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).
Smith's first film since his breakthrough blockbuster hit Independence Day was another sci-fi film involving extraterrestrials, but that's where the comparisons end. While that prior film was an action-packed thriller, Men in Black's emphasis is on comedy, with Smith starring alongside Tommy Lee Jones as operatives in a secret government organization charged with overseeing aliens secretly living on Earth. Loosely based on Lowell Cunningham's comics, the breezy 1997 film was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (fresh off Get Shorty and a pair of Addams Family features), and its critical and commercial success would lead to three sequels, with Smith appearing in two.
“Sonnenfeld deftly orchestrates the intricate two-part harmony, and Smith and Jones -- a powerhouse comic pair -- make it all look easy.” —Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
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