Cher’s 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Not content with being a superstar in music, singing legend Cher made the jump to the big screen and continued to impress there as well. Her range as a performer has allowed her to not only play characters close to herself, but distinctly different ones also.

From musicals like Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again to dramas like Mask, Cher has shown her range as a performer. Though her filmography is packed with successful films, some garnered much higher scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

10 Tea With Mussolini (1999) – 63%

Already decades into her career as a singer and actor, Cher starred alongside several grand dames of acting in a period piece. Tea With Mussolini tells the story of a young boy who is raised amongst a group of older British women living in pre-WWII Italy.

Showing she could hang with more classically trained actors like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, Cher plays the brash and bold Elsa. Acting as a foil to the refined ladies of the film, Elsa speaks her mind and isn’t afraid to rub against authority. At her best, Cher excels at playing defiant characters who aren’t afraid to shake up the status quo.

9 Suspect (1987) – 67%

Though she usually imbues her performances with a trace of her signature sense of humor, Cher showed in Suspect that she could play it straight as well. The film follows a dedicated public defender who is tasked with helping a homeless man who is accused of a grizzly murder. With help from a congressman, the public defender delves into a world of secret corruption in the legal system.

Toning down her usual over-the-top personality, Cher shined as the naive public defender Kathleen. The audience learns alongside the character and Cher’s performance subtly changes throughout the film as she gets deeper and deeper into the conspiracy. Cher’s star power helped elevate what was an already underrated legal drama from the 1980s.

8 Mermaids (1990) – 74%

Mermaids gave Cher the opportunity to show bits of her own personality in her role as well as reflect aspects of her own life. The film follows a single mother who, after a failed relationship, drags her two young daughters to a new town in order to restart their lives. Along the way, the family attempts to find structure and new relationships despite their domineering mother.

In Mermaids, the strength of the film lies in the bond between Mrs. Flax and her two daughters. With a terrific supporting performance from Winona Ryder, the ensemble cast supports the over-the-top performance from Cher. The film manages to be both hilarious and heartwarming as all members of the family struggle to figure out who they are.

7 Silkwood (1983) – 76%

Before Silkwood, Cher was mostly known for her singing but the dramatic role gave her the chance to show what she could do. The film tells the true story of a nuclear plant worker who attempts to blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions. Along the way she is psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to cover up the malpractice.

In a supporting role, Cher excelled and delivered a terrific debut dramatic performance. Working with legendary New Hollywood director Mike Nichols, Cher showed that she deserved more serious work. Helped along by her co-stars Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell, Cher shed her image as a mere singer.

6 The Witches Of Eastwick (1987) – 77%

From heart-wrenching dramas to supernatural comedies, the roles she played in the ’80s allowed Cher to show that she could do it all. The Witches of Eastwick follows a trio of divorced women in a repressive New England town who long for something more. When a mysterious man shows up they soon find that they possess the power to change their own lives through magic.

Sharing the screen with legends like Jack Nicholson in one of his lesser-known roles, Cher once again showed that she deserved to be there. In a film jam-packed with dynamic personalities, Cher stood head and shoulders above the rest. Though the gross-out horror and supernatural elements overshadow much of the dramatics in the film, the performances still manage to shine.

5 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) – 79%

Though she usually separated her singing and her acting, Cher eventually returned to her performance roots when starring in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. In a sequel to Mamma Mia!, the story follows Sophia a few years after the first film as she learns more about her parent’s relationship as she prepares to reopen the hotel.

Perfectly in her element, Cher shines as the verbose Ruby Sheridan. Lending her voice to the film’s ABBA soundtrack, Cher returns to form singing the hits once again. In a film already jammed with star power, Cher puts it over the top not only with her acting but her excellent singing as well.

4 Come Back To The 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) – 80%

Showing she could handle headier material, Cher starred in an adaptation of an extremely popular stage play. Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean follows a James Dean fan club as they reunite at a diner on the twentieth anniversary of his untimely death. While there they reflect on their lives and relationships with one another.

In one of the greatest films in Robert Altman’s filmography, Cher plays Sissy, a woman who strives to be known as more than simply a pretty face. Though the story is both dramatic and comedic, it is the dramatic elements within the film that shine the brightest. Though still early in her acting career, Cher managed to portray the subtle longing of Sissy while also embodying all of the other aspects of her personality.

3 If These Walls Could Talk (1996) – 88%

Pulling double duty as actor and co-director, Cher starred in a film that tackled a hot-button political issue and humanized it. If These Walls Could Talk tells a series of vignettes throughout the latter half of the 20th century about women and the issue of abortion all set within the same house.

The film examines its complicated premise from multiple angles through its three stories and shines light on the difficult choices of the women involved. Co-starring screen legends like Sissy Spacek, the film soars above the usual TV movie stigmas and rivals its theatrical counterparts. Though Cher only appears briefly, she lends her star power to the film to elevate its visibility to a larger audience. The film was such a success that it even spawned a sequel that further explored the issue in depth.

2 Mask (1985) – 93%

Throughout her career, Cher has had the opportunity to work with several legendary directors and the partnerships have usually resulted in classic pieces of cinema. Mask tells the story of a teenage boy who suffers from a facial deformity who attempts to live a normal life with his overbearing biker mother.

In one of director Peter Bogdonovich’s best films, Cher gives one of her most career-defining roles as Rocky’s mother, Rusty. Though Rusty puts on a strong face for her son, she is tortured by the suffering of her child and she acts out in negative ways. Cher perfectly embodies the complicated duality of the character and is both tough and vulnerable simultaneously.

1 Moonstruck (1987) – 94%

Few films allow an actor to show off all aspects of their abilities in one role, but Moonstruck featured Cher at her best as an actor. The film follows a bookkeeper who finds herself in a complicated emotional situation when she begins falling in love with the brother of the man she is supposed to marry.

Mostly known as one of Nicolas Cage’s most underrated roles, Moonstruck is also quintessential Cher. The film shines because of the interactions between its lead actors and the screen lights up when they are both present. Cher has the ability to humanize herself within the film and shed all of the superstar image that he has offscreen. Instead we get an emotionally vulnerable and fulfilling performance that is also tinged with a fair amount of humor.

About The Author