Ryan Gosling is charming and versatile, he has already been nominated for two Oscars and convinces in both musicals and ultra-brutal thrillers. Besides him, there is hardly a Hollywood star that almost everyone can agree on – because he can appear mysterious, as in his role as the unnamed driver in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, but at the same time is so handsome and approachable that he made the ideal cast for Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie.
Gosling usually selects his projects carefully (even if he made his comeback in 2022 with the average Netflix movie “The Gray Man” after a four-year break), and his filmography reads impressively: from the tragic comedy “Lars and the Women” to Derek Cianfrance’s deeply sad relationship drama “Blue Valentine” to Denis Villeneuve’s belated sci-fi sequel “Blade Runner 2049”.
The 42-year-old, who began his career with the Mickey Mouse Club, received Oscar nominations for his roles in the school drama Half Nelson and Damien Chazelle’s retro musical La La Land. He’s already had five Golden Globe nominations – and it’s only a matter of time before he wins the first one. “Give Ryan Gosling an Oscar!” a journalist asked after the premiere of “Barbie”.
But no filmography is perfect, including Ryan Gosling’s. In some films, viewers are even particularly harsh. Gosling is probably most affected by “Lost River”, which according to the American film platform Rotten Tomatoes managed to convince only 38 percent of the audience – Gosling does not star in the surreal thriller, but it is his first (and so far only) directorial work. But don’t let that put you off: our 4-star review of “Lost River” even talks about a “little stroke of genius” – and the author of these lines also likes to look back on the cinematic nightmare with powerful visuals.
With only 37 percent of the positive votes, three (!) Ryan Gosling films cut a bit worse anyway. So far: in our opinion, hardly anyone deserves such a harsh judgment…
These are the three worst films starring Ryan Gosling, according to audiences
“song to songfor example, doesn’t like Terrence Malick performance like “The fine line” or “The Tree of Liferange, but our chief critic Christoph Petersen nevertheless found a lot of “true beauty” in the elegiac musical drama. The clear majority of audiences, on the other hand, seemed to grow bored with the director’s elliptical storytelling style – and despite the all-star cast (in addition to Gosling, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett also star in the film), the film received mostly negative reviews.
Also “Only God forgivescomes in at just 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes – after all, Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling’s follow-up project to the critically acclaimed cult film “Drive”. The brutal and unwieldy revenge thriller was already booed in Cannes, but the author of this article finds it almost equivalent (although hardly comparable). Also in our Filmstarts review, there were four stars for the “visually impressive arthouse death drama”. However, the public saw the whole thing a little differently: “Boring, cumbersome nonsense and a huge step backwards for Refn,” writes one user, for example – and can only get through to a star.
The third film in the bunch is perhaps the only one you can really write off with a clear conscience: The mystery thriller All Beauty Must Die, starring Gosling opposite Kirsten Dunst, was a ruthless flop from audiences and critics – never even making it to movie theaters in this country. But here too, our 3-star review was a bit more merciful than the rest: “‘All Beauty Must Die’ is a solid psychological thriller with real suspense highlights, excellent actors and a great soundtrack,” the conclusion read. Only the “crammed screenplay” slows down the movie again and again.