Every Drew Barrymore Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Drew Barrymore starred opposite Kris Kristofferson in this 1992 detective movie, as the teenage sister of a ballerina murdered by a cult. 

Featuring Kristofferson as a policeman tasked with investigating the murder and protecting Tinsel from the cult, the film attempted a unique narrative angel — and fell flat on its face. Parts of "No Place to Hide" are told through voiceovers from Tinsel's diary, and some awkward bonding between Tinsel and the detective who lost his similarly-aged daughter a few years ago is more cringe-worthy than touching.

Wielding a plot full of holes and leaden acting to match, "No Place" wasn't treated kindly by critics. "[The film] is so bad it's not even any good. No guilty pleasures are to be found in its preposterously clumsy plot, or in the limp performance of Kris Kristofferson (someone check his pulse)," wrote Washington Post critic Richard Harrington in his review. "For both actors, this film is a triumph of underachievement."

Barrymore's early-90s renaissance led her to the role of Holly Gooding in writer/director Avi Nesher's 1993 supernatural, long-forgotten thriller "Doppelganger."

The flick tells the story of an LA writer (played by George Newbern) who discovers his new roommate moved from New York to California after being implicated in a murder. When Patrick and Holly become romantically involved, however, he questions if he is having a love affair with Holly or her evil double. 

As Patrick becomes more attached to Holly, he becomes less certain of her sanity. As Patrick investigates her past and the suspicious tragedies therein, he becomes intent on discovering if she is a killer or a victim. 

The New York Times called this a "confusing but enjoyably weird film," going on to say "[the] film does boast good performances and manages to avoid most standard low-budget horror conventions — that is, until the last five minutes." 

Such was the quality of much early '90s straight-to-VHS Blockbuster shelf trifles. Looking back all these years later, the film remains entertaining, creepy and weird — but its plot is holier than a Sunday service; you can currently stream it on tubi if you're curious.

This movie is not good, and has not aged well at all — but make no mistake: "Poison Ivy" is the film that saved Drew Barrymore's career.

After years of appearing in bad TV movies, the "child star" luster had faded and Barrymore desperately needed to reinvent herself. She did exactly that in this "Lolita"-meets-"Fatal Attraction" flick that came out when she was a mere 17 years old and put her on the map as a sexy starlet.

Starring alongside Sarah Gilbert, Tom Skerritt, and Cheryl Ladd, "Poison Ivy" tells the tale of two teenage girls who forge an unlikely friendship — and the negative impact it has on the family of Gilbert's character.

When wild-child Ivy (Barrymore) befriends introverted Sylvie Cooper (Gilbert), she worms herself into her new friend's idyllic and wealthy home, soon becoming a fixture. Ivy strategically wins over Sylvie's sick mother (Ladd) before she sets her sights on seducing Sylvie's father (Skerritt).

When Ivy begins wearing Georgie's clothing, Sylvie senses a shift in the dynamic of her household, becoming frustrated with Ivy's constant presence and suspicious of the nature of Daryl and Ivy's relationship. Once Ivy sets her sights on getting rid of Georgie and taking her place, the tension in the film ratchets up considerably. 

Believe it or not, "Poison Ivy" actually debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, competing for Best Film. After a small release and weak box-office response, word-of-mouth and the surging home video market made it something of a sensation, as the role of Ivy helped mint Barrymore's bad-girl image in the early '90s (of course, flashing David Letterman also helped), giving "Poison Ivy" a significant cult following. Years later (and after several Barrymore-less sequels), her character landed at number 6 on Entertainment Weekly's Lethal Ladies list.

Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever" became an infamous movie — and for good reason — as the director nearly singlehandedly killed the franchise by slathering it with so much camp that it made the Adam West series look like high art. Barrymore had a small part in the only Val Kilmer outing as the Dark Knight. 

Powered by Jim Carrey as the Riddler, Chris O'Donnell playing Robin, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, and Nicole Kidman as Dr. Meridian, the film's sheer starpower propelled it to box-office success. Barrymore's role as Sugar had her appearing as Two-Face's "good" henchwoman (who has a sweet disposition) opposite Debi Mazar's Spice (aka, the bad henchwoman). Although few remember her role in the film today, at the time it further solidified her second act as a sexy star on the rise.

The indie thriller "Far from Home" cast Barrymore as a teenage girl on a cross-country road trip with her dad (played by "Max Headroom" legend Matt Frewer) stranded in a creepy Nevada desert town when they run out of gas. When she discovers a body in a pool of blood, they find themselves trapped with a serial killer on the loose.

The film's trailer (which begins with Barrymore in a bathing suit saying "I'm not 12 years old anymore") tells you everything you need to know about where the 14-year-old actress found herself in the late '80s. Its half-baked script and leaden dialogue tell you even more. And why is that everybody in this time period was obsessed with running ice cubes seductively down each other's flesh?

While "Far From Home" is far from great, it does a decent job at capturing the awkward teen period where somebody would ask questions like: "Have you ever done it?", where kids are in such a hurry to grow up, and their parents want nothing more than to protect them from the dangers of the world.

One of the last films from the great Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") put Barrymore opposite rising star Eric Bana in a breezy, quick-thinking drama about a poker player trying to make it to the World Series of Poker while grappling with a gambling addiction and a troubled relationship with his father (Robert Duvall). While celebrating a win one night, Bana meets Barrymore, an aspiring singer recently relocated to Las Vegas. But will this burgeoning relationship and the reappearance of his father distract his focus from the big prize?

Despite a solid cast (including Robert Downey Jr. in a supporting role), "Lucky You" didn't have enough aces up its sleeve to take on disappointed critics and an unimpressed box office. All these years later, the film holds with a 6.6 user score on Metacritic, suggesting that viewers still like the film more than critics.

Another film that paired Barrymore opposite an on-the-rise actor — and positioned her as the ultimate mid-'90s manic pixie dream girl — "Mad Love" existed at the nexus of the Drew Barrymore renaissance. Its marketing also hid a deeper, more serious plotline beneath a Blockbuster-rental-friendly allure designed to make up for the film not exactly setting the box office aflame — and a grunge-friendly Seattle setting (and Nirvana-fueled trailer) tapping into the zeitgeist moment. 

Chris O'Donnell co-starred as a young man in love with the new girl at school who possesses a mischievous free-spirited nature, but with a dark side to her mood swings. When she is committed to a psychiatric hospital for bipolar disorder after a suicide attempt, he breaks her out and they go on a wild road trip together. As the ad says, in a movie-trailer voice, it's "a film about what scares us ... what drives us to the edge ... and what brings us back for more." 

Although the film only has a 28% approval rating these days on Rotten Tomatoes, no less than Roger Ebert counted himself as a fan. 

"It is becoming increasingly clear what a good actress Drew Barrymore is," he wrote in his review of the flick, one of three movies she'd put out in 1995. "The movie deals seriously with mental illness, and also with that overwhelming mental and physical condition known as being a teenager in love."

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

Two years after Drew Barrymore became a household name with "E.T." she played Casey Brodsky in "Irreconcilable Differences," a child divorcing her parents — who are more focused on their careers and fighting over her custody than actually being a family. 

Acting alongside Shelley Long and Ryan O'Neal, when the emancipation case (the little girl wants the family nanny, played by Hortensia Colorado, to be made her legal guardian) draws media attention, the whole family is forced to reevaluate their behavior. 

Co-written by Nancy Meyers, the film is perhaps most notable for being inspired by the real-life divorce between legendary director Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt (long considered to be the secret ingredient that made his early films so successful). Sharon Stone plays a character reportedly based on Cybill Shepherd (Bogdanovich's leading lady-turned-pother woman), while Sam Wanamaker plays a producer based on Roger Corman. The in-joke-heavy film also parodies many of Bogdanovich's early efforts including "The Last Picture Show," "Targets," "Daisy Miller" and "At Long Last Love." 

Setting aside all the Bogdanovich references, "Irreconcilable Differences" is a cleverly-written film that today offers a chance to look back on Drew Barrymore for what she once was — one of the most charming child actors in the history of Hollywood. 

"The plot drifts dangerously toward a series of stagy confrontations, but avoids the obvious," Roger Ebert wrote in his 3-and-a-half star review of the film, which currently holds a 52 on Metacritic. "This movie has been written with so much wit and imagination that even obligatory scenes have a certain freshness and style." 

Shelley Long and Barrymore were both nominated for Golden Globes for their performances; looking back, it is worth noting that Barrymore would herself be legally emancipated at 14, in an example of life imitating art.

Barrymore has recurred with a handful of leading men in her career, but most notable might be Adam Sandler; their "50 First Dates" is still regarded as a beloved romantic comedy classic by many, and "The Wedding Singer" is also fondly remembered.

The duo pressed their luck again in 2014 for their third romantic comedy together, co-starring in "Blended." Although the film has its funny moments, and isn't by any means bad, Barrymore and Sandler never quite recreated the magic of their earlier films. 

Mutual friends set Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) up on a blind date, and they both reluctantly agree to go. But after an awful date, at Hooters of all places, the two mutually agree they won't be seeing each other again. Of course, fate has different plans when Lauren and Jim individually agree to buy a friend's vacation in South Africa, being double booked with their children and a suite.

On vacation, the two families spend a lot of time together, with Jim and Lauren developing warm feelings for each other's children, and slowly warming up to each other as well. By the last night of the trip, it looks like romance might be developing, but it quickly becomes clear Jim is not yet ready to move on after his wife's death. 

A sweet, well-intentioned movie about blended families and the story of how these two families became one, audiences liked this film much more than critics, giving it a 64% audience score (compared to 15% critical) on Rotten Tomatoes.

Following up the 2000 mega-hit Barrymore not only starred in but also produced and largely masterminded, "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" returned her alongside Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu. This time around, Demi Moore and Justin Theroux joined the cast, with Bernie Mac (taking over for the legendarily contentious Bill Murray) as Bosley's adopted brother. Crispin Glover, Matt Le Blanc and Luke Wilson reprised their roles from the first film, and everything seemed like a lock for one of the most anticipated popcorn flicks of the year.

The film stumbled badly, however, and nearly killed the franchise (until it was relaunched in 2011 as a TV series that bombed and nearly killed the franchise, then a decade later with different actresses that bombed again, again possibly killing the film franchise — for now). 

Despite a solid opening weekend, the film earned mixed-to-average reviews and rapidly-declining momentum at the box-office. Its aftermath had the film pulling in multiple nominations for the 2004 Razzie Awards, winning two (Demi Moore for worst supporting actress and the film for the Worst Remake or Sequel), and it would prove to be the last adventure for these three Angels.

Barrymore played a troubled teen in this directorial debut from Tamra Davis. Abandoned by her mom, the teen is left to live with her mother's sexually abusive ex-boyfriend — but after writing to a convict (James Le Gros) serving time for manslaughter as a school assignment, she helps him get early parole and finds him work in town — and they team together to murder her stepfather and go on a gun-fueled crime spree.

This convoluted Bonnie and Clyde tale is more nuanced than you might suspect, with Barrymore showing off some too-rarely-harnessed dramatic skills. Comparing Davis to Sam Peckinpah, Hal Hinson of The Washington Post was impressed by the film. "It's a weird emotional place that Davis and her characters take us," he wrote. "Partly despairing, partly hopeful and, somehow, full of strange and unexpected adventures." 

In 1984, Drew Barrymore starred in another film adapted from a Stephen King novel, "Firestarter," co-starring with David Keith, Heather Locklear, Martin Sheen and George C. Scott. Andrew (Keith) and Vicky (Locklear) met years earlier in college, while participating in secret government experiments similar to MK-Ultra, where they were given hallucinogens and tested for psychic abilities. Andrew and Vicky marry and have a little girl they name Charlie. But Charlie develops some very dangerous pyrokinetic powers. She can start fires with her mind, gaining the interest of a secretive government organization known as The Shop. They want to quarantine, study, and control Charlie, using her as a weapon.

"Firestarter" became something of a sensation, re-casting Barrymore's cute kid act as a chilling source of terror. Looking back all these years later there is still a lot to like, as the cast is great (particularly Scott), the special effects are effective for the time the film was made — and for a generation of little girls in the '80s, it was the first time they saw someone who looked like them exhibit such power. 

Both the book and film would later become obvious influences for the hit Netflix series "Stranger Things," and a remake is on the way.

Barrymore took the lead role in "Riding in Cars with Boys," director Penny Marshall's adaptation of Beverly Donofrio's 1992 memoir of the same name. 

The film tells the story of a bright young woman with ambitions to go to college and become a writer, only to wind up pregnant and married at 16. After marrying the father (Steve Zahn) of her unborn child, she tries to finish school and follow her dreams, despite being a pregnant teenager facing long odds.

The film covers the late '60s to 1985, depicting Beverly's struggle to get a Master's degree and have her memoir published while being a mother. Boasting a great cast including Brittany Murphy, James Woods, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Rosie Perez, the film is worth checking it out; its user score of 7.8 on Metacritic suggests audiences liked it better than the critics did.

If you've already forgotten this not-even-a-decade-old movie exists, you're not alone. "Miss You Already" explores female friendship, starring Drew Barrymore and Toni Colette as two best friends going through big life changes. 

This film explores how female friendships often shift and change over the years, making room for other developments in women's lives. From pregnancies to chemotherapy, the complexities of relationships and how you can be happy for someone and angry at them at the same moment is fodder for the film's decent mix of drama and YOLO inspiration. 

The result is a tearjerker, both funny and sad, and for women blessed with lifelong friendships, very relatable. "Miss You Already," was liked by audiences and critics alike, getting solid scores on Rotten Tomatoes, although the Metacritic scores suggest audiences may have liked it better than the critics. If you want to decide for yourself, it is available for streaming on Hulu.

Woody Allen had a wild idea in the mid-'90s: His next film would be set in New York, Venice and Paris and feature huge stars not known for possessing musical skills, singing about love and life in their ordinary, unmodified voices. 

Starring Julia Roberts, Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, Nathasha Lyonne, Alan Alda and others alongside Barrymore and Allen, the result follows the lives of an extended New York-based family, following the characters to both Paris and Venice. Barrymore's character is engaged to Norton — and oddly enough, she was the only actor who successfully convinced Woody Allen to not use her real voice. While the rest of the cast belts out songbook classics like "My Baby Just Cares For Me" and "I'm Through With Love," her songs were dubbed by Olivia Hayman. Reportedly, Barrymore went to such lengths because she's so convinced she has a terrible voice.

You can judge for yourself if you'd like — she released a song called "Cold Hard Truth" tied to the film "Lucky You" in 2007. "It was a chance for me to face a fear," she said at that film's premiere of her decision to finally sing. "And not do what I've done in the past, which is say 'I can't do this.' I think you should never say that, and I've always regretted the one time I did."

"Everybody Says I love You" didn't make a lot of money, even for a Woody Allen film. But the critics did embrace both the film and its concept, and it marked another highpoint for Allen's mid-'90s output that included films like "Bullets Over Broadway" and ""The Might Aphrodite."

"A movie that remembers the innocence of the old Hollywood musicals and combines it with one of Allen's funniest and most labyrinthine plots," Roger Ebert praised in his review. "In which complicated New Yorkers try to recapture the simplicity of first love. It would take a heart of stone to resist this movie." 

An inspiring film based on true events, this whale of a tale cast Barrymore alongside an on-the-rise John Krasinski. 

Reuniting Barrymore with her "He's Just Not That Into You" director Ken Kwapis (who also directed Krasinski in  "License to Wed"), the family-friendly film tells the story of a local reporter in Alaska (Krasinski) who discovers 3 gray whales trapped in ice and unable to get to the open ocean. Joining forces with his ex-girlfriend (Barrymore), a Greenpeace activist, they launch a coordinated rescue effort. 

The film is based on the book "Freeing the Whales" covering Operation Breakthrough, a 1988 international effort to rescue whales via different factions (and nations) working together. It's a beautiful story about what can be accomplished when people band together. The cast was an impressive ensemble featuring Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, Dermot Mulroney, and Steven Root in supporting roles. Rotten Tomatoes approves of "Big Miracle" certifying it as fresh, with a 75% score from critics.

Although Drew Barrymore's character Casey dies in the first 12 minutes of "Scream," her role is hardly a cameo — in fact, screenwriter Kevin Williamson saw it as an opportunity to pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock's "Pyscho," which in 1960 convinced audiences that its star was Janet Leigh, only to brutally murder her character, pulling the rug out from under the viewer. 

"I thought one of the greatest movies in this genre is 'Psycho'. The entire first act is Janet Leigh, and then she gets killed and you're like, 'Whoa, where is this movie going?'" Williamson recalled in 2021. "I had no idea. And I wanted that. I wanted that same feeling ... when she dies, you're like, 'Wait a second. Wasn't she on the poster? Wait. What's going to happen next?'"

The result was the casting of Barrymore, arguably the biggest star in the film at the time, in a pivotal opening that would set the tone for not only the film, but a franchise that would come to yield multiple sequels and a TV show. 

Originally in talks to play the lead, Barrymore fought for the part of ill-fated Casey Becker. As Wes Craven reinvented the horror genre with his meta masterpiece, the self-aware horror of "Scream" launched countless imitators, reviving the stale slasher genre. Although Drew Barrymore may not have been on screen very long, her contribution was an essential element in the launching of one of the most beloved franchises of the last several decades.

"In the horror film genre, my biggest pet peeve was that I always knew the main character was going to be slugging through at the end, but was going to creak by and make it," she said in 2020. "What I wanted to do is to take that comfort zone away. I asked if I could be Casey Becker so we would establish this rule does not apply in this film."

Barrymore's second coupling with Adam Sandler was a match made in heaven for their fanbases, eager to see them reunited. Boasting beautiful locales, a sweet, goofy Happy Madison mindset and some heart-tugging moments, this crowd-pleasing film has become something of a classic.

This time around Barrymore was cast as Lucy Whitmore, a charming artist with short-term memory from a brain injury, resulting in her waking up every morning not remembering the day before. When Henry Roth (Sandler), a marine veterinarian with commitment issues, meets Lucy, he suddenly wants a second date, only to discover Lucy doesn't remember the first. So Henry must find a way to woo Lucy every day, while convincing her friends and family that his intentions are pure.

Eventually Henry wins them over, and he devises a plan to ease Lucy into her day each morning with a video that explains Lucy's condition, updating her on the developments in her life. It's a funny, heart-warming story about the things people will do for love. Although the film doesn't have the best rating on Rotten Tomatoes (it has a 65% audience score), it was a significant commercial success, taking in nearly $200 million worldwide.

An early producing effort through her Flower Films shingle, Barrymore was a big believer in this bizarre, brilliant little film from writer/director Richard Kelly and starring a then-largely-unknown Jake Gyllenhaal.

After chronic sleep walking saves the life of Donnie (Gyllenhaal) when a jet engine crashes through the roof of his home, the teen starts having strange dreams and hallucinations featuring a 6 foot tall bunny rabbit named Frank, warning him that the world will end in 28 days. Frank convinces Donnie to carry out a series of petty pranks and crimes with wide-reaching repercussions in this twisty, visually stunning flick.

Kelly won over audiences with his mind-bending story and the superb performances "Darko" garnered from an ensemble cast that included Barrymore as Karen Pomeroy, Donnie's dedicated English teacher. The supporting cast also includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Patrick Swayze. Although it wasn't an immediate big box-office draw, "Donnie Darko" went on to become both financially profitable and receive critical acclaim, later coming in as number two on Empire's 50 Greatest Independent Films. The film has an 86% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes today; it may not be easy to categorize or explain, but "Donnie Darko" continues to be both a cult favorite and one of the greatest films with which Barrymore has been associated.

In 1998, Drew Barrymore was cast as Dannielle in "Ever After: A Cinderella Story," a period drama directed by Andy Tennant. Barrymore starred opposite Dougray Scott as the French Crown Prince Henry, and Anjelica Huston as Rodmilla, the wicked step-mother. 

Set in Renaissance France, "Ever After" reimagines the Cinderella story by removing the talking animals and magic, replacing the fairy godmother with Leonardo da Vinci (played by Patrick Godfrey), but maintaining such core elements as the death of the protagonist's beloved father, reducing her to becoming a servant in her family home.

One day she meets Prince Henry, when she dresses as a courtier to retrieve one of the servants her step-mother sold to the king to erase the estate's debts. Their romance begins as a love story complicated by class differences and false identities. Dannielle's scheming step-mother and cruel step-sister Marguerite (played by Megan Dodds) thwart Dannielle's happiness at every turn, but her step-sister Jaqueline (played by Melanie Lynskey), is a more sympathetic character. This version of the Cinderella story is more political, and Danielle is spirited, intelligent and a true humanitarian.

"Ever After" was warmly accepted by critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 91% score with critics. "Here, as the little cinder girl, she is able to at last put aside her bedraggled losers and flower as a fresh young beauty," Roger Ebert said of Barrymore's performance. "She brings poignancy and fire to the role."