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Best Drama Movies of the 2000s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
291 drama films from the 2000s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Gladiator (2000), at 8.5 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 8.1. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Notebook, 7.8 on IMDb against 53 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gladiator '2000 | Action / Drama | 8.5 | 80% | 67 | 8.2 | Ridley Scott |
| 2 | The Prestige '2006 | Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 8.5 | 77% | 66 | 8.2 | Christopher Nolan |
| 3 | The Departed '2006 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.5 | 91% | 85 | 8.2 | Martin Scorsese |
| 4 | City of God '2002 | Drama / Crime | 8.6 | 91% | 79 | 8.4 | Fernando Meirelles |
| 5 | The Pianist '2002 | Drama / War | 8.5 | 95% | 85 | 8.4 | Roman Polanski |
| 6 | Inglourious Basterds '2009 | Drama / Thriller / War | 8.4 | 89% | 69 | 8.2 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 7 | Requiem for a Dream '2000 | Drama | 8.3 | 80% | 71 | 8.0 | Darren Aronofsky |
| 8 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind '2004 | Sci-Fi / Drama / Romance | 8.3 | 93% | 89 | 8.1 | Michel Gondry |
| 9 | Batman Begins '2005 | Drama / Crime / Action | 8.2 | 85% | 70 | 7.7 | Christopher Nolan |
| 10 | A Beautiful Mind '2001 | Drama / Romance | 8.2 | 74% | 72 | 7.9 | Ron Howard |
| 11 | Catch Me If You Can '2002 | Drama / Crime | 8.1 | 96% | 75 | 8.0 | Steven Spielberg |
| 12 | 3 Idiots '2009 | Drama / Comedy | 8.4 | 94% | 67 | 8.0 | Rajkumar Hirani |
| 13 | Pan's Labyrinth '2006 | Fantasy / Drama / War | 8.2 | 95% | 98 | 7.8 | Guillermo del Toro |
| 14 | The Lives of Others '2006 | Drama / Thriller | 8.4 | 92% | 89 | 8.0 | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
| 15 | There Will Be Blood '2007 | Drama | 8.2 | 91% | 93 | 8.1 | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 16 | Gran Torino '2008 | Drama | 8.1 | 81% | 73 | 8.0 | Clint Eastwood |
| 17 | Million Dollar Baby '2004 | Drama | 8.1 | 90% | 86 | 8.0 | Clint Eastwood |
| 18 | Donnie Darko '2001 | Fantasy / Drama / Mystery | 8.0 | 88% | 88 | 7.8 | Richard Kelly |
| 19 | Slumdog Millionaire '2008 | Drama / Romance | 8.0 | 92% | 84 | 7.7 | Danny Boyle |
| 20 | Into the Wild '2007 | Drama | 8.0 | 83% | 73 | 7.8 | Sean Penn |
| 21 | The Bourne Ultimatum '2007 | Action / Drama / Mystery / Thriller | 8.0 | 92% | 85 | 7.4 | Paul Greengrass |
| 22 | Downfall '2004 | Drama / War | 8.2 | 90% | 82 | 7.9 | Oliver Hirschbiegel |
| 23 | The Pursuit of Happyness '2006 | Drama | 8.0 | 67% | 64 | 7.9 | Gabriele Muccino |
| 24 | Blood Diamond '2006 | Drama / Thriller / Action | 8.0 | 64% | 64 | 7.6 | Edward Zwick |
| 25 | Hotel Rwanda '2004 | Drama / War | 8.1 | 91% | 79 | 7.7 | Terry George |
| 26 | Mystic River '2003 | Thriller / Drama / Mystery / Crime | 7.9 | 89% | 84 | 7.7 | Clint Eastwood |
| 27 | Cast Away '2000 | Drama | 7.8 | 88% | 74 | 7.7 | Robert Zemeckis |
| 28 | Hachi: A Dog's Tale '2009 | Drama | 8.1 | 64% | - | 8.0 | Lasse Hallström |
| 29 | Big Fish '2003 | Fantasy / Drama | 7.9 | 76% | 58 | 7.7 | Tim Burton |
| 30 | Before Sunset '2004 | Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 95% | 91 | 7.8 | Richard Linklater |
| 31 | Memories of Murder '2003 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | - | 82 | 8.1 | Bong Joon Ho |
| 32 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button '2008 | Drama / Fantasy / Romance | 7.8 | 72% | 70 | 7.6 | David Fincher |
| 33 | The Notebook '2004 | Romance / Drama | 7.8 | 55% | 53 | 7.9 | Nick Cassavetes |
| 34 | In Bruges '2008 | Comedy / Drama / Crime | 7.9 | 84% | 67 | 7.5 | Martin McDonagh |
| 35 | Amores Perros '2000 | Drama / Thriller | 8.0 | 93% | 83 | 7.7 | Alejandro G. Iñárritu |
| 36 | Mulholland Drive '2001 | Thriller / Drama / Mystery | 7.9 | 83% | 87 | 7.8 | David Lynch |
| 37 | The Secret in Their Eyes '2009 | Mystery / Thriller / Drama | 8.2 | 89% | 80 | 8.0 | Juan José Campanella |
| 38 | The Last Samurai '2003 | Drama / Action / War | 7.8 | 65% | 55 | 7.6 | Edward Zwick |
| 39 | Little Miss Sunshine '2006 | Comedy / Drama | 7.8 | 91% | 80 | 7.7 | Jonathan Dayton |
| 40 | Almost Famous '2000 | Drama / Musical | 7.9 | 91% | 90 | 7.5 | Cameron Crowe |
| 41 | Training Day '2001 | Action / Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 74% | 71 | 7.5 | Antoine Fuqua |
| 42 | American Gangster '2007 | Drama / Crime | 7.8 | 81% | 76 | 7.6 | Ridley Scott |
| 43 | Apocalypto '2006 | Action / Drama | 7.9 | 65% | 68 | 7.7 | Mel Gibson |
| 44 | American Psycho '2000 | Thriller / Drama / Crime | 7.6 | 69% | 64 | 7.4 | Mary Harron |
| 45 | Lost in Translation '2003 | Drama / Comedy / Romance | 7.7 | 95% | 91 | 7.4 | Sofia Coppola |
| 46 | In the Mood for Love '2000 | Drama / Romance | 8.0 | 92% | 87 | 8.1 | Wong Kar-wai |
| 47 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon '2000 | Romance / Drama / Action | 7.8 | 96% | 94 | 7.4 | Ang Lee |
| 48 | Moon '2009 | Sci-Fi / Drama | 7.8 | 90% | 67 | 7.6 | Duncan Jones |
| 49 | The Bourne Supremacy '2004 | Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 81% | 73 | 7.3 | Paul Greengrass |
| 50 | The Wrestler '2008 | Drama / Romance | 7.9 | 99% | 80 | 7.5 | Darren Aronofsky |
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.
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Other genres in the 2000s
Action of the 2000s Animation of the 2000s Comedy of the 2000s Crime of the 2000s Fantasy of the 2000s Horror of the 2000s Mystery of the 2000s Romance of the 2000s Sci-Fi of the 2000s Thriller of the 2000s War of the 2000s
Directors on this list
Ridley Scott Christopher Nolan Martin Scorsese Roman Polanski Quentin Tarantino Darren Aronofsky Ron Howard Steven Spielberg Guillermo del Toro Paul Thomas Anderson Clint Eastwood Danny Boyle
Actors on this list
Russell Crowe Joaquin Phoenix Hugh Jackman Christian Bale Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Adrien Brody Thomas Kretschmann Brad Pitt Jared Leto Jim Carrey Kate Winslet