Juliette Lewis’ 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Movies

Juliette Lewis is many things. She is the daughter of late, great character actor Geoffery Lewis (who made a career in the films of Clint Eastwood and in many other great films of the ’70s.) She is a rock ‘n’ roll singer who heads a popular band called Juliette and the Licks. But Lewis is perhaps best known as a respected, Oscar-nominated actress.

After a few small roles in TV and films such as National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Lewis blasted onto the scene with major roles in films from Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Katherine Bigelow, and Oliver Stone. But while Lewis has received acclaim in many of her roles, others weren’t the best choice.

10 Worst: The Other Sister (1999)

Garry Marshall directed 1999’s The Other Sister, casting Juliette Lewis as a mentally handicapped woman who seeks independence and wants to live by herself while attending college. Giovanni Ribisi co-starred as her mentally handicapped boyfriend while Diane Keaton played her mother. This seemed to be the perfect recipe for a nuanced, sensitive film in which mentally handicapped characters got proper representation.

But while Lewis gave a respectful performance, the screenplay lets her and the cast down. Everything plays like a farce, and Marshall directs the film with an inherent goofiness and schmaltzy tone that does the material an offensive disservice.

9 Best: The Way Of The Gun (2000)

In The Way of the Gun, Juliette Lewis plays Robin, a pregnant woman who gets kidnapped by Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro, who play a pair of criminals looking for a big-money score. Unfortunately, Robin is a surrogate mother for a major crime boss and things go violently astray.

This Christopher McQuarrie movie is an exciting, vulgar, and violent throwback to the films of the ’70s. The screenplay is smart and darkly funny, focusing on character and dialogue. The bloodshed is handled with care and style, as is the whole film. The Way of the Gun is a gripping thriller full of great performances, including one of Lewis’ best.

8 Worst: The Switch (2010)

The Switch is the dreadfully unfunny tale of a man who discovers he was the sperm donor for his best friend. That’s the bland premise and the film doesn’t do anything interesting with it.

Lewis co-stars as a tough-talking woman who has many things to say about men who treat women badly, but her dialogue is ridiculous and embarrassing. The solid cast — Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, and Jeff Goldblum — is wasted on sub-par material.

7 Best: Cape Fear (1991)

Steven Spielberg was originally set to direct 1991’s Cape Fear but handed over the reins to Martin Scorsese, as Spielberg took on the task of directing both Schindler’s List and Jurassic Park in tandem.

In Cape Fear, Juliette Lewis stars as the daughter of Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange. The family is terrorized by a recently-released convict (a frightening Robert De Niro) whom Nolte put in prison. Lewis gave a masterful and Oscar-nominated performance in the role that made her an overnight star.

6 Worst: Due Date (2010)

Todd Phillips was on a roll after directing the hit comedies Old School and The Hangover. His 2010 comedy Due Date promised another wild hit comedy, as Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis star as a mismatched pair who find themselves together in an attempt to get Downey Jr.’s character home in time for the birth of his baby.

Juliette Lewis had a small role as Heidi, her popular character from Phillip’s Old School. Her presence is merely a gimmick and the actress is wasted. The film was a hit with audiences but received only mixed reviews. While Galifianakis is quite good, Due Date is much too mean-spirited to be truly funny or engaging.

5 Best: Strange Days (1995)

Katherine Bigelow’s Strange Days was lauded by critics as a wildly original and brilliantly directed film. Ralph Fiennes is a black marketeer who deals in “wire-tripping” (recordings that allow the buyer to “jack-in” and virtually experience what is happening. Bank robberies, murders, car chases, etc.) Juliette Lewis had the important part Fiennes’ rock singer ex, who is now involved with a dangerous man played by Tom Sizemore.

Strange Days is big and bold and there was nothing like it back in 1995. The screenplay (by James Cameron and Jay Cocks) is a total thrill. Lewis stood out among the already great cast and proved that she was not only a great actress but also a fantastic singer.

4 Worst: Cold Creek Manor (2003)

In Cold Creek Manor, Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone play a couple who buy the titular house. However, a dangerous couple, played by Juliette Lewis and Stephen Dorff, have a connection to the manor’s dark past.

Mike Figgis directed the film but fought with the producers over its content and the film was re-edited by the studio. Figgis was displeased and distanced himself from the film, as did the cast. Cold Creek Manor received bad reviews and sunk quickly from theaters.

3 Best: Husbands And Wives (1992)

In Husbands and Wives, one of Woody Allen’s best and most respected films, Juliette Lewis plays a college student who has a crush on an older writer. Lewis all but steals the show with her intellectual, flirtatious performance. Her scenes are extremely well-performed and have a naturalistic aura about them.

Made right after 1991’s Cape Fear, this film solidified Lewis’s place as one of American cinema’s best actresses.

2 Worst: Ma (2019)

In Ma, Lewis stars as a mother of a teenager who, along with her friends, becomes the obsession of an unstable woman played by Octavia Spencer.

Lewis plays her role with gusto but is drowned in a film so ridiculous and cliched that her good performance becomes irrelevant. Ma turned a solid profit but was rightfully panned by most critics.

1 Best: Natural Born Killers (1994)

Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers exploded onto screens in 1994 and became one of the most cinematically original and divisive films of its decade. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis starred respectively as Mickey and Mallory, two serial killers who become media sensations. Ever-so-loosely based on an actual murderous couple, Stone’s film took on trash-TV culture and how America revels in real-life violence while denouncing it in films and other art forms.

Harrelson and Lewis gave phenomenal performances and never drowned under Stone’s wild use of different styles throughout the film. Most critics praised Natural Born Killers as a masterpiece, with a few complaints about its stylistic choices. Some moviegoers were offended by the film’s excessive violent tone, which ironically spoke to the hypocrisy that Stone took on with this film.