Barry Levinson Filmography Movie Ranking Movies
Director Filmography Rankings, Movie Ranking

Ranking All Of Director Barry Levinson’s Movies

“What are Barry Levinson’s Best Movies?” We looked at all of Levinson’s directed filmography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the movies directed by Barry Levinson and looked at their Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, Metacritic, Metacritic User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked in our list below based on which movies have the highest overall score between all 6 review sites in comparison with all of the other movies by the same director. The process is all very scientific with no flaws at all.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Viewing!



The Top Film’s Of Barry Levinson



30 ) Envy

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 25
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 25
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 17
  • Metacritic User Score: 14
  • IMDB User Review Score: 30
  • Letterboxd User Score: 27

A man becomes increasingly jealous of his friend’s newfound success.

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28 ) Jimmy Hollywood

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 23
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 25
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 28
  • Letterboxd User Score: 22

Jimmy Alto is an actor wannabe who stumbles into the role of a lifetime. He becomes a vigilante crime-fighter, aided by his sidekick William, who has suffered a head wound and has problems with short-term memory. Jimmy’s vigilante alter ego soon becomes a media wonder–but Jimmy remains a total unknown and his long-suffering girl friend Lorraine is getting fed up with the whole situation.

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28 ) Rock the Kasbah

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 25
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 23
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 18
  • Metacritic User Score: 13
  • IMDB User Review Score: 27
  • Letterboxd User Score: 26

A washed-up music producer finds one last shot at redemption with a golden-voiced young girl in Afghanistan. However, when jealousy gets the better of a disgruntled ex-boyfriend, he decides to oppose the young star with talent of his own.

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27 ) Toys

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 21
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 21
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 29
  • Letterboxd User Score: 25

Leslie Zevo is a fun-loving inventor who must save his late father’s toy factory from his evil uncle, Leland, a war-mongering general who rules the operation with an iron fist and builds weapons disguised as toys.

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25 ) What Just Happened

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 18
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 27
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 24
  • Letterboxd User Score: 22

During the course of an ordinary week in Hollywood, movie producer Ben (Robert De Niro) must navigate his way through shark-infested waters as he struggles to complete his latest projects. A demanding studio boss (Catherine Keener) demands extensive changes to a movie starring Sean Penn, while another chief won’t greenlight a project unless star Bruce Willis shaves his beard. Meanwhile, Ben tries to reconcile with his wife and maintain a relationship with his young daughter.

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25 ) PoliWood

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 26
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 17
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 20
  • Letterboxd User Score: 28

An in-depth look at the Democratic and Republican national conventions held during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election year.

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24 ) Hindsight Is 20/20…

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 26
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 28
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 6
  • Letterboxd User Score: 28

Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman continue their humorous banter during a road trip. When Jerry’s keys get locked in his car, not even Superman’s helpful suggestions can prevail over the roadside service offered by Jerry’s credit card company.

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23 ) Peeping Times

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 26
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 28
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 1
  • Letterboxd User Score: 28

Peeping Times is a comedy special that aired on NBC on January 25, 1978. Co-produced, written and directed by Rudy De Luca and Barry Levinson, the special featured an early broadcast network appearance of David Letterman. David Frost was co-executive producer. The show was a spoof of TV news magazine programs.

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22 ) Sphere

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 24
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 22
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 16
  • Metacritic User Score: 10
  • IMDB User Review Score: 22
  • Letterboxd User Score: 19

The OSSA discovers a spacecraft thought to be at least 300 years old at the bottom of the ocean. Immediately following the discovery, they decide to send a team down to the depths of the ocean to study the space craft.They are the best of best, smart and logical, and the perfect choice to learn more about the spacecraft.

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21 ) The Band That Wouldn’t Die

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 26
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 28
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 12
  • Letterboxd User Score: 11

In late March of 1984, a moving company secretly packed up the Baltimore Colts’ belongings and its fleet of vans sneaked off in the darkness of the early morning. Leaving a city of deeply devoted fans in shock and disbelief. What caused owner Robert Irsay to turn his back on a town that was as closely linked to its team as any in the NFL? Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson, himself a long-standing Baltimore Colts fanatic, will probe that question in light of the changing relationship of sports to community. Through the eyes of members of the Colts Marching Band, Levinson will illustrate how a fan base copes with losing the team that it loves.

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20 ) Man of the Year

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 22
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 17
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 15
  • Metacritic User Score: 12
  • IMDB User Review Score: 20
  • Letterboxd User Score: 24

The irreverent host of a political satire talk show decides to run for president and expose corruption in Washington. His stunt goes further than he expects when he actually wins the election, but a software engineer suspects that a computer glitch is responsible for his surprising victory.

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19 ) The Humbling

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 19
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 23
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 11
  • Metacritic User Score: 11
  • IMDB User Review Score: 25
  • Letterboxd User Score: 19

Following a breakdown and suicide attempt, an aging actor becomes involved with a much younger woman but soon finds that it’s difficult to keep pace with her.

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18 ) Disclosure

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 17
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 20
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 12
  • Metacritic User Score: 7
  • IMDB User Review Score: 23
  • Letterboxd User Score: 19

A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.

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17 ) Paterno

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 12
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 16
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 16
  • Letterboxd User Score: 16

After becoming the winningest coach in college football history, Joe Paterno is embroiled in Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, challenging his legacy and forcing him to face questions of institutional failure regarding the victims.

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16 ) The Bay

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 11
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 19
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 7
  • Metacritic User Score: 9
  • IMDB User Review Score: 25
  • Letterboxd User Score: 18

Two million fish washed ashore. One thousand blackbirds dropped from the sky. On July 4, 2009 a deadly menace swept through the quaint seaside town of Claridge, Maryland, but the harrowing story of what happened that Independence Day has never been told—until now. The authorities believed they had buried the truth about the tragedy that claimed over 700 human lives. Now, three years later, a reporter has emerged with footage revealing the cover-up and an unimaginable killer: a mysterious parasitic outbreak. Told from the perspective of those who were there and saw what happened, The Bay unfolds over 24 hours through people’s iPhones, Androids, 911 calls, webcams, and whatever else could be used to document the nightmare in Claridge. What follows is a nerve-shredding tale of a small town plunged into absolute terror.

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15 ) Young Sherlock Holmes

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 15
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 14
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 12
  • Letterboxd User Score: 11

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his classmates with his abilities. When they discover a plot to murder a series of British business men by an Egyptian cult, they move to stop it.

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14 ) An Everlasting Piece

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 20
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 6
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 13
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 19
  • Letterboxd User Score: 11

Colin (Barry McEvoy) is a Catholic and George (Brian O’Byrne) is a poetry-loving Protestant. In Belfast in the 1980s, they could have been enemies, but instead they became business partners. After persuading a mad wig salesman, known as the Scalper (Billy Connolly), to sell them his leads, the two embark on a series of house calls

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13 ) The Wizard of Lies

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 13
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 12
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 12
  • Letterboxd User Score: 11

A look behind the scenes at Bernie Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme, how it was perpetrated on the public and the trail of destruction it left in its wake, both for the victims and Madoff’s family.

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12 ) Bandits

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 16
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 15
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 10
  • Metacritic User Score: 6
  • IMDB User Review Score: 17
  • Letterboxd User Score: 17

Two bank robbers fall in love with the girl they’ve kidnapped.

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11 ) Tin Men

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 10
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 12
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 3
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 17
  • Letterboxd User Score: 11

A minor car accident drives two rival aluminum-siding salesmen to the ridiculous extremes of man versus man in 1963 Baltimore.

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10 ) Avalon

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 8
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 7
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

Avalon is the third in Levinson’s semi-autobiographical series of four “Baltimore Films”: Diner (1982), Tin Men (1987), Avalon (1990), and Liberty Heights (1999). The film is set in Baltimore in the early 1950s and explores the themes of Jewish assimilation into American life.

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9 ) Bugsy

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 11
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 2
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 12
  • Letterboxd User Score: 9

New York gangster Ben ‘Bugsy’ Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn’t hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.

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8 ) Wag the Dog

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 9
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 5
  • Metacritic User Score: 8
  • IMDB User Review Score: 10
  • Letterboxd User Score: 8

During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President’s adviser hires a Hollywood producer to help him stage a fake war.

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7 ) You Don’t Know Jack

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 19
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 3
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

Angel of mercy… or murderous “Doctor Death”? Jack Kervorkian is one of the most polarizing figures in modern American history, a man whose passionate belief that people have the right to die has brought him both praise and vilification. Oscar®- and Emmy®-winning actor Al Pacino brings “Dr. Death” to life in an all-new HBO Films presentation: You Don’t Know Jack, directed by Oscar®-winner Barry Levinson.

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6 ) Sleepers

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 13
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 3
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 14
  • Metacritic User Score: 3
  • IMDB User Review Score: 4
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.

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5 ) Good Morning, Vietnam

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 6
  • Metacritic User Score: 15
  • IMDB User Review Score: 7
  • Letterboxd User Score: 2

Radio funny man Adrian Cronauer is sent to Vietnam to bring a little comedy back into the lives of the soldiers. After setting up shop, Cronauer delights the G.I.s but shocks his superior officer, Sergeant Major Dickerson, with his irreverent take on the war. While Dickerson attempts to censor Cronauer’s broadcasts, Cronauer pursues a relationship with a Vietnamese girl named Trinh, who shows him the horrors of war first-hand.

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4 ) Liberty Heights

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 5
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 9
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 3
  • Metacritic User Score: 1
  • IMDB User Review Score: 10
  • Letterboxd User Score: 9

Anti-Semitism, race relations, coming of age, and fathers and sons: in Baltimore from fall, 1954, to fall, 1955.

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3 ) The Natural

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 9
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 2
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 9
  • Metacritic User Score: 1
  • IMDB User Review Score: 5
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league in this magical sports fantasy. With the aid of a bat cut from a lightning struck tree, Hobbs lives the fame he should have had earlier when, as a rising pitcher, he is inexplicably shot by a young woman.

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2 ) Diner

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 6
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 1
  • Metacritic User Score: 4
  • IMDB User Review Score: 9
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

Set in 1959, Diner shows how five young men resist their adulthood and seek refuge in their beloved Diner. The mundane, childish, and titillating details of their lives are shared. But the golden moments pass, and the men shoulder their responsibilities, leaving the Diner behind.

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1 ) Rain Man

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 4
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 7
  • Metacritic User Score: 4
  • IMDB User Review Score: 2
  • Letterboxd User Score: 1

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt’s father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.

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Barry Levinson’s Best Movies



Barry Levinson Review Website Filmography Rankings

Film RT Critic RT User MC Critic MC User IMDB Letterboxd Overal Rank
Rain Man 4 1 7 4 2 1 1
Diner 1 6 1 4 9 3 2
The Natural 9 2 9 1 5 3 3
Liberty Heights 5 9 3 1 10 9 4
Good Morning, Vietnam 3 5 6 15 7 2 5
Sleepers 13 3 14 3 4 3 6
You Don’t Know Jack 1 4 19 15 3 3 7
Wag the Dog 6 9 5 8 10 8 8
Bugsy 6 11 2 15 12 9 9
Avalon 8 8 19 15 7 3 10
Tin Men 10 12 3 15 17 11 11
Bandits 16 15 10 6 17 17 12
The Wizard of Lies 13 12 19 15 12 11 13
An Everlasting Piece 20 6 13 15 19 11 14
Young Sherlock Holmes 15 14 19 15 12 11 15
The Bay 11 19 7 9 25 18 16
Paterno 12 16 19 15 16 16 17
Disclosure 17 20 12 7 23 19 18
The Humbling 19 23 11 11 25 19 19
Man of the Year 22 17 15 12 20 24 20
The Band That Wouldn’t Die 26 28 19 15 12 11 21
Sphere 24 22 16 10 22 19 22
Peeping Times 26 28 19 15 1 28 23
Hindsight Is 20/20… 26 28 19 15 6 28 24
What Just Happened 18 27 19 15 24 22 25
PoliWood 26 17 19 15 20 28 25
Toys 21 21 19 15 29 25 27
Jimmy Hollywood 23 25 19 15 28 22 28
Rock the Kasbah 25 23 18 13 27 26 28
Envy 25 25 17 14 30 27 30