Every Richard Linklater Movie, Ranked
Updated March 2022 to add Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood.
First emerging during indie cinema's golden age in the early 1990s, Linklater has (with just a few exceptions) stayed true to his indie (and Austin) roots, earning mostly stellar reviews along the way. While only 4 of his films have grossed more than $10 million, all but two of his features received acclaim from critics, making him one of the finest directors of the past 30 years. In the gallery above, we rank every one of his films from worst to best by Metascore.
A return to form following a rare misfire for the director (Where'd You Go, Bernadette), Linklater's first feature in three years finds him returing to animation for the first time since 2006's A Scanner Darkly and utilizes some of the same rotoscope techniques (along with other animation formats). The semi-autobiographical film is set around the time of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 as that momentous event is viewed through two very different perspectives: that of the astronauts themselves (along with Mission Control), and another from the viewpoint of a young kid in Houston who is inspired by watching the landing on TV. The best-known names in the ensemble cast include Jack Black and Zachary Levi, and critics praised the film when it debuted at SXSW prior to its Netflix debut in the spring of 2022.
“It’s clearly a labor of love, a unique reflection on an unforgettable summer, inviting us to share in a moment of communal spirit which now seems to belong to another world.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
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