Movie Auditor › Rankings › 1996
Best Movies of 1996, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
76 films from 1996 are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Fargo ('1996), at 8.1 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.1. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Happy Gilmore, 7.0 on IMDb against 31 on Metacritic.
Filter, sort and search this list live
| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fargo '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 95% | 88 | 7.8 | Joel Coen |
| 2 | Trainspotting '1996 | Drama / Crime | 8.1 | 93% | 83 | 8.0 | Danny Boyle |
| 3 | Primal Fear '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 77% | 47 | 7.7 | Gregory Hoblit |
| 4 | Sling Blade '1996 | Drama | 8.0 | 96% | 85 | 7.5 | Billy Bob Thornton |
| 5 | Sleepers '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 76% | 49 | 7.6 | Barry Levinson |
| 6 | Scream '1996 | Crime / Horror / Mystery | 7.4 | 78% | 66 | 7.4 | Wes Craven |
| 7 | The Rock '1996 | Action / Thriller | 7.4 | 76% | 58 | 7.2 | Michael Bay |
| 8 | A Time to Kill '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 66% | 53 | 7.4 | Joel Schumacher |
| 9 | Star Trek: First Contact '1996 | Sci-Fi / Action / Thriller | 7.6 | 93% | 70 | 7.3 | Jonathan Frakes |
| 10 | Breaking the Waves '1996 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 84% | 82 | 7.5 | Lars von Trier |
| 11 | The English Patient '1996 | Drama / Romance / War | 7.4 | 86% | 86 | 7.1 | Anthony Minghella |
| 12 | A Close Shave '1996 | Animation / Comedy | 8.1 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Nick Park |
| 13 | Secrets & Lies '1996 | Drama | 8.0 | 95% | 92 | 7.6 | Mike Leigh |
| 14 | Jerry Maguire '1996 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.3 | 86% | 77 | 7.0 | Cameron Crowe |
| 15 | Mission: Impossible '1996 | Action / Thriller | 7.2 | 65% | 59 | 7.0 | Brian De Palma |
| 16 | From Dusk Till Dawn '1996 | Horror / Action / Crime | 7.2 | 65% | 48 | 7.1 | Robert Rodriguez |
| 17 | Shine '1996 | Drama | 7.6 | 91% | 87 | 7.4 | Scott Hicks |
| 18 | The Birdcage '1996 | Comedy / Romance | 7.3 | 85% | 71 | 7.0 | Mike Nichols |
| 19 | The People vs. Larry Flynt '1996 | Drama | 7.3 | 89% | 79 | 7.0 | Miloš Forman |
| 20 | Independence Day '1996 | Action / Sci-Fi | 7.0 | 77% | 59 | 6.9 | Roland Emmerich |
| 21 | Bound '1996 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 7.3 | 86% | 64 | 7.2 | Lana Wachowski |
| 22 | Swingers '1996 | Comedy / Drama | 7.2 | 87% | 71 | 6.8 | Doug Liman |
| 23 | Thesis '1996 | Horror / Thriller | 7.4 | 86% | - | 7.5 | Alejandro Amenábar |
| 24 | Happy Gilmore '1996 | Comedy | 7.0 | 66% | 31 | 6.7 | Dennis Dugan |
| 25 | Pusher '1996 | Action / Crime / Drama | 7.3 | 83% | 72 | 7.0 | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| 26 | The Frighteners '1996 | Horror / Comedy | 7.1 | 65% | 52 | 7.0 | Peter Jackson |
| 27 | Matilda '1996 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.0 | 89% | 72 | 7.2 | Danny DeVito |
| 28 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame '1996 | Drama / Animation | 7.0 | 80% | 74 | 7.1 | Gary Trousdale |
| 29 | That Thing You Do! '1996 | Comedy / Drama / Musical | 7.0 | 93% | 71 | 6.9 | Tom Hanks |
| 30 | Kingpin '1996 | Comedy | 6.9 | 53% | 43 | 6.5 | Bobby Farrelly |
| 31 | Bottle Rocket '1996 | Comedy / Crime / Drama | 6.9 | 86% | 67 | 6.7 | Wes Anderson |
| 32 | The Long Kiss Goodnight '1996 | Crime / Action / Mystery / Thriller | 6.8 | 67% | 43 | 6.6 | Renny Harlin |
| 33 | The Ghost and the Darkness '1996 | Thriller | 6.8 | 51% | 46 | 6.9 | Stephen Hopkins |
| 34 | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America '1996 | Animation / Comedy / Crime / Musical | 6.8 | 70% | 64 | 6.7 | Mike Judge |
| 35 | The Cyclone '1996 | Comedy / Romance | 6.8 | - | - | 6.9 | Leonardo Pieraccioni |
| 36 | Slayers Return '1996 | Animation / Comedy / Fantasy | 6.9 | - | - | 6.5 | Hiroshi Watanabe |
| 37 | Romeo + Juliet '1996 | Drama / Romance | 6.7 | 75% | 62 | 6.8 | Baz Luhrmann |
| 38 | Ransom '1996 | Action / Thriller | 6.7 | 73% | 61 | 6.7 | Ron Howard |
| 39 | James and the Giant Peach '1996 | Animation / Fantasy | 6.7 | 91% | 78 | 6.6 | Henry Selick |
| 40 | Everyone Says I Love You '1996 | Comedy / Romance | 6.7 | 77% | - | 6.4 | Woody Allen |
| 41 | Emma '1996 | Romance / Comedy / Drama | 6.6 | 89% | 66 | 6.6 | Douglas McGrath |
| 42 | Courage Under Fire '1996 | Drama / Thriller / Mystery / War | 6.6 | 86% | 77 | 6.6 | Edward Zwick |
| 43 | Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood '1996 | Comedy / Crime | 6.6 | 32% | 53 | 7.0 | Paris Barclay |
| 44 | One Fine Day '1996 | Romance / Comedy | 6.5 | 56% | 56 | 6.5 | Michael Hoffman |
| 45 | Twister '1996 | Action / Drama | 6.6 | 68% | 68 | 6.6 | Jan de Bont |
| 46 | The First Wives Club '1996 | Comedy | 6.5 | 56% | 59 | 6.7 | Hugh Wilson |
| 47 | Aladdin and the King of Thieves '1996 | Animation | 6.4 | 33% | - | 6.2 | Tad Stones |
| 48 | Executive Decision '1996 | Action / Drama / Thriller | 6.5 | 63% | 62 | 6.4 | Stuart Baird |
| 49 | Phenomenon '1996 | Drama / Romance / Fantasy | 6.5 | 49% | 42 | 6.5 | Jon Turteltaub |
| 50 | The Craft '1996 | Horror / Drama / Fantasy | 6.5 | 57% | 55 | 6.8 | Andrew Fleming |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
More years
This decade
By genre
Action Animation Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Fantasy Horror Musical Mystery Romance Sci-Fi Thriller War Western