Jake Gyllenhaal Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted relevant accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Jake Gyllenhaal-whose latest project "The Guilty" releases in select theaters this Friday and on Netflix on October 1st.

Jake Gyllenhaal's Filmography Ranked:

23.Okja (D)

22.Velvet Buzzsaw (D+)

21.Enemy (C-)

20.Bubble Boy (C-)

19.The Sisters Brothers (C)

18.Demolition (C)

17.The Good Girl (C)

16.Everest (C+)

15.Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (B-)

14.Love & Other Drugs (B-)

13.Life (B-)

12.Southpaw (B-)

11.The Day After Tomorrow (B)

10.Spider-Man: Far from Home (B)

9.Nocturnal Animals (B)

8.Zodiac (B)

7.Jarhead (B)

6.Stronger (B+)

5.Prisoners (A-)

4.Source Code (A)

3.End of Watch (A)

2.Nightcrawler (A)

1.Donnie Darko (A+)

Top Dog: Donnie Darko (2001)

By weaving a complex, mind-bending sci-fi mystery that begs to be revisited and dissected down to the smallest detail into a tragic coming-of-age narrative, Donnie Darko is able to establish itself as a uniquely compelling product that has seamlessly withstood the test of time.    

Lowlight: Okja (2017)

In the vast, gem-filled filmography of Bong Joon-ho, Okja stands out in all the wrong ways. The film is so uncharacteristically disjointed, dull and questionably acted that I could be easily convinced that the South Korean auteur didn't really direct it. The good news is that if/when Bong makes another movie primarily in English, he won't have to try hard to top something that's this sloppy and devoid of intrigue.

Most Underrated: Source Code (2011)

Gyllenhaal's extended run of starring in excellent films in the early-to-mid-2010's started with this sadly overlooked sci-fi thriller. Duncan Jones does a terrific job of balancing straight suspense and headier ideas about time travel, AI, etc. without ever heading into overly convoluted territory, the 93-minute runtime ensures that not a single second is wasted and the central performance from Gyllenhaal remains some of the most stellar work he's done in his career.

Most Overrated: Zodiac (2007)

Despite the presence of some electrifying moments of suspense and great acting from a trio of the industry's best living performers (Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr.) in David Fincher's ambitious film about the San Francisco Chronicle reporters and cops trying (and failing) to identify the infamous serial killer that terrorized Northern California in the late 60's, the questionable pacing in spots during its overlong nearly 3 hour runtime and inevitable anticlimax makes it a merely good procedural in my eyes opposed to the masterpiece that many see it as.

Most Eerie Look at Modern Society: Nightcrawler (2014)

Dan Gilroy's masterful satire about the ethics of modern cable news is pretty much a real life horror movie. While the behavior of petty thief turned videographer Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) and ratings-hungry news anchor Nina Romina (Rene Russo) may be heightened to manufacture intrigue on screen, media employees that have a desire to make money off the suffering of others and a willingness to capture and showcase horrific violent crime footage absolutely are, and that fact should terrify the hell out of all of us. 

Worst Pre-Breakout Project: Bubble Boy (2001)

A mere two months before the wide release of Donnie Darko, the still green Gyllenhaal led one of the more forgettable comedies of the entire 2000's in Bubble Boy. Outside of Danny Trejo's amusing supporting performance as a kindhearted biker, this silly road movie about an immunocompromised young adult (Gyllenhaal) who embarks on a cross country trip to stop the wedding of the woman he loves (Marley Shelton) just doesn't tap far enough into its ridiculous premise to be consistently funny.