Ranking All Of Director Alexander Payne’s Movies
“What are Alexander Payne’s Best Movies?” We looked at all of Payne’s directed filmography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!
We took all of the movies directed by Alexander Payne and looked at his Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, Metacritic, Metacritic User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked in our list below based on which movies have the highest overall score between all 6 review sites in comparison with all of the other movies by the same director. The process is all very scientific with no flaws at all.
The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page. We will update the article if/when a new movie by Alexander Payne is released. Although it probably won’t be immediate so the scores on each site have time to settle and aren’t overly influenced by the early, usually much more opinionated, users.
Happy Viewing!
The Top Film’s Of Alexander Payne
8 ) The Passion of Martin
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 8
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
- Metacritc Critic Score: 8
- Metacritic User Score: 8
- IMDB User Review Score: 7
- Letterboxd User Score: 7
Martin is a 30-something photographer who has made it his life quest to find his soulmate. After seeing a girl admiring his work in a gallery, he runs into her again at a photo shoot for a wedding. The two hit it off, but Martin becomes puzzled when she leaves before he wakes up the next morning. From there, we get a peak inside Martin’s psyche, as he cannot comprehend why she hasn’t made a life-long commitment to Martin after one date.
7 ) Downsizing
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 7
- Metacritc Critic Score: 7
- Metacritic User Score: 6
- IMDB User Review Score: 8
- Letterboxd User Score: 9
A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
Purchase / Learn More
 |
 |
6 ) Citizen Ruth
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
- Metacritc Critic Score: 6
- Metacritic User Score: 7
- IMDB User Review Score: 6
- Letterboxd User Score: 5
“Citizen Ruth” is the story of Ruth Stoops, a woman who nobody even noticed — until she got pregnant. Now, everyone wants a piece of her. The film is a comedy about one woman caught in the ultimate tug-of-war: a clash of wild, noisy, ridiculous people that rapidly dissolves into a media circus.
Purchase / Learn More
|
|
5 ) About Schmidt
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 5
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
- Metacritc Critic Score: 3
- Metacritic User Score: 4
- IMDB User Review Score: 5
- Letterboxd User Score: 5
66-year-old Warren Schmidt is a retired insurance salesman and has no particular plans other than to drive around in the motor home his wife insisted they buy. He’s not altogether bitter, but not happy either, as everything his wife does annoys him, and he disapproves of the man his daughter is about to marry. When his wife suddenly dies, he sets out to postpone the imminent marriage of his daughter to a man he doesn’t like, while coping with discoveries about his late wife and himself in the process.
Purchase / Learn More
|
|
4 ) The Descendants
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 4
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 2
- Metacritc Critic Score: 4
- Metacritic User Score: 3
- IMDB User Review Score: 3
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
With his wife Elizabeth on life support after a boating accident, Hawaiian land baron, Matt King takes his daughters on a trip from Oahu to Kauai to confront the young real estate broker, who was having an affair with Elizabeth before her misfortune.
Purchase / Learn More
|
|
2 ) Sideways
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
- Metacritc Critic Score: 1
- Metacritic User Score: 5
- IMDB User Review Score: 2
- Letterboxd User Score: 2
Two middle-aged men embark on a spiritual journey through Californian wine country. One is an unpublished novelist suffering from depression, and the other is only days away from walking down the aisle.
Purchase / Learn More
|
|
2 ) Election
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 2
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 2
- Metacritc Critic Score: 5
- Metacritic User Score: 1
- IMDB User Review Score: 3
- Letterboxd User Score: 2
A high school teacher’s personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections.
Purchase / Learn More
|
|
1 ) Nebraska
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
- Metacritc Critic Score: 2
- Metacritic User Score: 2
- IMDB User Review Score: 1
- Letterboxd User Score: 1
An aging, booze-addled father takes a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim what he believes to be a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.
Purchase / Learn More
|
|
Alexander Payne’s Best Movies
Alexander Payne Review Website Filmography Rankings
| Film | RT Critic | RT User | MC Critic | MC User | IMDB | Letterboxd | Overal Rank |
| Nebraska | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sideways | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Election | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| The Descendants | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| About Schmidt | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Citizen Ruth | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Downsizing | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 |
| The Passion of Martin | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
