Sean Penn's Best Movies
AMC Movie List

Sean Penn's Best Movies

He's one of the best actors working today. How do his great flicks -- like Mystic River, Dead Man Walking, and Milk -- rank against each other?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Mystic River
Penn won an Oscar -- deservedly so -- for his devastating portrait of a grieving parent in Clint Eastwood's melancholy drama. 149 443
2 Fast Times at Ridgemont High
You know and love the cast of Ridgemont High, particularly Penn's Spicoli, the film's most excellent slacker and stoner. 90 410
3 Dead Man Walking
There's no happy ending for Penn's convicted killer. But there is a moving portrait of a complex man that's worth watching. 51 361
4 Carlito's Way
In an underrated mob movie, Penn hangs with (and maybe even outshines) Al Pacino in his own genre. 49 351
5 Milk
Penn fully transforms himself into optimistic city supervisor Harvey Milk -- the first openly gay man elected to political office. 5 381
6 21 Grams
Penn is the emotional center of this jigsaw puzzle of a movie, as a guilt-ridden man with another man's heart, desperate for redemption. -31 315
7 At Close Range
Two great character actors -- Penn and Christopher Walken -- collide as father and son, with typically great results. -42 302
8 The Interpreter
This underrated political thriller with Nicole Kidman explores intrigue (and assassination attempts) at the United Nations. -81 269
9 Sweet and Lowdown
Don't think Sean Penn is funny? He proves you wrong in this tongue-in-cheek Woody Allen comedy. -100 258
10 Hurlyburly
Penn plays brilliantly against type. He's not grim but rather motormouthed, coke-addled, and hyperactive. -134 244