Timothée Chalamet's Best Movie, According To Rotten Tomatoes
The rise of Timothée Chalamet has been something to behold in an era where brands like the Marvel Cinematic Universe have tended to swallow prospective movie stars whole. (There's a reason Chris Hemsworth was so nakedly happy to be working with an honest-to-goodness visionary like George Miller on "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.") Borrowing a page from the book of his fellow former teen heartthrob and mentor, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chalamet was careful to establish his credentials as a performer before hitching his name to a franchise. Over the span of just 10 years, he's already joined forces with some of the most renowned directors in the biz — Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, Luca Guadagnino, Denis Villeneuve, Paul King, and Greta Gerwig chief among them.
He was also shrewd enough to cut ties with Woody Allen after the #MeToo movement led Hollywood as a whole to reckon with the skeletons that had long been stashed away in the once-venerable filmmaker's closet.
But which of these storytellers utilized Chalamet's wounded smolder the best? His breakout turn from "Call Me By Your Name" is treacherous to revisit in light of the horrific allegations against his costar, Armie Hammer, yet Guadagnino's swooning summer tale of first love and heartbreak still ranks exceedingly high among Chalamet's movies on Rotten Tomatoes. The majestic sci-fi epics that are Villeneuve's "Dune" and especially "Dune: Part Two" (which saw Chalamet step out of his comfort zone to great effect) are also up there, and either would be perfectly deserving of the number one spot themselves.
Be that as it may, there's one film that sits above all the rest, and it's not even one where Chalamet plays the titular role. In case that didn't already give it away, read on for the answer.
Lady Bird, Lady Bird, fly away home
Gerwig's 2017 feature directing debut "Lady Bird" — a "400 Blows"-style semi-autobiographical coming of age dramedy for the A24 generation — is primarily a showcase for Saoirse Ronan as Gerwig's onscreen avatar, Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson. Chalamet, however, very nearly walks away with his scenes as Kyle Scheible, the pretentious, douche canoe twink at Christine's Catholic high school that Ronan's temperamental, impetuous teenager (who dreams of leaving behind her quiet working-class existence in early 2000s Sacramento for a reputable East Coast college) can't help but become infatuated with.
In all seriousness, Chalamet's delivery of the line "That's hella tight!" is awards-worthy solely on its own.
"Lady Bird" itself is soaring high on Rotten Tomatoes with a practically impeccable 99 percent critics rating from 400 reviews against a superb average score of 9.1 out of 10, making it the actor's top-rated film according to the website's metrics. Does that also make it his best one? It's an oddly common case of an actor's highest-ranked movie on the website also being one where they play a smaller role (and unlike Jude Law's "best" film on RT, Chalamet didn't have a screen persona for "Lady Bird" to riff on just yet). Much as I personally enjoy Gerwig's film, her "Little Women" is my favorite movie she's helmed so far, and it's perhaps more befitting of being crowned Chalamet's "best" given he's closer to a co-lead there. (That Ronan gets to break his heart this time as the Jo to his Laurie is merely the icing on the cake.)
That's the thing about Rotten Tomatoes: It's helpful if you want to know what the larger critical consensus is for a particular film or TV show (audience scores, on the other hand, are kind of useless). But you'll never really know where you stand on the matter until you dive into the deep end and watch it yourself.