Every Will Smith Movie, Ranked Worst to Best
Updated December 1, 2022 to add Emancipation.
First rising to fame in the 1980s as the non-DJ half of the hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Will Smith moved into acting in 1990 as the star of the hit NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (soon to be rebooted as a Peacock drama series). He would make his big-screen debut a few years later in a few indie movies before quickly moving to above-the-title stardom with 1995's Bad Boys. He has been a major presence in film ever since, with roles in over 30 films, a pair of Oscar nominations, and a cumulative box office gross of over $4 billion.
His newest film, King Richard, is headed to theaters and HBO Max on November 19th and is expected to be an Oscar contender in multiple categories. How does it compare to his past work? In the gallery on this page, we rank every one of Will Smith's films in order from worst to best by their Metascores, which represent the consensus opinions of top film critics. Note that we have excluded titles where Smith's role was limited to a brief cameo appearance (such as in Winter's Tale, Jersey Girl, and Anchorman 2).
Several films that Will Smith produced but did not star in could be dismissed as "vanity projects." But if there's one film in which he appears that merits such a label, it is this one. The only film on which Smith has a writing credit (technically, a "story by" credit), this 2013 sci-fi action-thriller finds Smith starring alongside his son Jaden Smith for the second time (following the much better 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness). Directed by M. Night Shyamalan at his career nadir (it came just after his lowest-scoring film, The Last Airbender), After Earth finds the two Smiths playing a father and son who must fight for survival after crash landing on a hostile 31st century Earth that has been abandoned by humans. It isn't quite the worst film rumored to be based on the teachings of Scientology (this one is), but it is mostly terrible, hampered by a thin, nonsensical story and likely the worst performance either Smith has ever delivered (though at least the young Jaden has the excuse of being forced into a role he was not yet ready for).
“Fans of either Smith will be sorely disappointed. The elder never before appeared this listless on screen, and the younger misplaced his unforced rapport with the camera that made the Karate Kid reboot so impressive. Only Shyamalan delivers what moviegoers expect from him, and that's a shame.” —Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times
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