A rundown of Anne Hathaway’s 15 best films, chosen with equal parts admiration and healthy debate. From early favorites to her most impressive performances, here’s where she’s at her absolute best.
Trying to round up the best Anne Hathaway films is a surprisingly humbling experience. You think you remember her career – The Princess Diaries, a bit of musical crying in Les Misérables, some heist hijinks – and then you start listing titles and realize she’s been quietly collecting great roles like someone who refuses to leave a thrift store empty-handed. Suddenly, the “top 15” feels more like a polite compromise than a definitive ranking.
Still, there’s something undeniably fun about revisiting the movies that turned Hathaway into one of the most adaptable performers of her generation. Drama, comedy, sci-fi, fashion-world chaos – she’s done it all, often better than anyone expected. So here’s a curated, mildly opinionated look at the films where she shines the brightest, even if narrowing them down required a little soul-searching and one or two internal debates.
15. Ocean’s 8 (2018)
Anne Hathaway has a blast playing Daphne Kluger, the glittery celebrity who unknowingly becomes the centerpiece of a very chic heist, and that joy spills across the whole movie. The film leans into its glossy attitude, matching the charm of its ensemble with brisk pacing and sly humor. Hathaway embraces the slightly cartoonish diva energy without ever tipping into caricature, which is part of why she stands out among so many heavy hitters. There’s a delightful tension in watching her character switch from clueless to unexpectedly sharp. The fashion, the banter, the Met Gala chaos – it all blends into a stylish caper that never tries to be more serious than it should. And Hathaway’s ability to treat absurdity with absolute sincerity makes her scenes pop. Even when the diamonds aren’t in her hands, she steals plenty.
14. Havoc (2005)
Far removed from her early family-friendly roles, Hathaway dives into a darker corner of teenage rebellion in this gritty drama about boredom, privilege, and risky curiosity. Her character Allison gets tangled in situations she can’t control, and Hathaway doesn’t flinch from the discomfort. There’s a rawness in her performance that hints at the versatility she’d show in later years. The film walks a tightrope between empathy and recklessness, and she’s the one who keeps that balance watchable. What stands out is the vulnerability she brings to a character who thinks she knows everything but clearly doesn’t. It’s not a glamorous movie, but it is a revealing one, especially in showing how early Hathaway pushed against typecasting. A rough story, but a bold career step.
13. Becoming Jane (2007)
Hathaway brings warmth and sharpness to her portrayal of a young Jane Austen, grounding the imagined romance with Tom Lefroy in humor and emotional nuance. Rather than leaning on typical period-drama stiffness, she plays Jane as someone bristling with ambition and frustration. Her chemistry with James McAvoy gives the film its pulse, especially in their spirited exchanges. The story blends speculation with respect for Austen’s legacy, creating a portrait that feels tender rather than mythic. Hathaway captures that blend beautifully, letting intelligence and vulnerability coexist. The film’s charm comes from those small, human moments she anchors so well. It’s a gentle but lively take on a beloved literary figure.
12. Armageddon Time (2022)
In this intimate family drama, Hathaway plays Esther Graff with a quiet, steady tension that fits the film’s reflective tone. Her character isn’t loud or showy, but the emotional weight she carries shapes the story’s atmosphere. There’s an understated ache in how she tries to guide her son while wrestling with her own disappointments. Hathaway’s restraint works beautifully alongside the film’s muted nostalgia. Her scenes with Jeremy Strong feel lived-in, capturing the messy contradictions of parents who mean well but falter anyway. She blends seamlessly into James Gray’s memory-like storytelling. It’s a soft performance, but a striking one.
11. Dark Waters (2019)
As Sarah Bilott, Hathaway adds emotional grounding to this legal drama about corporate wrongdoing and environmental catastrophe. She plays the role with a quiet strength, showing how the case strains her family without ever slipping into melodrama. The domestic moments give the film its human edge, reminding viewers what’s at stake beyond courtrooms and documents. Hathaway conveys frustration, love, and fear in small, precise gestures. Her dynamic with Mark Ruffalo helps illustrate how overwhelming battles like this seep into everyday life. It’s a restrained performance, but one that lingers. She turns what could’ve been a background role into something quietly resonant.
10. Love & Other Drugs (2010)
This isn’t your average rom-com: Hathaway plays Maggie, a free spirit living with Parkinson’s, who sparks an unlikely, messy romance with a sleazy (but charming) pharma salesman. The film threads together love, health, and ethical ambiguity in a way that feels both real and slightly reckless. Hathaway brings warmth and grit to Maggie, navigating intimacy, fear, and vulnerability without turning her into a tragedy poster. Her chemistry with Jake Gyllenhaal crackles – he’s the smooth talker, she’s the unpredictable heart of the story. Under Edward Zwick’s direction, the movie is heartfelt when it needs to be, but never afraid to lean into awkward laughs or uncomfortable truths. It’s a bittersweet journey where love can feel like both a cure and a risk.
9. The Princess Diaries (2001)
In her breakthrough role, Hathaway plays Mia Thermopolis, a painfully shy teenager who discovers she’s heir to a small European kingdom – and chaos ensues. The charm of this film lies in its simplicity: princess lessons, awkward pep talks, and the very funny idea that no one expected Mia to have any royal bone in her body. Hathaway’s performance is both wide-eyed and grounded; she’s not just playing a princess, she’s playing a kid who has a princess shoved upon her. There’s genuine warmth in her awkward attempts at royalty, especially when she stumbles over formal protocol or mirrors her grandmother’s poise. Garry Marshall’s direction leans into the fairytale fantasy, but the heart of the movie is in the relatable messiness of Mia’s life. It’s sweet, goofy, and unexpectedly sincere.
8. Eileen (2023)
This is not a lightweight thriller: Hathaway plays Rebecca Saint John, a sultry, unsettling psychologist at a juvenile detention facility in 1960s Massachusetts, whose relationship with the titular Eileen takes a turn toward something deeply twisted. The film drips with noir-ish tension and quiet menace, as Rebecca’s seductive intelligence conceals darker impulses. Hathaway’s performance is elegant and chilling – she glides through scenes with grace, but her eyes often betray a more complicated, possibly dangerous ambition. There’s psychological crackle in every conversation she has, especially as she begins to manipulate Eileen. The screenplay (co-written by Ottessa Moshfegh) gives her character enough ambiguity that you’re never quite sure if Rebecca is a savior or a predator. Oldroyd’s direction leans into the gothic melancholy, and Hathaway owns that atmosphere like someone who’s both part of the darkness and controlling it.
7. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Here, Hathaway surprises as Selina Kyle (Catwoman): she brings a razor-wit and moral flexibility to a world dominated by brooding Batmen and bombastic villains. In Nolan’s epic finale, her Selina is more than a flirtatious thief – she’s a fully realized survivor, someone who plays both sides for her own kind of justice. Her physical presence and emotional stakes are surprisingly grounded; she seems pulled by her past, but also locked into a very pragmatic future. The movie’s scale is massive: political unrest, Gotham’s collapse, Bane’s reign, and she holds her own in scenes loaded with spectacle. Yet some of her most compelling moments are quieter, like when she chooses who to trust or when she confronts her own code of ethics. Her dynamic with Bruce Wayne feels earned, full of tension, alliance, and mistrust. Ultimately, Selina is both a wildcard and a force of nature – and Hathaway makes her unforgettable.
6. Colossal (2016)
If you ever thought “what if Godzilla and a breakup walked into a bar,” Colossal is your film – and Anne Hathaway is the reason you stick around for the weirdness. She plays Gloria, a writer whose self-destructive habits lead to an unexpectedly literal monster looming over Seoul. It’s darkly comic, deeply metaphorical, and weird in the best possible way: Hathaway manages to balance the surreal, the emotional, and the absurd without ever losing the viewer. Her performance captures a woman wrestling with her own guilt and responsibility, and that internal chaos plays out in a giant monster rampaging city metaphor. The film uses its sci-fi premise not to excuse bad behavior, but to explore accountability, power, and redemption. Vigalondo’s direction leans into both spectacle and raw human emotion, and Hathaway brings both like a pro who’s just as comfortable crying on screen as she is facing down a kaiju.
5. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
In this quietly devastating western-romance, Anne Hathaway plays Lureen Newsome, showing grace in a story dominated by the tempestuous affair between Ennis and Jack. The film’s emotional weight doesn’t come from grand gestures but from silences, lines of regret, and landscapes that feel like they hold breath. Hathaway’s role may not be the lead, but her presence enriches the world of those two cowboys – she subtly embodies the life they left behind. The chemistry and heartbreak are real: the movie pulses not just with forbidden love, but with how impossible it is to live with what you desire. Things don’t wrap up neatly, because life rarely does; the narrative lingers, unsettled, much like memory. It’s a film that demands you feel, and she helps you feel everything.
4. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs is the ultimate underdog: fresh out of college, she stumbles into a high-powered magazine job and wonders whether she sold her soul for fashion. She brings earnestness, humility, and enough stubbornness to hold her own against the merciless Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). At first she seems completely out of her depth, but as she grows into the job, Hathaway shows us how ambition, guilt, and self-respect can coexist – not always harmoniously. Her awkward confidence, especially in run-off-your-feet scenes, feels completely believable. There’s a biting comedy here, yes, but also a real emotional arc: Andy learns something about work, worth, and who she wants to be. And Hathaway makes that transformation feel earned, and we can't wait for the sequel!
3. Interstellar (2014)
In Interstellar, Hathaway isn’t just playing “the astronaut’s wife”: she’s Dr. Amelia Brand, smart, idealistic, and emotionally tethered to the fate of humanity and to her own personal loss. Her performance anchors one of the film’s most haunting sequences – she talks about love, time, and sacrifice in a way that feels as scientifically weighty as it does heartbreakingly human. Christopher Nolan’s film is huge – wormholes, space travel, black holes – but Hathaway brings the story back to the ground, emotionally speaking. There’s a simmering tension in her scenes with Matthew McConaughey: they’re partners, but also burdened by competing missions. As the stakes climb, she never just becomes a symbol; she remains deeply, stubbornly real. And by the end, you realize her role was never just about the mission, but about what we’re willing to risk for love.
2. Les Misérables (2012)
Hathaway’s turn as Fantine in Les Misérables is the kind of performance that haunts you: petite, fragile, and full of raw pain, she transforms the character’s despair into a demanding, vulnerable presence. Her solo “I Dreamed a Dream” is not just technically impressive, it’s emotionally shattering, a moment where her suffering becomes almost tangible. In a sprawling epic about revolution, social injustice, and redemption, she’s a tragic core figure, carrying the weight of her ruin with dignity. What’s striking is how she makes Fantine more than just a symbol: she’s a woman trapped by circumstance, and Hathaway makes her human in every sense. The makeup, the costumes, even the gritty set design feel lived-in because she gives everything to the role. By the end, her sacrifice feels devastatingly inevitable.
1. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
At the top of this list, Rachel Getting Married feels like one of Hathaway’s most fearless performances: her character, Kym, returns home after rehab for her sister’s wedding, and it’s immediately clear things are… complicated. She’s not unlikable, but she’s messy, vulnerable, and full of regrets, and Hathaway doesn’t try to polish her – she leans into the abrasion. The film unfolds in what sometimes feels like real time: family fights, confessions, toasts, and awkward reconciliations, and her emotional volatility is the glue. She doesn’t give easy answers or neat redemption – her journey is messy, hopeful, and uncomfortable. Watching her interact with her sister Rachel and with their chaotic family is both cathartic and raw. By the final scenes, you’re left with more empathy than resolution, and that’s exactly what makes her performance stick.