7 best Anne Hathaway movies, ranked
Perhaps no actor is having a bigger 2026 than Anne Hathaway. She’s already starred in a hit sequel to one of her most popular movies (“The Devil Wears Prada 2”), and this week she plays a key supporting role in what may be the most anticipated movie of the summer, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” She’s also starred in David Lowery’s arthouse drama “Mother Mary,” with dinosaur thriller “The End of Oak Street” and Colleen Hoover adaptation “Verity” still on the way.
Those are just the latest fascinating projects for a talented actress who may have gotten her start as a Disney princess, but has spent the past two decades demonstrating her impressive range. While her biggest hits, including the “Princess Diaries” and “Devil Wears Prada” movies, may not always represent her best work, she’s delivered masterful performances in major blockbusters and quirky indie films.
Here are my ranked picks for the best Anne Hathaway movies and where to stream them right now.
7. ‘Brokeback Mountain’
One of Hathaway’s first mature roles after her initial family-friendly princess phase, this Oscar-winning drama helped establish her as a serious actress who could take on complex material. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal get most of the attention as a pair of 1960s cowboys who have to hide their decades-long affair with each other, but Hathaway and Michelle Williams deliver equally heartbreaking performances as the wives who become collateral damage of a homophobic society.
Hathaway’s Lureen Newsome is an outgoing rodeo queen who seems to feel genuine passion for Gyllenhaal’s Jack Twist, but she turns cold over time, as she endures Jack’s many “hunting and fishing” trips to spend time with his lover Ennis Del Mar (Ledger). Hathaway conveys all of Lureen’s years of acrimony in a single phone call with Ennis, in one of the movie’s most powerful and devastating moments.
Watch on Hulu
6. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
![The Dark Knight Rises - Official Trailer #3 [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g8evyE9TuYk/maxresdefault.jpg)
Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie is a bit overstuffed, but Hathaway still makes a strong impression as Selina Kyle, the slinky and seductive burglar known as Catwoman (although that name is never uttered in the movie). In a story that can sometimes get too heavy and bombastic, Hathaway offers a playful counterpart to the grim intensity of her male co-stars.
She even gets Christian Bale’s gruff, taciturn Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) to lighten up a bit, and they have lively chemistry both in their civilian identities and when fighting alongside each other in costume. Hathaway proves just as adept at action as she is at flirty banter, and she convincingly portrays Selina’s character arc from a flippant, amoral thief to a valuable ally in Batman’s battle against Tom Hardy’s megalomaniacal villain Bane.
Watch on HBO Max
5. ‘Ocean’s 8’
Hathaway gets to tweak her own public image in this female-focused spin-off of Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s” film series. Sandra Bullock stars as Debbie Ocean, the brother of debonair con artist Danny (played by George Clooney in the main films), who puts together a crew of confident criminals to mount a daring jewel heist at the Met Gala in New York City.
Hathaway plays vain movie star Daphne Kluger, who becomes an unwitting accomplice in Debbie’s scheme — at least at first. Debbie and her associates plan to use Daphne as a mark in order to liberate a famous diamond necklace, but she proves savvier than she first appears. Hathaway is clearly having fun playing up Daphne’s egotism, which turns out to be an asset to the crew’s elaborate, cleverly staged heist, in a reversal that’s both surprising and funny.
Watch on HBO Max
4. ‘Mother Mary’
Hathaway gives a fierce and vulnerable performance as the title character, a pop singer in the mold of Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift. After an onstage accident, she’s attempting to get her career back on track, and she turns to her former costume designer and estranged friend Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) to design the perfect dress for her comeback performance.
That sounds straightforward, but “Mother Mary” is a moody psychodrama that digs into the troubled relationship between the singer and the stylist. Hathaway is as commanding in the onstage musical numbers as she is anguished in the duo’s intimate interplay. What starts as a dark but grounded story takes a turn into the surreal and becomes more fascinating as it becomes more abstract. Writer-director David Lowery delivers a haunting and evocative film that’s more about mood than plot, with rewarding and unsettling results.
3. ‘Eileen’
The title character of director William Oldroyd’s engrossing psychological thriller is obsessed with her psychologist co-worker, Rebecca St. John (Hathaway), and it’s not hard to see why. Hathaway makes Rebecca into the most sophisticated and worldly woman in a drab working-class Massachusetts town in the 1960s. It’s no wonder that shy, sheltered Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) both idolizes and desires this glamorous older woman.
Things don’t end well for either Eileen or Rebecca, but for a while, their flirtatious friendship is exciting and transgressive, until the attraction takes a turn into violence. Oldroyd expertly handles that transition, peeling back the layers to show the darkness that was always lurking under the surface of these troubled women. Hathaway and McKenzie have smoldering chemistry that erupts at just the right moment for maximum damage.
2. ‘Colossal’
The premise of Nacho Vigalondo’s sci-fi film sounds ridiculous, but Vigalondo uses the trappings of a kaiju movie to tell a poignant story about addiction and codependency. The giant monsters in “Colossal” are metaphors, but they’re also actual giant monsters, wreaking havoc on Seoul, South Korea, as a consequence of the self-destructive behavior of a pair of Americans.
With her life falling apart, alcoholic writer Gloria (Hathaway) returns to her New Hampshire hometown, but her problems only get worse when she connects with seemingly friendly bartender Oscar (Jason Sudeikis). Her drunken wanderings somehow manifest a deadly creature on the other side of the world, and she has to resolve her own issues in order to keep the monster at bay. Hathaway captures Gloria’s harsh humor and bitter regret, and Sudeikis matches her as a “nice guy” who isn’t nice at all.
Watch on Netflix
1. ‘Rachel Getting Married’
Hathaway deservedly received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a recovering addict in Jonathan Demme’s alternately harrowing and joyful domestic drama. Hathaway’s Kym gets a brief reprieve from rehab to attend the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), where togetherness and spitefulness mix as family and friends gather for a music-filled celebration. Demme and screenwriter Jenny Lumet tackle the heavy topic of Kym’s addiction and its fallout without ever losing sight of the happiness that comes with Rachel’s impending marriage.
Hathaway conveys Kym’s anguish over her past mistakes and her resentment of her family’s judgmental treatment, while also capturing the love Kym feels for Rachel as she embarks on a new personal journey. Demme makes the movie feel like attending an actual chaotic backyard wedding, complete with freewheeling musical performances and the honest messiness of human relationships.
Watch on Netflix
Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom’s Guide on YouTube and follow Tom’s Guide Entertainment on TikTok and Instagram.
