Since breaking out in the early 2000s, Emile Hirsch has remained one of the most consistent actors to grace our screens. He first gained notoriety in 2002’s The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys before appearing in the 2004 high school comedy The Girl Next Door. Since then, he has steadily gained work throughout Hollywood.
Some of Hirsch’s films have been critical darlings that were loved by reviewers. Others missed the mark in a big way and were widely panned. We’re using Rotten Tomatoes and its Tomatometer to rank the best and worst movies that he’s starred in during his career.
Worst: Twice Born (17%)
In 2012, Emile Hirsch branched out to try something different. He starred in an Italian film titled Venuto al mondo, translated to Twice Born. He got to act alongside the talented Penelope Cruz as one of the two leads. The main story took place in 1984 during a time of war.
Cruz played a woman who fell in love with an American photographer (Hirsch) and this was the tale of their romance. Critics found it clunky and melodramatic. However, Hirsch and everyone else who worked on this film can take solace in the fact that 67% of the over 1,000 Rotten Tomatoes users who reviewed Twice Born liked it.
Best: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (85%)
The most recent movie on this list is 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This highly-anticipated Quentin Tarantino release starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie as the three central characters. Hirsch played Jay Sebring, the famous ex-boyfriend of Sharon Tate (Robbie).
Though Hirsch was one of a huge number of talented actors to receive a small role in this film, he is part of a pivotal scene at the end. This movie was met with widespread acclaim, with some calling it Tarantino’s best work. It’s provocative, stylish, well-written, and beautifully shot.
Worst: The Outsider (17%)
Maybe there’s something to Emile Hirch having movies that received poor reviews from critics, yet were liked by fans. Similar to Twice Born, The Outsider has opposite scores on Rotten Tomatoes. This movie received a paltry rating from critics but holds a 68% rating from audience members.
The Outsider was released in 2018 through Netflix and stars Academy Award winner Jared Leto as the lead. He played an imprisoned soldier named Nick Lowell during World War II who got help from a Yazuka member to escape and then owed them a debt. Hirsch played Paulie Bowers, a former comrade of Nick’s.
Best: The Autopsy Of Jane Doe (86%)
It seems like Emile Hirsch has found a niche working in well made independent films in the 2010s. That was the case with this sleeper hit. The Autopsy of Jane Doe is about a father/son duo of coroners who encounter supernatural events when they examine the body of an unnamed woman.
Hirsch stars as the son, while Brian Cox plays the father. The film received positive reviews from both critics and fans alike. It was considered to be a gruesome and creepy thriller that unsettled a lot of audience members in the best possible way.
Worst: The Darkest Hour (12%)
Movies about apocalyptic events have a reputation for being hit or miss. Unfortunately for Emile Hirsch, The Darkest Hour was a miss. It focused on a group of young people trapped in Moscow during an alien attack. Part of the appeal of this movie was the 3D effects and the cast.
Hirsch was joined by Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor to round out a group of young talent. However, The Darkest Hour was panned for not providing us with believable characters or having good looking special effects. Fans didn’t feel much better, as this holds just a 25% rating with the crowd.
Best: Freaks (88%)
Another 2019 entry on the “best” side of this list shows that it was a good year for Emile Hirsch. Although this was technically screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018, it got a commercial release in 2019. It centers around a young girl who is kept locked in her home by her father and warned of rumored threats in the outside world.
Led by a great performance from young Lexy Kolker and Hirsch playing her father, Freaks was a surprise hit with everyone. It was viewed as a film with strong acting, great writing, and a clever premise that made for something different.
Worst: The Air I Breathe (12%)
In between the success of 2006’s Alpha Dog and 2007’s Into the Wild (for which Hirsch received a plethora of award nominations), there was this film. The Air I Breathe became one of the bigger disappointments that we can recall over the past few years.
The cast was loaded with Hirsch, Kevin Bacon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Brendan Fraser, and more. The concept was also strong, with each main character representing an emotional cornerstone. Sadly, it was viewed as squandering its talent. However, 61% of the audience enjoyed it.
Best: Never Grow Old (90%)
Oh, look. It’s another gem from Emile Hirsch in 2019. Never Grow Old was something completely different from the rest of his filmography. This Western saw Hirsch star as an Undertaker named Patrick Tate who comes face to face with a dangerous outlaw who invades a peaceful town.
Never Grow Old doesn’t have a ton of reviews, with only 20 coming from critics. However, a vast majority of those reviews were positive and the same goes for the near 100 ratings from audience members. This is a great film to gauge Hirsch’s versatility.
Worst: All Nighter (8%)
At the very bottom of the barrel for Emile Hirsch was 2017’s All Nighter. Like The Air I Breathe, this was a disappointment considering the cast involved. Hirsch starred alongside J.K. Simmons, Kristen Schaal, and Analeigh Tipton to name a few.
It focused on a workaholic dad (Simmons) trying to visit his daughter while bringing her ex-boyfriend (Hirsch) along for the trip. Reviews were negative from both critics and audience members. However, some of the reviews suggested that Hirsch and Simmons were charming together.
Best: Milk (93%)
2008’s Milk is one of the most powerful films to come around since the turn of the century. It told the true story of Harvey Milk (played incredibly by Sean Penn), who was elected to the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, which made him the first openly gay man voted into public office in the United States.
Penn led an outstanding cast that included Hirsch, James Franco, Diego Luna, Josh Brolin, Alison Pill, and more. Milk was viewed as a triumphant retelling of an important tale in American history. Pretty much every aspect of the film was universally praised.
