(Photo by Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection)
Like Paul Rudd or Jennifer Aniston who would follow, Leonardo DiCaprio got his start in the business befitting all future megastars: Starring in a godawful horror movie. 1991’s Critters 3 was DiCaprio’s rite of passage, followed by a bit part in Poison Ivy the next year — and that about ended his association with the genre. By 1993, DiCaprio was applying his striking cherubic looks to dramatic features like This Boy’s Life and breakthrough What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, in which he shared the screen with already-established heartthrob Johnny Depp. Romeo + Juliet made Bill Shakespeare palatable for the mid-’90s teenybopper set, which set the stage for world-storming Titanic, which won all the awards, made all the money, and fashioned DiCaprio as a legend in his own time.
Not to rest on his laurels like on a haphazard dresser floating in the ocean, DiCaprio spent the immediate post-Titanic years seeking only to work with the best directors on edgy material, even as they were in their creative doldrums: Woody Allen with Celebrity, and Danny Boyle with The Beach. The viscerally negative reaction to Beach was enough to get DiCaprio to seemingly pull a disappearing act for what seemed like ages in the pre-Internet world. In reality, not even three years had passed when he re-appeared in Gangs of New York, igniting a rich De Niro-esque relationship with Martin Scorsese that would pay dividends with The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Beyond his conservation efforts (resulting in documentaries like Ice on Fire and Before the Flood), which have kept him from acting, DiCaprio maintains his brand and allure by making each screen performance a major event, going years between narrative films and working only with the biggest-name directors out there: Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar), Christopher Nolan (Inception), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Best Actor and Best Picture-winning The Revenant), and, most recently, Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
Read on to see Leonardo DiCaprio’s best movies (and his worst) by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo
#1
Adjusted Score: 102912%
Critics Consensus: With help from a strong performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life wunderkind con artist Frank Abagnale, Steven Spielberg crafts a film that’s stylish, breezily entertaining, and surprisingly sweet.
[More]
#2
Adjusted Score: 120432%
Critics Consensus: Enormous in runtime, theme, and achievement, Killers of the Flower Moon is a sobering appraisal of America’s relationship with Indigenous peoples and yet another artistic zenith for Martin Scorsese and his collaborators.
[More]
#3
Adjusted Score: 103163%
Critics Consensus: Featuring outstanding work from an excellent cast, The Departed is a thoroughly engrossing gangster drama with the gritty authenticity and soupy morality we come to expect from Martin Scorsese.
[More]
#4
Adjusted Score: 94669%
Critics Consensus: It’s sentimental and somewhat predictable, but those are small complaints, given the tender atmosphere and moving performances at the heart of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
[More]
#5
Adjusted Score: 106576%
Critics Consensus: A mostly unqualified triumph for James Cameron, who offers a dizzying blend of spectacular visuals and old-fashioned melodrama.
[More]
#6
Adjusted Score: 102655%
Critics Consensus: Smart, innovative, and thrilling, Inception is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually.
[More]
#7
Adjusted Score: 101422%
Critics Consensus: Bold, bloody, and stylistically daring, Django Unchained is another incendiary masterpiece from Quentin Tarantino.
[More]
#8
Adjusted Score: 93698%
Critics Consensus: With a rich sense of period detail, The Aviator succeeds thanks to typically assured direction from Martin Scorsese and a strong performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who charts Howard Hughes’ descent from eccentric billionaire to reclusive madman.
[More]
#9
Adjusted Score: 117485%
Critics Consensus: Thrillingly unrestrained yet solidly crafted, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood tempers Tarantino’s provocative impulses with the clarity of a mature filmmaker’s vision.
[More]
#10
Adjusted Score: 86998%
Critics Consensus: Marvin’s Room rises above the pack of dysfunctional family dramas thanks to an impeccable cast that includes Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
[More]
#11
Adjusted Score: 92434%
Critics Consensus: Funny, self-referential, and irreverent to a fault, The Wolf of Wall Street finds Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at their most infectiously dynamic.
[More]
#12
Adjusted Score: 98102%
Critics Consensus: As starkly beautiful as it is harshly uncompromising, The Revenant uses Leonardo DiCaprio’s committed performance as fuel for an absorbing drama that offers punishing challenges — and rich rewards.
[More]
#13
Adjusted Score: 79304%
Critics Consensus: Though flawed, the sprawling, messy Gangs of New York is redeemed by impressive production design and Day-Lewis’s electrifying performance.
[More]
#14
Adjusted Score: 79033%
Critics Consensus: A harrowing, moving drama about a young boy, his single mother, and his abusive stepfather, This Boy’s Life benefits from its terrific cast, and features a breakout performance from a young Leonardo DiCaprio.
[More]
#15
Adjusted Score: 78517%
Critics Consensus: Baz Luhrmann’s visual aesthetic is as divisive as it is fresh and inventive.
[More]
#16
Adjusted Score: 79903%
Critics Consensus: It may not rank with Scorsese’s best work, but Shutter Island‘s gleefully unapologetic genre thrills represent the director at his most unrestrained.
[More]
#17
Adjusted Score: 75588%
Critics Consensus: Brilliantly acted and emotionally powerful, Revolutionary Road is a handsome adaptation of Richard Yates’ celebrated novel.
[More]
#18
Adjusted Score: 72976%
Critics Consensus: Blood Diamond overcomes poor storytelling with its biting commentary and fine performances.
[More]
#19
Adjusted Score: 60385%
Critics Consensus: The Quick and the Dead isn’t quite the draw that its intriguing premise and pedigree suggest, but fans of nontraditional Westerns should have some rootin’ tootin’ fun.
[More]
#20
Adjusted Score: 71514%
Critics Consensus: Don’t Look Up aims too high for its scattershot barbs to consistently land, but Adam McKay’s star-studded satire hits its target of collective denial square on.
[More]
#21
Adjusted Score: 63587%
Critics Consensus: Body of Lies relies on the performances of Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio to elevate it beyond the conventional espionage thriller.
[More]
#22
Adjusted Score: 62501%
Critics Consensus: While certainly ambitious — and every bit as visually dazzling as one might expect — Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby emphasizes visual splendor at the expense of its source material’s vibrant heart.
[More]
#23
Adjusted Score: 47554%
Critics Consensus: In spite of its young leading man’s heroic efforts to hold it all together, a muddled message prevents The Basketball Diaries from compelling as a cautionary tale.
[More]
#24
Adjusted Score: 53811%
Critics Consensus: Leonardo DiCaprio gives a predictably powerhouse performance, but J. Edgar stumbles in all other departments with cheesy makeup, poor lighting, confusing narrative, and humdrum storytelling.
[More]
#25
Adjusted Score: 44012%
Critics Consensus: Entertaining, but too scattered.
[More]
#26
Adjusted Score: 33872%
Critics Consensus: Leonardo DiCaprio plays dual roles with diminishing returns in The Man in the Iron Mask, a cheesy rendition of the Musketeers’ epilogue that bears all the pageantry of Alexandre Dumas’ text, but none of its romantic panache.
[More]
#27
Adjusted Score: 22523%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
[More]
#28
Adjusted Score: 25618%
Critics Consensus: Critics say The Beach is unfocused and muddled, a shallow adaptation of the novel it is based on. Points go to the gorgeous cinematography, though.
[More]
#29
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
[More]