Brat Pack Actors Ranked By Highest Rated Rotten Tomatoes Score

The Brat Pack characterizes a group of young actors from the ’80s who appeared in many coming-of-age teen movies throughout that decade. The name was coined by David Blum in New York Magazine as a take on the Rat Pack. There are core members, including Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy, as well as others that many believe belong in the “club” as well, like Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Charlie Sheen, Matthew Broderick, and James Spader.

Many of these actors went on to enjoy successful careers as adults as well, most of which are still active in the industry today. But how do they rank against one another when it comes to their projects? Rotten Tomatoes has the answer.

Updated on December 3rd, 2021 by Amanda Bruce: “Brat Pack” might not have sounded like the most flattering name for a group of up-and-coming actors in the 980s, but it certainly turned out a talented group of individuals. The Brat Pack members, and those who co-starred in other projects with them, are forever linked by pop culture, whether they want to be or not. Luckily for movie fans, those links provide audiences with a lot of good films – both fictional and documentary.

12 Molly Ringwald – 92% (Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films)

• Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films can be rented on Amazon

Interestingly, while Ringwald was the “it” girl when it came to playing the girl-next-door type in teen rom-coms of the ’80s, like Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles, her highest rated role is actually from this Australian-American comedy documentary film about The Cannon Group, an American group of companies that produced many films from 1967 through to 1994 and bought the rights to many classic film libraries.

Technically, Ringwald was just interviewed in this documentary. Her top acting role score is actually 89% for 1985’s The Breakfast Club, followed not far behind by her most recent role in The CW TV series Riverdale (84%).

11 Andrew McCarthy – 92% (New Waterford Girl)

• New Waterford Girl can be streamed on IMDb TV

This 1999 Canadian comedy-drama is McCarthy’s top-rated film, a series about a teenager living in Nova Scotia who dreams of a bigger life. Of course, as a Brat Packer, McCarthy appeared in iconic movies in the ’80s like St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero.

Today, he works as a director as well, and keen-eyed viewers might have recognized him as Charlie’s father Mr. St. George in 13 Reasons Why.

10 Ally Sheedy – 94% (Little Sister)

• Little Sister can be streamed on Kanopy

Her highest rated film is actually a relatively new one: a dark comedy from 2016 about a young nun who, after cutting off all contact with her family, goes back to visit her childhood home when her brother returns from Iraq. Sheedy plays the girl’s mother.

Coming in a close second is the 1983 film WarGames, in which Sheedy alongside fellow Brat Packer (sort of), Matthew Broderick. She was, of course, also in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire.

9 Anthony Michael Hall – 94% (The Dark Knight)

• The Dark Knight can be streamed on HBO Max

In the 2008 DC Comics Batman film, the second in The Dark Knight trilogy and the one that earned the late Heath Ledger plenty of accolades for his role as the Joker, Hall had a small role as Mike Engel, the host of the news program Gotham Tonight in Gotham City. Not surprisingly, given that the film was a massive box office success, this is the highest-rated one he has been in.

Interestingly, Hall’s second-highest ranked film was from the ’80s but it wasn’t a Brat Pack movie: it was National Lampoon’s Vacation, where he played the role of Rusty Griswold, one of many actors who would play that same character over the years. As a Brat Packer, he was in movies like Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club as well.

8 Robert Downey Jr. – 95% (Short Cuts)

• Short Cuts is not available to stream

Of all of the films that Downey Jr. has starred in, it’s strange that this comedy-drama from 1993 ranks highest. Inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver, it follows the lives of 22 characters who are all somehow connected to one another in some way.

Naturally, it has an ensemble cast that includes a number of big-time actors like Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Frances McDormand, Andie MacDowell, and Lily Tomlin, just to name a few. Technically, this top score is tied with his 1989 courtroom drama film True Believer, and right on their heels is Avengers: Endgame, which has a 94% rating, tied with Baby It’s You, Iron Man, and Richard III. It’s safe to say that Downey Jr. has become the most successful Brat Packer with the biggest box office pull.

7 Lea Thompson – 96% (Back To The Future)

• Back To The Future can be streamed on Peacock

Lea Thompson was linked to the Brat Pack thanks to her prolific movie presence in the 1980s and her presence among the social scene in Hollywood at the time. Her best-known credits from the era include movies like Back To The Future, Red Dawn, and Some Kind Of Wonderful. Her movies are often mistaken for Brat Pack films, and quite a few, like Back To The Future maintain stellar ratings.

Though it’s her best-known film, Back To The Future shares its 96% rating with 2017’s Who We Are Now as well as DC’s Stargirl, though Thompson didn’t appear in the latter, but directed episodes of the series. She’s turned her attention behind the camera in recent years just as much as she’s appeared on camera.

6 Tom Cruise – 97% (Mission: Impossible – Fallout)

• Mission: Impossible – Fallout can be streamed on Paramount+

Tom Cruise might not have been a mainstay in the Brat Pack, but he was associated with young Hollywood in the 1980s thanks to his role in The Outsiders, a movie that is still watched in some high school English classrooms today after students read the S.E. Hinton novel.

It’s no surprise, thanks to the longevity of the franchise, that a Mission: Impossible movie earns Cruise his highest Rotten Tomatoes rating. The actor has become less known for his work in coming-of-age films than his blockbuster action movies. He’s one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, and it’s rare for him to have a box office flop.

5 Emilio Estevez – 98% (Repo Man)

• Repo Man is available to stream on Tubi

Estevez stars in this sci-fi black comedy as a young man who’s into punk rock and is recruited by a car repossession agency. But when his assignment is to locate a Chevrolet Malibu, he discovers a mysterious connection to potential aliens. The film was meant to be satirical, poking fun at the Reagan administration, consumerism, and the Atomic Age.

Beyond that 1984 film, which garnered an almost perfect score, Estevez’s next best flick is the Brat Pack classic The Breakfast Club from 1985, which has an 89% rating.

4 Judd Nelson – 100% (Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam)

• Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam is not available to stream

This is actually a documentary from 1987 featuring letters from real American soldiers as well as archived footage to create a personal experience of the Vietnam War. Nelson provided his vocal talents to narrate some of the story, along with others like Robert De Niro, Willem Dafoe, Robert Downey Jr., and Michael J. Fox.

Like Estevez, Nelson’s next highest ranking on the list, and the first one for actually acting, is the 1985 flick The Breakfast Club. It’s also his most memorable one, with the final image of him jumping with his fist in the air and his long trench coat blowing in the wind becoming an iconic one from the film.

3 James Spader – 100% (The Music of Chance)

• The Music Of Chance is not available to stream

Spader is barely recognizable in this 1993 film as a professional gambler who happens upon a man who has coincidentally just inherited a large amount of money and is looking for a way to spend it. Based on the absurdist novel of the same name by Paul Auster, it remains Spader’s highest-ranked role, even after nearly two decades.

His next highest-ranked film is Bob Roberts, where he plays a news anchor, and his best Brat Pack flick in 1989’s Sex, Lies and Videotape, which earned a 96% rating. His Brat Pack films include Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Less Than Zero, among others.

2 Rob Lowe – 100% (I Am Patrick Swayze)

• I Am Patrick Swayze is available to stream on Hoopla

This 2019 documentary about the life and career of the late actor, told by some of his closest friends and co-workers, received high praise and was universally loved by critics. And because of its perfect score, it remains Lowe’s highest-rated film.

When it comes to actual acting projects, however, Lowe’s highest-rated film is Behind the Candelabra from 2013, which has a 95% rating followed by 2006’s Thank You For Smoking (86%) and 1992’s Wayne’s World (84%). His Brat Pack movies include everything from The Outsiders to About Last Night and St. Elmo’s Fire.

1 Demi Moore – 100% (I Am Patrick Swayze)

Like Lowe, Moore was part of the Patrick Swayze documentary, not surprising given the fact that she starred with the late actor in the widely popular film Ghost.

For her acting talents, Moore’s top film is 2011’s Margin Call, about the financial crash of the late ’00s, which earned an 87% rating. Interestingly, Ghost only ranks with a 74% despite being her (arguably) most famous project. She was in countless Brat Pack movies as a core member of the group, including About Last Night, One Crazy Summer, No Small Affair, and St. Elmo’s Fire, just to name a few.

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