- Home
- entertainment
- news
- Every Lily James movie, ranked according to critics
Every Lily James movie, ranked according to critics
Gabbi Shaw
- Lily James has been making headlines for her performance as Pamela Anderson in "Pam and Tommy."
- But James has been a movie star since she took on the role of Cinderella in 2015.
Lily James' lowest-rated movie by critics is the 2012 fantasy epic "Wrath of the Titans."
"Wrath of the Titans," which is the sequel to "Clash of the Titans," focuses on Sam Worthington's character from Greek mythology, Perseus. James has a small part as Korrina, a female warrior from Argos.
"This feeble followup to 2010's godawful 'Clash of the Titans' sucketh the mighty big one," wrote Rolling Stone's Peter Travers.
Next up is the 2015 film "Burnt," which stars Bradley Cooper as a chef struggling with drug addiction.
"Burnt" focuses on Cooper's character Adam, who is trying to piece his life back together, and his budding relationship with Sienna Miller's character Helene, his former sous-chef. James has a small part as a character named Sara, the girlfriend of one of Adam's employees.
"'Burnt' is, to be clear, not a good movie. It is in fact a pretty terrible movie," wrote Megan Garber for The Atlantic.
James co-starred with Armie Hammer in the 2020 remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Rebecca."
"Rebecca" is originally based on the 1938 Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name, and it follows Rebecca (James) as she realizes her husband (Hammer) has a dark past, and might be too good to be true — and her life might be at risk.
"This is a melodramatic tale of class disparity and imposter syndrome and compulsive jealousy and explosive fury, and the execution here is just ... tepid. Lukewarm," wrote Pajiba's Roxana Hadadi.
She played Elizabeth Bennet (with a twist) in the 2016 adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."
Elizabeth Bennet is one of the iconic protagonists in literary — and cinematic — history. James got to explore a different version of the character in this 2016 adaptation of the beloved novel of the same name by Seth Grahame-Smith.
Basically, the film asks, "What if 'Pride and Prejudice' met the zombie apocalypse?"
"It's entertaining at first that our heroine and hero can slay zombies as expertly as they parry quips but the joke wears thin," wrote Charlotte O'Sullivan for the London Evening Standard.
She plays the older version of the main character in the 2012 film "Broken."
James plays the adult version of the main character, Skunk, who is mostly played by Eloise Laurence. "Broken" follows 11-year-old Skunk whose life starts slowly spinning out of control after her best friend Rick is falsely accused of rape by her neighbors.
"The comic and tragic elements are nicely balanced, and the three families' stories neatly and economically knit together," wrote the Chicago Reader's J.R. Jones.
James plays the love interest in the 2019 rom-com "Yesterday."
The film "Yesterday" imagines a world slightly different than ours — namely, one in which The Beatles never existed (nor Oasis, Coca-Cola, cigarettes, and "Harry Potter"). One man, Jack, played by Himesh Patel, remembers their music and tries to pass it off as his own. James plays Jack's best friend and secret crush, Ellie.
"Himesh Patel has a wide-eyed charisma; Lily James, although underused, is a delight, and the earnestly-covered songs ensure this is a magical mystery tour worth boarding," wrote Tara Brady for The Irish Times.
James appeared in Billie Piper's 2019 directorial debut "Rare Beasts."
"Rare Beasts" is the story of Mandy, played by writer/director Piper, and her "love" story with Pete, a borderline incel. James plays Cressida, a woman whose wedding Mandy and Pete attend.
"These are all compelling ideas that Piper leaps wholeheartedly into — even if she, too, inevitably gets lost in the maze inside Mandy's head," wrote Clarisse Loughrey for The Independent.
James stars as a secretly Jewish maid in the 2016 World War II drama "The Exception."
James plays Mieke, a maid for the exiled German Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer). She falls in love with a German officer, played by Jai Courtney, all the while acting as a secret spy for the Allies.
"For all its late-in-the-game silliness, 'The Exception' is a solidly acted, well-told tale about how love of country holds up in the face of other, less nationalistic passions," wrote Stephanie Merry for the Washington Post.
In the 2018 musical "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," James took on the unenviable task of playing a young Meryl Streep.
The sequel to "Mamma Mia!" takes a "Godfather 2"-esque approach the sequel; part of the film is set after the first film and focuses on Amanda Seyfried's character Sophie as she navigates her impending motherhood, and the other part is a prequel about a young Donna making her way to Greece, with James taking over for Streep as Donna.
"What's not to like? To some people, a summer film means car chases and super heroes. To me, it's a film like this: the cinematic equivalent of a juicy beach read," wrote Max Weiss for Baltimore Magazine.
James traveled back in time to World War II again in the 2018 Netflix film "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society."
In "Guernsey," James plays author Juliet Ashton who travels to the small British island off the coast of France in order to write about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a secret society/book club. It's based on the epistolary novel of the same name by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
"The movie is comfort food through and through, as wholesome and predictable as a Sunday roast and as sickly sweet as sticky toffee pudding," wrote Slate's Marissa Martinelli.
In the 2012 sports drama "Fast Girls," James plays a UK track star, Lisa Temple.
James plays protagonist Shania Andrews' main rival, Lisa. As Shania practices at a dilapidated track with a disgraced coach, Lisa has everything handed to her as her father is the leader of the UK's track-and-field oversight committee. Both must work together to win a relay race.
"Some of the girl power stuff is a bit wincing and it's never totally convincing, but with charm and buckets of energy, you'll forgive it," wrote Cath Clarke of Time Out.
In her biggest role to date, James played Cinderella in the 2015 live-action remake.
Cinderella is arguably Disney's most famous princess, with her castle the centerpiece of Disney World and her dress transformation as Walt Disney's favorite piece of animation, which surely meant lots of pressure on James.
But you'd never know she was stressed at all watching her performance, which gives the stepdaughter turned servant turned princess more agency than she's ever had before.
"Directed by Kenneth Branagh with a sprinkling of stardust, dashes of good humor, and a respect for the corniest kinds of romance, 'Cinderella' is a winning re-do of Disney's 1950 animated classic," wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea.
In 2017's "Darkest Hour," James played Winston Churchill's personal secretary Elizabeth Layton.
"Darkest Hour" saw James return to WWII yet again. This time she played a secretary to Churchill — played by Gary Oldman in an Oscar-winning performance — as he decides whether or not to engage in negotiations with the Germans.
"This isn't an uncritical celebration of British bulldog spirit but a nuanced portrait of Churchill at a key point early in the war," wrote Geoffrey Macnab for The Independent.
James plays a supporting role in the 2021 period drama "The Dig."
In "The Dig," James travels (at first) to a pre-WWII England in 1939. She plays real-life archaeologist Peggy Piggott, who arrives to help out with the discovery of many artifacts in the backyard of Edith Pretty's (Carey Mulligan) home.
"'The Dig' is a movie steeped in the inevitable passage of time, but it's also a reminder that the past lives on through the things we leave behind," wrote Time magazine's Stephanie Zacharek.
In 2017's "Baby Driver," James plays Debora, a waitress.
"Baby Driver" is the story of one getaway driver, Baby (Ansel Elgort), as he attempts to leave his life of crime behind after he falls in love with Debora (James).
"The joy of 'Baby Driver' is that, though you've seen versions of this story before, many times over, you've never seen it done quite like this," wrote K. Austin Collins for The Ringer.
James has a voice role in the 2018 surrealist comedy "Sorry to Bother You."
In "Sorry to Bother You," Boots Riley's surrealist satire about capitalism, racism, and telemarketing, the film's Black characters are able to get ahead using their "white voices." The film's main character, Cash, is played by Lakeith Stanfield, while his white voice is actually David Cross.
Cash's girlfriend Detroit is played by Tessa Thompson, whose white voice is James.
"'Sorry to Bother You' is as much a character-driven story about the gentrification of Oakland — and the Bay Area writ large — as it is an absurdist anti-capitalist fable," wrote The Atlantic's Hannah Giorgis.
The best-reviewed film of James' career is "Little Woods" (2018), the directorial debut of Nia DaCosta.
Years before James was providing Tessa Thompson's "white voice," the two co-starred in "Little Woods," a crime thriller about two sisters who are trying desperately to save their house, provide for their family, and are eventually forced back into drug dealing to get by.
"'Little Woods' is a neo-western film that serves as a full deconstruction of what ails the United States of America through the eyes of women," wrote Valerie Complex for HN Entertainment.
READ MORE ARTICLES ON
Popular Right Now
Popular Keywords
Advertisement