than Silence of the Lambs.

53. Replicas

In the wake of John Wick, Keanu Reeves has been given fairly free rein to tackle a vast number of passion projects, and since his first love is a certain kind of high-concept sci-fi thriller, the results are bound to be hit-or-miss. Chalk this one up solidly in the “miss” column; it’s a film so bafflingly inept that its most believable aspect is Keanu cloning his family after they die in a car accident.

52. Little Buddha

One can certainly understand why noted director Bernardo Bertolucci might want to cast our most Zen actor in the role of Siddhartha, the monk who would grow up to be Buddha. That doesn’t necessarily make it okay. Sure, his grandmother is Chinese-Hawaiian, but there’s something about his casting here that just feels oh-so-wrong. Surrounded by a bounty of real South Asian actors, Keanu sticks out like a sore thumb with his bronzed skin, heavy eyeliner, and an Indian accent that would make The Simpsons’ Apu blush.

51. Siberia

Here’s another post-John Wick flick that attempts to be a more icy, slow-burn thriller but mostly winds up interminably boring. Keanu may have had an interesting idea initially for this role, but here he participates in maybe the dullest diamond heist ever committed to film.

50. Johnny Mnemonic

Johnny Mnemonic is a pre-Matrix cyber-punk Keanu Reeves-led thriller that is so woefully misguided from start to finish it’s a marvel the Wachowskis still let him play Neo. Reeves takes on the role of a sort of human flash drive, transporting sensitive content to the mega-corporations that control this futuristic society. Despite attempting to say something about technology’s grasp over modern culture, the filmmakers seem to have absolutely no idea what a computer is or how it works.

49. Feeling Minnesota

Co-starring Cameron Diaz, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Delroy Lindo, this mashup of rom-com beats with a Quentin Tarantino-aping style borrows about a half-dozen bits of inspiration from earlier films with seemingly no understanding of what makes its forebears so successful. Playing a man who falls in love with his own brother’s partner, a stripper played by Diaz, Reeves gives a performance that’s frustratingly in flux between his Bill and Ted and Matrix personas.

48. 47 Ronin

Those who might think a Keanu Reeves-led action movie about a group of samurai who assemble to avenge the death of their lord sounds like a total slam-dunk are sure to be disappointed by this largely brainless, unnecessary remake of this twice-before filmed Japanese legend. The film may boast an onslaught of mythical beasts and shape-shifting witches, but audiences are likely to only gain a headache.

47. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Reeves teamed up again with My Own Private Idaho director Gus Van Sant for this considerably less-effective follow-up. A tonally-confused adaptation of a Tom Robbins novel, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues sees Uma Thurman’s large-thumbed hitchhiker meeting a whole cast of eccentric characters portrayed by actors Van Sant leaves hanging out to dry. It’s arguable none fare worse than Keanu Reeves, who’s uncomfortably bad playing Julian Gitche, a man who seemingly can’t do much else than hyperventilate.

46. Sweet November

A Lifetime movie-esque romance starring Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron as a couple who meets at a DMV and attempts a month-long trial relationship, Sweet November is a schmaltzy weeper that regurgitates earlier films with weak results and even weaker chemistry between its two leads. By the time it devolves into a “dying woman lives her life to the fullest” narrative, it’s harnessed so many cliches it’s ridiculous.

45. Chain Reaction

Keanu isn’t all that bad playing a rocket scientist on the run after being framed for murder. It’s just that the surrounding film is such a rote, formulaic ripoff of The Fugitive it’s hard to recommend too highly.

44. Knock Knock

In this typically disgusting, nasty-for-the-sake-of-it thriller from director Eli Roth, Reeves plays a married man tortured at the hands of two young stranded women. There’s violence, home invasion, and pedophilia, but little reason on display for why this was even made in the first place.

43. Street Kings

This LAPD crime drama is pretty par for the course for director David Ayer, heavy on formula but light on brains. Tediously eschewing any exploration of psychosis or morality for all the familiar beats, this film’s overreliance on graphic bloody violence may furrow the brows of even the most devout action lover.

42. The Whole Truth

This courtroom thriller doesn’t really call to mind the greats of the genre. Its procedural script putters along without much excitement, and Reeves’ trademark stiffness doesn’t necessarily help liven up its claustrophobic setting.

41. The Lake House

This reunion between the stars of Speed boasts an absolutely bonkers premise: while at her lake house, Sandra Bullock can send and receive letters from the house’s owner two years prior, a handsome architect played by Reeves himself. It’s a schmaltzy romance that’s frankly way overkill, and those championing sparks between the two stars are sure to be disappointed with how little they physically interact.

40. Henry’s Crime

Vera Farmiga and James Caan are great in this quirky heist movie about a falsely-imprisoned man conspiring with his cellmate to commit an actual robbery. Reeves is miscast as the quiet innocent here, though, adding a bit too much “mute” to this already very muted comedy.

39. Much Ado About Nothing

Kenneth Branagh’s film version of William Shakespeare’s classic play is certainly tasteful and exuberant, with welcome turns by Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, and Michael Keaton. However, little can prepare a viewer for how awfully miscast Keanu is here, as the scowlingly villainous Don John. Released at a time when the actor was all but completely defined by Bill and Ted, it’s hard not to feel he’s straining to not pepper the Bard’s text with liberal uses of “dude” and “excellent.”

38. The Replacements

Keanu plays a former quarterback given one last chance at glory when he and others are brought on as a last-minute replacement for the striking Washington Sentinels. The Replacements is an easy enough watch, owing mostly to the watchable charm of its cast, most of all Reeves. Just don’t expect more than the traditional sports comedy.

37. Tune in Tomorrow…

Keanu Reeves plays a young news reporter whose affair with his not-related-by-blood aunt (played by Barbara Hershey) becomes the subject of a radio soap opera in this likable but hit-or-miss comedy. His performance is totally winning and romantic, but the film’s charm wears itself out around the midpoint.

36. The Day the Earth Stood Still

Honestly, there’s very little reason for this not-very-good remake of the 1950s sci-fi movies classic to exist. That said, it’s impossible to deny that Keanu’s striking looks and “is he wooden or just very chill” vibes make him a fairly compelling alien in a human’s body.

35. Hardball

Hardball ostensibly wants to be a 21st-century update of The Bad News Bears, with Reeves playing a hard-boiled gambler who can’t pay off his debts until he coaches a ragtag team of inner-city kids at baseball. There are some genuinely touching moments, and the kids are fun (that’s a 14-year-old Michael B. Jordan!), but ultimately the film can’t make up its mind if it’s a light sports comedy or a hard-hitting bit of social commentary, in the end settling for easy sentiment and cliché.

34. Youngblood

A few young heartthrobs pop up in this by-the-book sports drama, including Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze. Keanu doesn’t have much to do but cash in on his high school hockey MVP status, but he’s pretty charming here, and his French-Canadian accent is truly something to behold.

33. The Bad Batch

Director Ana Lily Amirpour’s follow-up to the critically-acclaimed A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is the heavily-stylized story of a young woman abandoned in a harsh Texas wasteland and forced to fend for her survival. The film’s visual flair is often impeded by its self-indulgence, but Reeves is goofy enough fun here as a cult leader named The Dream, if a bit lacking in the necessary villainy.

32. A Walk in the Clouds

In this gorgeously picturesque film, Reeves plays a haunted World War II veteran posing as the husband of a pregnant woman to mixed results. It’s not ideal casting, but the actor’s unaffected style gives minimal offense. The cinematography does most of the work here, creating the desired feeling of sweeping romance with stunning vineyard photography.

31. To the Bone

In this 2017 Netflix film, Reeves plays a doctor at a group home who aids a young girl in her battle against anorexia. It’s a sensitive, genuine movie that grapples with the eating disorder in a nakedly direct manner, with a standout performance by Lily Collins.

30. The Neon Demon

A gorgeously-shot, bizarro mess of a film that’s still polarizing its viewers, this fever dream from Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn centers on a young woman (Elle Fanning) who moves to Los Angeles after her 16th birthday to become a model. Once there, she faces an onslaught of Dario Argento-style aesthetics, as well as vicious models, a creepy photographer, and a seedy motel manager. The latter is played by none other than Reeves, in a small but memorable performance that feels like late-career Nicolas Cage in the best possible way.

29. I Love You to Death

Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan’s follow-up to his miracle run of Body Heat, The Big Chill, Silverado, and The Accidental Tourist purports itself as a comedy, but mostly wastes an all-star cast including Kevin Kline, Tracy Ullman, River Phoenix, William Hurt, and Joan Plowright. Keanu is actually one of the better parts, playing a hitman who’s always blissfully blazed.

28. Destination Wedding

This Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder reunion sees the both of them playing a misanthropic pair of wedding guests who find love in a hateful place. The whole thing is pretty mean-spirited, but the likability of these two stars goes a long way, and it’s a pleasant enough diversion.

27. Dangerous Liaisons

Keanu Reeves has a solid showing here as one of the victims of a wicked game of manipulation and sexual politics being played out by the Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich). He’s obviously outmatched by the fireworks Close and Malkovich bring to the proceedings, but his hapless bro energy makes him a compelling naif.

26. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Francis Ford Coppola’s visually resplendent, practical effects-heavy ode to old-school monster movies is a feast for the eyes and imagination, with Oscar-winning craftsmanship in every department, most notably Eiko Ishioka’s haunting costumes. Keanu himself is admittedly out of his depth among it all, with his “British by way of surfer bro” performance all but laughed off the screen by colossal slices of ham like Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins. A possible evaluation of his turn here as Jonathan Harker would be that he’s admirably reflecting the chiseled woodenness of the monster movie straight men of Old Hollywood, but that’s probably too generous an explanation; in a film that is a wonderfully perverse joy to behold, he’s objectively the worst part.

25. The Devil’s Advocate

After an early career of masterfully muted performances in films like The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon, Al Pacino has welcomed with open arms the allure of theatrical barnstorming. Nowhere is that more evident than in this film, where he literally plays Satan. While he’s having most of the fun, Keanu is the real lead here, the new lawyer at the Manhattan firm run by the devil (go figure). While his Southern dialect is questionable, he certainly matches Pacino with gusto and the whole thing adds up to a pretty fun, if slight, time.

24. The Gift

Billy Bob Thornton writes, Sam Raimi directs in this small-town mystery with an all-star cast including Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank, and Giovanni Ribisi. Keanu is actually really good in an unexpected role for him, an abusive husband accused of murder, even if the film can’t totally transcend its genre trappings.

23. Permanent Record

In this quietly tragic little movie, Reeves plays a young man dealing with life after his best friend kills himself. Those expecting a quiet, contemplative performance from the typically-reserved actor might be surprised to see him so nakedly raw here, but he’s incredibly compelling in this ahead-of-its-time character study about teen suicide.

22. Constantine

This schlocky horror-fantasy hybrid about a demon hunter was decently-maligned upon its initial release, mostly due to unfair and ungenerous comparisons to The Matrix. No, Constantine doesn’t ever reach any of the heights of that series, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty to enjoy. Director Francis Lawrence brings a vision and style to the whole thing that’s a retrospective breath of fresh air compared to the cookie-cutter vibe of modern comic book movies, and the prospect of Keanu doing a few more of these wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world.

21. The Matrix Revolutions

The finale to the original Matrix trilogy certainly has its defenders, and one can’t help but praise the ambition of the Wachowskis. That said, this is a sequel that too often buries the franchise’s innovation and imagination underneath ponderous mythologizing and an endless barrage of CGI. Keanu’s Neo finds a decent conclusion here, but he’s constantly battling for screen time in a movie more preoccupied with an interminably long battle between mech-suit warriors and the Matrix’s multi-tentacled Sentinels.

20. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Robin Wright shines as a woman trying to sort through the complications of life after moving with her older husband to a suburban retirement village. Reeves’ role isn’t huge, but he’s quite lovely opposite Wright as her younger, charming confidante.

19. Thumbsucker

20th Century Women and Beginners director Mike Mills’ first film is a winningly quirky little comedy about a high school student trying to kick the embarrassing habit of sucking his thumb. Keanu is a total delight as his eccentric but enlightened dentist, Dr. Perry Lyman, showing the performer’s underrated penchant for scene-stealing character parts.

18. Man of Tai Chi

As of yet, this is still the only film Keanu has directed, and it’s practically overflowing with his knowledge and love of Hong Kong martial arts action films. With cinematographer Elliot Davis and editor Derek Hui, he crafts a loving ode that’s actually pretty entertaining, with his performance mimicking the long-take action bravado of his John Wick fight scenes.

17. River’s Edge

Keanu Reeves gives his most unsettling performance here as one of a group of teens staying silent when a friend brutally murders a young woman. This tense, dark study of teenage morality utilizes the young actor’s gift of quiet stillness for a far more disturbing effect. It’s hypnotic, haunting stuff, as tough as it may be to watch.

16. Bill and Ted Face the Music

Early trailers for this long-awaited follow-up didn’t necessarily instill confidence in this duo’s return, but released during COVID times, the final result is exactly the kind of warm “himbo” hug we all needed. Keanu and Alex Winter are gloriously keyed in as the aged best friends who now have to travel through time to steal the song that will save the world from their future selves. Not everything works, but there’s such goofy goodwill for these guys, and the film’s heart remains so consistently in the right place that it’s hard to resist Bill and Ted’s reminder to “be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.”

15. The Matrix Reloaded

Neo returns in this ambitious sequel which sees the Wachowskis deepening the mythology to mixed results, its first and second acts largely comprised of statically-shot talky scenes that read less as character exchanges and more as instruction manuals for analysis. That’s not to say there aren’t a solid share of high points, including a rave-style orgy, the one-two punch of a fantastic Keanu martial arts sequence followed by an absolutely thrilling freeway chase, and an eleventh-hour visit with The Architect, a scene which (for better or worse) changes the game of the series, even if people are still trying to suss out what it actually means.

14. Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

This 1991 sequel is often considered a marked step down after the highs of the original, but that’s not necessarily fair. While Face the Music follows much of the same blueprint as Excellent Adventure, Bogus Journey forges its own path, sending an evil dictator from the future to kill Bill and Ted and replace them with robots. 20 minutes into the film, our heroes are thrown off a cliff and spend the rest of the running time trying to escape the afterlife in an Ingmar Bergman-esque purgatory. It’s refreshingly ambitious for a comedy, with a zany film-literate sensibility and a scene-stealing performance from William Sadler as the Grim Reaper.

13. Toy Story 4

It’s hard to deny Toy Story 4 is the worst of the series, and also that it’s still better than most movies out there. A journey of discovery for beloved cowboy doll Woody, it features a small but welcome cameo from a post-John Wick Keanu as Duke Caboom, an Evil Knievel-esque stunt motorcyclist toy.

12. Always Be My Maybe

Reeves squeezed in a five-day shoot for his cameo performance in Always Be My Maybe in between John Wick: Chapter 3 scheduling and the result is a wonderfully unhinged, self-deprecating master class that may well be the best thing to come from the Keanussance. Playing an inflated spoof of himself, he wears glasses without lenses “for a part,” eats venison while listening to a deer being slaughtered, and asks a waiter at a restaurant, “Do you have any dishes that play with time? The concept of Time?” It’s a small part, but worth every second.

11. Something’s Gotta Give

Released a month after The Matrix Revolutions, this Nancy Meyer romantic comedy which ranks among the director’s best sees an effortlessly-charming Keanu far from the sturm-and-drang broodiness of Neo. His chemistry with Diane Keaton is sizzling and sexy, even if it’s no surprise he’s just a pit stop on her way to Jack Nicholson.

10. Parenthood

Reeves’ most famous moment here is defending a young Joaquin Phoenix after he’s caught masturbating by Dianne Wiest. “That’s what little dudes do,” he famously proclaims. It’s the cherry on top of a performance that’s one of the actor’s best “lovable doofus” roles. His chaotic slacker vibes are a perfect foil for Steve Martin’s uptight suburban dad, and the actor’s “still waters running deep” quality gives the character an added pathos lesser performers would’ve not harnessed.

9. Point Break

Kathryn Bigelow is still the only woman to ever win the Oscar for Best Director, a prestigious achievement that can make one forget just how incredibly capable an action director she is. Point Break has a reputation for being cheesy, testosterone-fueled entertainment, but at its heart speaks to the director’s innate understanding of male fragility. Reeves plays the melodrama of federal agent Johnny Utah extremely capably, bringing dynamite chemistry to his relationship with Patrick Swayze’s rush-addicted thief Bodhi. The whole thing is an outrageously fun thrill ride which also capitalizes on Bigelow’s stellar gift for bringing intimacy to cinema’s most action-packed tropes.

8. A Scanner Darkly

One of director Richard Linklater’s most underrated efforts, A Scanner Darkly is a paranoia-ridden adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel about a narcotics cop becoming an addict when he goes undercover in a futuristic society. Utilizing a rotoscoped technique nicely complements Keanu’s often-cartoony acting style, and his detached blankness adds an unsettling quality to the film’s portrait of police state surveillance.

7. John Wick: Chapter 2

Let’s face it, every installment in the John Wick series is an absolute jam, and picking favorites is all but impossible. This second chapter sees Reeves plugged in once again as the lethal assassin pushed too far by the murder of his dog, with an upping of the ante on the gun-fu action sequences and a deepening of the series’ mythology.

6. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

The third John Wick flick sees the excess turned all the way up to 11 without losing any of the franchise’s fist-bumping excellence. Reeves is as committed as ever, and the sight of him riding a horse through a neon-drenched rainy New York to kill a whole batch of assassins alone would be enough to start a standing ovation. The fact that it’s surrounded by some of the best action sequences in recent memory, most of them enacted by a fierce battalion of canine warriors, is just icing on the cake.

5. Speed

The concept is simple: a bus has to stay above 50 miles per hour or it will explode. Absolutely ridiculous stuff, but with Keanu giving such a committed, straight-faced performance the whole thing transcends into loopily insane fun. This is the type of thing Reeves can do that few others can, give stakes to something so utterly absurd while still possessing a knowing smirk that it’s all just a movie. Needless to say, the real fireworks come from his explosive chemistry with Sandra Bullock.

4. John Wick

Keanu Reeves never really went away, he was just waiting for someone to kill his dog. Just like that, the Matrix star so often criticized for being stiff and wooden blazed blindingly back to life, and the Keanussance was in full effect. Playing the retired assassin who’s pushed too far when mobster thugs kill his wife and puppy, Keanu is both startlingly believable as a man who’s capable of killing everyone who gets in his way, and insanely rootable as a person the audience wants to see do just that.

3. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Name a more iconic duo. Alex Winter’s and Keanu Reeves’ lovable doofuses Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan are far from the mean-spirited jerks that would be inspired by these empty-headed, metal-loving sweeties. The film is at once a gleeful romp through history, a sci-fi parable about the Chosen Ones who will bring peace to the universe, and a warm and kind-spirited reminder for decency in an oppressive modern world. Keanu Reeves (and his partner in crime Alex Winter) is so good here it took him years to convince people he was capable of more than just playing a California bozo, but this is a film that will always be, to put it bluntly, excellent.

2. My Own Private Idaho

Before Call Me By Your Name, before Brokeback Mountain, there was My Own Private Idaho, Gus Van Sant’s loose and lovely adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. It’s a film most remembered for River Phoenix’s stunning portrayal of gay narcoleptic street hustler Mike Waters, made more haunting by his tragic death two years after the film’s release. However, he’s matched beat for beat by Reeves, who transforms his detached, impenetrable presence into heartbreaking unattainability as the object of Mike’s desires.

1. The Matrix

Even if you somehow haven’t seen The Matrix, close your eyes and think of Keanu Reeves and Neo will appear. Simply put, the Wachowskis’ masterpiece is one of the most groundbreaking, audacious, enduring, and iconic pieces of cinema of the last 30 years, a stellar melding of dystopian science fiction, film noir, and Asian martial arts action films. While Will Smith was initially considered for the lead role, it’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone else donning the shades and black trenchcoat but Keanu, whose blend of androgynous beauty and distant impenetrability fits wonderfully on the hero chosen to save the world. This actor has given us a full career of hits and misses, action heroes, and lovable goofballs, but at the end of the day there is only one One.

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