At this point, everybody knows that Ryan Gosling, three-time Academy Award nominee, is a bona-fide movie star. After getting his start in the weepy Nicholas Sparks adaptation “The Notebook” in 2004, Gosling earned his first Oscar nod for 2006’s “Half Nelson” and started appearing in other independent films that gave him a chance to show his considerable range, including 2007’s “Lars and the Real Girl” and 2010’s marriage drama “Blue Valentine.” By the time the Canadian native appeared in the ensemble cast of “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” in 2011 — the same year he led the solo effort “Drive” — it was clear that Gosling was an unstoppable force in Hollywood.
This is all to say that, throughout Gosling’s extensive filmography, it’s tough to find any real stinkers on his resumé. Rotten Tomatoes, however, ranked all of Gosling’s films to date, and some definitely boast lower ratings than massive hits like “Barbie,” “La La Land,” or “The Big Short” — even “The Fall Guy,” which underperformed at the box office, fared solidly with critics. So which Ryan Gosling movies are the worst ones he’s ever done according to the review-aggregation site? Let’s count them down until we find the worst critical flop in his catalogue — and figure out why they got bad reviews, despite typically solid performances from the man himself.
5. All Good Things (2010)
Magnolia Pictures
After a string of pretty successful movies, Ryan Gosling had a rare misfire with 2010’s “All Good Things,” a film by director Andrew Jarecki that was inspired by the real life of real estate heir Robert Durst. (More on him in just a moment.) Alongside Kirsten Dunst as his wife Katie McCarthy, Gosling plays David Macks, whose father is real estate tycoon Sanford Marks (Frank Langella) … and as a result, Gosling’s David moves through the world with extreme privilege and access to unimaginable wealth. Unfortunately for David, his relationship with Sanford is difficult, to say the least, and throughout the movie, Sanford bullies his son into living the exact life that Sanford thinks his appropriate for David and his young, beautiful wife.
David, to be fair, also acts bizarre, especially when Katie discovers she’s pregnant; he’s wildly averse to having children but never quite explains why. After the couple experiences serious marital issues, Katie vanishes, and David is the main suspect … and years after the fact, new information surfaces that incriminates David. Critics didn’t think much of the movie — it only has a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a critical consensus that reads, “It’s well-acted, and the true story that inspired it offers plenty of drama — which is why it’s so frustrating that ‘All Good Things’ is so clichéd and frustratingly ambiguous.” Still, if nothing else, the real man at the center of the story, Durst, liked the movie enough that he asked Jarecki to make a docuseries about his life called “The Jinx.” The rest is history. “All Good Things,” if you’re curious, is available to stream on Peacock.
4. The United States of Leland (2003)
Paramount Pictures
Before becoming an international heartthrob in “The Notebook,” Ryan Gosling played a much more complicated character one year earlier in “The United States of Leland” — but unfortunately, the movie didn’t perform particularly well with critics. The movie centers around Gosling’s Leland P. Fitzgerald, who immediately gets arrested for murdering a young boy with intellectual disabilities named Ryan Pollard (Michael Welch); during his time in a juvenile detention center, a teacher and writer named Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) takes him under his wing. We also eventually learn that Leland was involved with Ryan’s sister Becky (Jena Malone), and though the two split up, Leland’s shadow looms large enough over the Pollard family that Allen (Chris Klein), the ex-boyfriend of Ryan and Becky’s sister Julie (Michelle Williams), ends up in the same detention center and kills Leland.
If you’ve never heard of “The United States of Leland,” that probably for the best according to Rotten Tomatoes. “‘The United States of Leland’ has its moments, but they’re undermined by a muddled plot, unsympathetic characters, and frustratingly uneven performances” is the site’s critical consensus, and it only earned a 34% rating from critics … but with actors like Malone, Williams, Lena Olin, Kerry Washington, and Michael Peña in the cast, it’s certainly got a lot of great talent in front of the camera. It’s just too bad it didn’t translate. Still, you can decide for yourself by watching “The United States of Leland,” which is available to rent or buy on major streaming platforms.
3. Gangster Squad (2013)
Warner Bros.
Usually, when Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling collaborate — on movies like “La La Land” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” — it creates onscreen magic. Unfortunately, this just isn’t true for 2013’s “Gangster Squad,” directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland,” a previous Stone project) and written by Will Beall (“Aquaman,” “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”). The movie stars Gosling and Stone as Los Angeles cop and veteran Sergeant Jerry Wooters and Grace Faraday, respectively, who are both caught up in illicit activites thanks to the city’s mob boss Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), albeit in totally different ways; Wooters is tasked with taking down Cohen’s entire organization, and Grace teaches Cohen etiquette lessons while also carrying on an affair with the powerful mobster. Wooters fears Cohen’s power and impulsive, violent nature, and when he and Grace get involved, he realizes he needs to stop hesitating and stop Cohen once and for all. Ultimately, the law enforcement team dubbed the “gangster squad” takes Cohen down, and Grace and Wooters are finally free from his tyranny.
“Gangster Squad” just … doesn’t work; ultimately, the movie sort of feels more like a parody of mob movies than a worthy entry into the genre. Rotten Tomatoes agrees. Its critical consensus says that “though it’s stylish and features a talented cast, Gangster Squad suffers from lackluster writing, underdeveloped characters, and an excessive amount of violence,” and the rating from critics is a dismal 30%. Still, if you really can’t get enough of Stone and Gosling on-screen together, you can rent “Gangster Squad” on major streaming platforms now.
2. Murder By Numbers (2002)
Warner Bros.
Gosling’s Richard is an unrepentant killer and sociopath, and it’s definitely a bold move for the actor, but he couldn’t save a movie where Bullock’s character, inexplicably, is attacked by a baboon. The movie only earned a 30% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and the critical consensus more or less sums it all up, calling the film “a predictable police procedural that works better as a character study rather than a thriller.” Gosling won in the end, though; his career wasn’t adversely affected by this dud and he ended up dating Bullock for a short time after they met while filming this thriller. As with a few other films on this dubious list, you can rent “Murder by Numbers” on major streaming platforms if you’re really curious about that baboon thing.
1. Stay (2005)
20th Century Studios
Throughout Ryan Gosling’s extensive and impressive film resumé, one movie is, according to critics, his very worst — and the film that earns that “honor” is the 2005 indie flick “Stay.” The baffling thing about “Stay,” to be frank, is the star power both behind and in front of the camera; it’s directed by Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball,” “Stranger Than Fiction,” and “World War Z,” among others) and written by former “Game of Thrones” showrunner David Benioff. Alongside Gosling, the cast includes Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, the late Bob Hoskins, Janeane Garofolo, and more. So what went wrong here? Apparently, quite a lot.The movie centers on McGregor’s character Dr. Sam Foster, a psychiatrist who begins the film by telling his girlfriend Lila Culpepper (Watts) he has a new patient named Henry Letham (Gosling). As Sam learns, Henry is a tough case — he’s suspicious of Sam due to the fact that his usual doctor Beth Levy (Garofalo) went on leave without much notice, and he experiences hallucinations and hears voices. As Sam looks into Henry’s background, he discovers increasingly disturbing things about Henry’s life and past and starts to lose his own grip on reality. That’s where the movie’s twist ending comes into play, and it’s … not great, to say the least.
Gosling gives “Stay” his all — as he always does — but it couldn’t save the film, which earned a dismal 26% on Rotten Tomatoes with a critical consensus that reads, “A muddled brain-teaser, ‘Stay’ has a solid cast and innovative visuals but little beneath the surface.” The movie is, as of this writing, available on both YouTubeTV and Tubi, if you’re really determined to work your way through all of Gosling’s movies.
