The 20 Best Movies of 2023 So Far

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor
and Keith Kimbell, Metacritic Film Editor – July 1, 2023

Which films impressed critics during the first half of the year? In the gallery on this page we rank the highest-scoring movies debuting in theaters (or straight to VOD/streaming) between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2023. Titles are ranked by their Metascores as of June 30, 2023 and must have a minimum of 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion.

4 of 21 photo by Searchlight Pictures

83Rye Lane

(#17) A colorful rom-com with a rare specificity of place (in this case, South London) and a heavy dose of comedy, the feature debut from British director Raine Allen-Miller greatly impressed reviewers at the film's Sundance debut in January. Many of those critics likened the film to Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (with a bit of Wes Anderson's visual flair thrown in) for its day-long story following Dom (David Jonsson of HBO's Industry) and Yas (Vivian Oparah from Class), each coming off of messy breakups, as they impulsively head out on the town for a first date.

Stream it now on Hulu.

“No other British film has, in a generation, done such imaginative work in restructuring romantic comedy. It is one of those rare films the audience didn’t know it really, really needed.” —Donald Clarke, The Irish times

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