(Photo by Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection)
We’re ranking the films of Kevin Costner, ambassador of classic America and magnificent wearer of big hats! The list starts with his Certified Fresh films, many of which highlight the American traditions of baseball and westerns, including Bull Durham and Field of Dreams demonstrating his love of the game, and the plentiful fields with Open Range, Let Him Go, and Best Picture-winner Dances With Wolves. Beyond those, we must recognize Costner’s work in historical crime and political thrillers with The Untouchables and JFK.
After Costner’s Certified Fresh films are his Fresh movies and TV projects, including yuppie romp The Big Chill, streaming phenomenon Yellowstone, and the western Silverado.
He also has some of the most interesting and popular-favorite Rotten movies, a few of which come from huge creative swings with Costner also in the director’s seat. These include DCEU starter Man of Steel, ’90s romancers The Bodyguard and Message in a Bottle, the (yep, anotha’!) western Wyatt Earp, and mondo sci-fi epics Waterworld and The Postman.
Most recently, Kevin’s back in at-any-Costner mode, claiming to have personally financed $40 million his multi-film project Horizon: An American Saga, with Chapter 1 releasing in June, Chapter 2 slated for August, and the planned third and fourth currently in production.
#1
Adjusted Score: 103280%
Critics Consensus: Kevin Costner is at his funniest and most charismatic in Bull Durham, a film that’s as wise about relationships as it is about minor league baseball.
#2
Adjusted Score: 108648%
Critics Consensus: In heartwarming, crowd-pleasing fashion, Hidden Figures celebrates overlooked — and crucial — contributions from a pivotal moment in American history.
#3
Adjusted Score: 96009%
Critics Consensus: Roger Donaldson’s modern spin on the dense, stylish suspense films of the 1940s features fine work from Gene Hackman and Sean Young, as well as the career-making performance that made Kevin Costner a star.
#4
Adjusted Score: 93660%
Critics Consensus: Field of Dreams is sentimental, but in the best way; it’s a mix of fairy tale, baseball, and family togetherness.
#5
Adjusted Score: 98280%
Critics Consensus: Dances with Wolves suffers from a simplistic view of the culture it attempts to honor, but the end result remains a stirring western whose noble intentions are often matched by its epic grandeur.
#6
Adjusted Score: 96082%
Critics Consensus: Let Him Go‘s uneven blend of adult drama and revenge thriller is smoothed over by strong work from a solid veteran cast.
#7
Adjusted Score: 89959%
Critics Consensus: As history, Oliver Stone’s JFK is dubious, but as filmmaking it’s electric, cramming a ton of information and excitement into its three-hour runtime and making great use of its outstanding cast.
#8
Adjusted Score: 87704%
Critics Consensus: Thirteen Days offers a compelling look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, and its talented cast deftly portrays the real-life people who were involved.
#9
Adjusted Score: 89827%
Critics Consensus: Slick on the surface but loaded with artful touches, Brian DePalma’s classical gangster thriller is a sharp look at period Chicago crime, featuring excellent performances from a top-notch cast.
#10
Adjusted Score: 98154%
Critics Consensus: Powered by an intriguing story and a pair of outstanding performances from Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba, Molly’s Game marks a solid debut for writer-director Aaron Sorkin.
#11
Adjusted Score: 85847%
Critics Consensus: Disney’s inspirational sports drama formula might be old hat, but McFarland, USA proves it still works — especially with a talented director and eminently likable star in the mix.
#12
Adjusted Score: 85331%
Critics Consensus: Greatly benefiting from the tremendous chemistry between Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall, Open Range is a sturdy modern Western with classic roots.
#13
Adjusted Score: 80758%
Critics Consensus: A comedy/ drama for grown-ups, with fine performances by Joan Allen and Kevin Costner.
#15
Adjusted Score: 80816%
Critics Consensus: Boasting rich detail and well-told story, Silverado is a rare example of an ’80s Hollywood Western done right.
#16
Adjusted Score: 80469%
Critics Consensus: Despite some formulaic touches, Clint Eastwood’s haunting, ambiguous crime drama is smart and gritty, and features a bravura performance from Kevin Costner as a prison escapee on the run.
#17
Adjusted Score: 75348%
Critics Consensus: Breezy and predictable, Tin Cup is a likeable sports comedy that benefits greatly from Kevin Costner’s amiable lead performance.
#18
Adjusted Score: 86878%
Critics Consensus: Zack Snyder’s Justice League lives up to its title with a sprawling cut that expands to fit the director’s vision — and should satisfy the fans who willed it into existence.
Adjusted Score: 71814%
Critics Consensus: Hatfields and McCoys is a violent and gritty spectacle that perhaps takes itself too seriously.
#20
Adjusted Score: 72872%
Critics Consensus: The Big Chill captures a generation’s growing ennui with a terrific cast, a handful of perceptive insights, and one of the decade’s best film soundtracks.
#21
Adjusted Score: 74585%
Critics Consensus: It might be hard for most viewers to identify with The Company Men‘s well-heeled protagonists, but writer/director John Wells uses their plight to make universally resonant points — and gets the most out of his excellent cast.
#22
Adjusted Score: 53426%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#23
Adjusted Score: 67372%
Critics Consensus: It’s perfectly pleasant for sports buffs and Costner fans, but overall, Draft Day lives down to its title by relying too heavily on the sort of by-the-numbers storytelling that only a statistician could love.
#24
Adjusted Score: 65972%
Critics Consensus: The Highwaymen depicts law enforcement’s side of the Bonnie and Clyde manhunt — a story that’s unfortunately not quite as entertaining despite its marquee leads.
#25
Adjusted Score: 72251%
Critics Consensus: Man of Steel‘s exhilarating action and spectacle can’t fully overcome its detours into generic blockbuster territory.
#26
Adjusted Score: 61071%
Critics Consensus: The setup is intriguing, but Mr. Brooks overstuffs itself with twists and subplots, becoming more preposterous as it goes along.
#27
Adjusted Score: 62707%
Critics Consensus: It doesn’t reinvent the action-thriller wheel, but Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit offers a sleek, reasonably diverting reboot for a long-dormant franchise.
#28
Adjusted Score: 55666%
Critics Consensus: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves brings a wonderfully villainous Alan Rickman to this oft-adapted tale, but he’s robbed by big-budget bombast and a muddled screenplay.
#29
Adjusted Score: 51606%
Critics Consensus: Though it suffered from toxic buzz at the time of its release, Waterworld is ultimately an ambitious misfire: an extravagant sci-fi flick with some decent moments and a lot of silly ones.
#30
Adjusted Score: 50442%
Critics Consensus: Baseball wins, romance loses.
#31
Adjusted Score: 50693%
Critics Consensus: Its heartstring-tugging overtures may be difficult for dog lovers to resist, but The Art of Racing in the Rain is sentimental and contrived.
#32
Adjusted Score: 45449%
Critics Consensus: Kevin Costner doesn’t lack for ambition as he sketches this frontier saga across the widest of canvases, but Horizon‘s first chapter proves too diffuse in scope for it to satisfy as a self-contained endeavor.
#33
Adjusted Score: 17821%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#34
Adjusted Score: 43393%
Critics Consensus: Black or White has more on its mind than your average family drama, but the film’s approach to its thought-provoking themes too often lives down to its title.
#35
Adjusted Score: 43803%
Critics Consensus: Despite Kevin Costner providing his most charismatic performance in years, Swing Vote fails to find the right mix of political satire and heartfelt drama.
#36
Adjusted Score: 42049%
Critics Consensus: The Bodyguard is a cheesy, melodramatic potboiler with occasional moments of electricity from Whitney Houston.
#37
Adjusted Score: 42870%
Critics Consensus: The Coast Guard gets its chance for a heroic movie tribute, but The Guardian does it no justice, borrowing cliche after cliche from other (and better) military branch movies.
#38
Adjusted Score: 33177%
Critics Consensus: Handsome-looking but dramatically inert, Message in a Bottle maroons a formidable cast in a trite romance that lacks spark.
#39
Adjusted Score: 37174%
Critics Consensus: Easy to admire yet difficult to love, Wyatt Earp buries eye-catching direction and an impressive cast in an undisciplined and overlong story.
#40
Adjusted Score: 36072%
Critics Consensus: Despite the valiant efforts of a game and talented cast, Criminal has little to offer beyond the bare minimum expected by the most undemanding of genre enthusiasts.
#41
Adjusted Score: 30877%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#42
Adjusted Score: 33215%
Critics Consensus: 3 Days to Kill uneasily mixes technically accomplished action sequences with an underdeveloped family conflict.
#43
Adjusted Score: 25335%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#44
Adjusted Score: 24891%
Critics Consensus: This riff on The Graduate has a solid cast, but is too lightweight to fully register.
#45
Adjusted Score: 17986%
Critics Consensus: While the premise sounds promising, the movie turns out to be a tedious and unnecessarily violent heist movie that’s low on laughs and leaves no cliche unturned.
#46
Adjusted Score: 16274%
Critics Consensus: A massive miscalculation in self-mythologizing by director and star Kevin Costner, The Postman would make for a goofy good time if it weren’t so fatally self-serious.
#47
Adjusted Score: 10866%
Critics Consensus: Sappy, dull, and muddled, Dragonfly is too melancholic and cliched to generate much suspense.