Ryan Gosling’s filmography reveals a striking diversity of IMDb ratings, ranging from 8.3 for Project Hail Mary down to 5.7 for Only God Forgives. His highest-rated work skews toward science fiction epics and musical dramas, while his lowest-rated films tend to be stylistically ambitious but divisive projects. Across 35 years of acting, Gosling has delivered performances that span prestige dramas, romantic classics, action blockbusters, and experimental art films, each carrying its own audience assessment on IMDb’s 1-10 scale.
The variation in his ratings doesn’t follow a simple trajectory. Some of his most celebrated work sits at the 8.0 mark—films like Blade Runner 2049 and La La Land—while his most recent blockbuster, Barbie, landed at 6.8 despite becoming his highest-grossing film. The data shows that commercial success and critical acclaim on IMDb don’t always align, and Gosling’s willingness to take risks on unconventional projects creates a portfolio where audience response proves unpredictable.
Table of Contents
- THE HIGHEST-RATED RYAN GOSLING MOVIES ON IMDb
- THE STEADY MIDDLE TIER OF 7.1 TO 7.8 RATINGS
- CRITICAL DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DIVISIVE CHOICES
- THE PATTERN WITHIN GOSLING’S RATINGS
- GOSLING’S ROMANTIC AND INDIE CREDENTIALS
- BIOGRAPHICAL AND PRESTIGE DRAMAS
- RECENT BLOCKBUSTERS AND THE BARBIE PHENOMENON
THE HIGHEST-RATED RYAN GOSLING MOVIES ON IMDb
Project Hail Mary leads Gosling’s imdb rankings at 8.3, a 2026 science fiction drama where the actor plays an astronaut tasked with preventing a cosmic catastrophe. The film’s strong rating reflects audience appreciation for both its spectacle and emotional core, positioning it as one of the defining achievements of Gosling’s later career. Blade Runner 2049 and La La Land tie for second place at 8.0, representing two entirely different genres that nonetheless resonated equally with IMDb voters.
La La Land’s 8.0 rating is particularly significant because it marks Gosling’s only major musical role on film, where he played Sebastian, a jazz pianist navigating love and ambition in Los Angeles. The film earned widespread critical acclaim and numerous Academy Award nominations, but its 8.0 rating on IMDb indicates that while audiences appreciated the film, it didn’t achieve the near-universal enthusiasm of Project Hail Mary. Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve’s neo-noir science fiction sequel, hit that same 8.0 threshold, showing that Gosling’s appeal extends equally to intimate character drama and massive visual spectacles.
THE STEADY MIDDLE TIER OF 7.1 TO 7.8 RATINGS
Gosling’s 7.0-7.8 range contains the bulk of his acclaimed work, including Drive, The Notebook, The Nice Guys, Crazy Stupid Love, and First Man. Drive sits at 7.8—tied with The Notebook—and remains one of his most discussed performances, featuring his portrayal of an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver drawn into a noir crime narrative. The film’s stylized violence and minimal dialogue influenced a generation of indie thrillers, yet its 7.8 rating shows that IMDb audiences, while appreciating its craft, found it more polarizing than his highest-rated films.
The Notebook’s 7.8 rating is worth noting because it represents one of his earliest lead roles in a romance drama, released in 2004. That the film maintained a 7.8 rating for over two decades speaks to its enduring appeal with audiences, even as his career has moved into more varied and experimental territory. The Nice Guys (7.4) and Crazy Stupid Love (7.4) both sit slightly lower, suggesting that while audiences enjoyed these films, the comedic or ensemble elements prevented them from reaching the more dramatic heights of Drive or La La Land.
CRITICAL DISAPPOINTMENTS AND DIVISIVE CHOICES
Only God Forgives carries Gosling’s lowest IMDb rating at 5.7, a 2013 revenge thriller directed by Drive’s Nicolas Winding Refn. The film’s poor rating reflects a significant audience backlash against Refn’s approach: extreme violence paired with minimal plot and character motivation. Despite Gosling delivering a restrained, understated performance, the film’s structural and tonal choices alienated many viewers who had embraced Drive’s stylization. This represents a case where Gosling’s artistic choices—trusting an auteur with questionable commercial instincts—resulted in both critical dismissal and audience dissatisfaction.
The Gray Man (6.5) and The Fall Guy (6.8) represent more recent commercial missteps, though for different reasons. The Gray Man, a 2022 Netflix action thriller opposite Chris Evans, was criticized for generic plotting and overreliance on CGI spectacle despite a large budget. The Fall Guy (2024) performed better at 6.8, but still underperformed relative to its scale as a major studio action comedy. These ratings suggest that high production budgets and A-list casts cannot guarantee audience approval on IMDb.
THE PATTERN WITHIN GOSLING’S RATINGS
A clear pattern emerges when comparing Gosling’s 8+ rated films to those below 6.5: IMDb audiences reward intimate character work and emotional vulnerability over spectacle for spectacle’s sake. Project Hail Mary, La La Land, and Blade Runner 2049 all feature Gosling in roles where internal conflict drives the narrative, even when external action dominates. By contrast, The Gray Man and Only God Forgives prioritize style, violence, and visual experimentation at the expense of character clarity, and IMDb voters penalized both for that choice.
Gosling’s willingness to work with visionary but sometimes self-indulgent directors—Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives) and Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049)—produces wildly different results depending on whether the director’s ambitions align with narrative coherence. Drive works at 7.8; Only God Forgives fails at 5.7. This disparity shows that Gosling’s involvement alone doesn’t guarantee ratings; the director’s ability to channel visual excess into character depth determines whether audiences respond on IMDb.
GOSLING’S ROMANTIC AND INDIE CREDENTIALS
Lars and the Real Girl (7.3), Blue Valentine (7.3), and The Notebook (7.8) form a triad of romantic work where Gosling earned critical respect for nuanced, vulnerable performances. Lars and the Real Girl, a 2007 indie comedy about a man in a relationship with a life-size doll, earned a 7.3 by treating its potentially ridiculous premise with genuine emotional sincerity. Blue Valentine (7.3), shot in a raw handheld style across two timelines, showcased Gosling’s range in depicting both romantic passion and its collapse, yet its 7.3 rating suggests audiences found it emotionally exhausting rather than transcendent.
The Notebook’s enduring 7.8 rating across 22 years is noteworthy because the film hasn’t benefited from the critical reappraisal that older romantic dramas sometimes receive. It simply maintained its original audience approval, suggesting that Gosling’s performance as Noah Calhoun satisfied viewers who returned to rate or re-rate the film. These three films represent Gosling at his most emotionally exposed, and all landed in the 7.3-7.8 range, showing that audiences appreciate vulnerability but reserve their highest ratings for projects that combine vulnerability with larger thematic weight.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PRESTIGE DRAMAS
First Man (7.3) and Half Nelson (7.1) represent Gosling’s ventures into biographical and prestige indie work. First Man (2018), where Gosling played astronaut Neil Armstrong, earned a 7.3 despite being a technically accomplished biopic directed by Damien Chazelle.
The film’s measured, interior approach to Armstrong’s life earned critical respect but ranked slightly below La La Land (also Chazelle-directed at 8.0), suggesting audiences preferred the emotional explosiveness of La La Land’s musical ambition to First Man’s quiet introspection. Half Nelson (2006), an early indie drama where Gosling played a drug-using teacher mentoring a student, earned a 7.1 and served as his breakthrough dramatic role. The film’s 7.1 rating, despite earning Gosling his first acting awards, shows that even prestigious indie work that established his serious acting credentials didn’t match the audience enthusiasm of his later major successes.
RECENT BLOCKBUSTERS AND THE BARBIE PHENOMENON
Barbie (6.8) presents an interesting case: Gosling’s role as Ken became a cultural phenomenon, yet the film’s IMDb rating trails behind La La Land by 1.2 points and Project Hail Mary by 1.5 points. The film earned $1.4 billion worldwide and became Gosling’s highest-grossing release, but IMDb audiences rated it more skeptically than his prestige dramas.
Gosling’s scene-stealing performance as Ken, complete with musical numbers and comedic flourishes, demonstrated his range for mainstream audiences even as it failed to secure his highest ratings. This disparity reveals that IMDb’s user base may weight dramatic performance more heavily than comedic or ensemble contributions, regardless of cultural impact or box-office dominance.
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