pop culture

The 12 Best Jamie Foxx Movies, Ranked

Reflecting on the catalog of an all-time movie great

Screen Shot 2023 07 21 at 1.24.32 PM e1689960314981

Sony Pictures

Published Jul 25, 2023

When are we going to properly acknowledge Jamie Foxx as being one of the most talented people to walk the face of this earth? Not only is he a hell of an actor with a diverse range, he's funny with a comedic background (not all comedians can take on the serious/dramatic roles that Foxx has in the past, and not all actors are funny enough to be a comedian), and he can sing very well and has had some pretty notable music successes. The man singing on Kanye West's "Gold Digger?" That was Jamie Foxx. "Blame It on the Alcohol?" That was Jamie Foxx too. There's a lot to talk about when it comes to Foxx's career as a whole, but today we're going to be taking a look at his film career and some of the best Jamie Foxx movies, ranked.

In case you haven't heard, Foxx has a new film out on Netflix They Cloned Tyrone, and we thought it would be a good time to look back. So here it is—the best Jamie Foxx movies ranked to date according to, well, us. Scroll down to check out the list.

12. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Directed By: Marc Webb
Written By: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 51%

When we say Foxx has been able to take on some diverse roles in his career, his portrayal of Electro (a villain who's entire goal is to take down the webhead), is by far one of the most interesting things he's done in his career. Sure there's much to be said when it comes down to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as a whole, but you absolutely can't deny Foxx giving not just an incredible performance, but something different then what he had ever done in their career.

11. Just Mercy (2019)

Directed By: Destin Daniel Cretton
Written By: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

If you haven't seen Just Mercy yet, then we highly recommend you sit down and watch it because it's an incredible movie. Michael B. Jordan portrayed Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer that heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly accused or not able to afford proper representation. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), a young man sentenced to death in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence. Both Foxx and Jordan received great reviews and nominations for their respective roles.

10. Soul (2020)

Directed By: Pete Docter
Written By: Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Need a feel good movie that you can enjoy with the young ones in your life (or even by yourself because we all need to regularly tend to our inner child), then consider checking out Soul, which isn't your average Pixar film by any means. The film centers around a middle school band teacher Joe Gardner (Foxx), who dies after finally having a successful audition with a band (talk about life not being fair). What happens next is the teacher transitioning to another realm where he helps other and learns about himself.

9. The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996)

Directed By: Michael Lehmann
Written By: Audrey Wells
Stars: Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin, Jamie Foxx
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

While Foxx wasn't the main character in this romantic comedy cult classic from 1996, his portrayal of Ed, a charming handsome fella that catches the eye of Abby (Janeane Garofolo), the host of a popular radio show about cats who's already entertaining the likes of someone else (awkward). The Truth About Cats and Dogs may not be the first movie you think of when it comes to Jamie Foxx films, but it deserves to be mentioned.

8. Dreamgirls (2006)

Directed By: Bill Condon
Written By: Bill Condon
Stars: Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

The appreciation of Dreamgirls has grown in the seventeen years since its release, but we still feel that at the time of its release it was underrated and overly criticized. Jamie Foxx could have won an Oscar for his role as music executive Curtis Taylor Jr. (and Eddie Murphy could have won for his role as Jimmy Early as well, but that's for a different article). The look Curtis (Foxx) gives Jimmy (Murphy) as he's performing "Jimmy's Got Soul" alone is enough to make this one of Foxx's most memorable, and we're glad that the recognition for the film is growing.

7. Baby Driver (2017)

Directed By: Edgar Wright
Written By: Edgar Wright
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Jamie Foxx's action movies are always enjoyable. Released in 2017, Baby Driver centers around Baby (Elgort), a music-loving orphan who winds up being the go-to driver for a heist mastermind named Doc (Spacey) after stealing a car of has that had some valuables if you know what we mean. Foxx takes on the role of Bats, one of Doc's homies who catches Baby as he is trying to escape from the continuous life of crime, and as usual, he is funny as hell.

6. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Directed By: Jon Watts
Written By: Chris McKenna, ‎Erik Sommers
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Foxx was back in his Spider-Man Electro element for 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which focused primarily on Spider-Man's identity being revealed for the first time ever, and no longer being able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from his Spider-Man pursuits. As we said before, it's nice seeing Foxx as Electro because this character is unlike anything he has ever previously played.

5. Collateral (2004)

Directed By: Michael Mann
Written By: Stuart Beattie
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Michael Mann, Tom Cruise, and Jamie Foxx is a collaboration that we need to see happen again in some type of form or fashion because Collateral remains among the best in each of their respective catalogs. Jamie Foxx's Max was the innocent/unsuspecting cab driver just trying to finish his day, when Tom Cruise's Vincent gets into his cab and offers him $600 to make five extra stops. Sounds good right? Wrong. Each stop involves Vincent killing a couple folks cause he's...kind of a hitman. Mr. Cruise we'd like to you see you as a bad guy again someday in the future.

4. Miami Vice (2006)

Directed By: Michael Mann
Written By: Michael Mann
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Collin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 47%

Miami Vice for the number four spot is definitely the editor's very biased choice. As we stated earlier, Michael Mann and Jamie Foxx are a great team, and a Collin Farrell/Jamie Foxx was something we didn't know we needed. Both were undercover detectives that get caught up in the events of their jobs, as both guys have different things that are happening to them. The movie was obviously based on the 1980s series, and remains underrated in our opinion.

3. Ali (2001)

Directed By: Michael Mann
Written By: Gregory Allen Howard
Stars: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%

Coming in at number three is 2001's Ali. We don't care what the critics said and continue to say about the film, we needed to see Will Smith and Jamie Foxx work together at least one time in their careers, and they delivered as Smith played Muhammad Ali, and Foxx took on the role of Ali's right-hand man Drew Bundini Brown. Fellas, it would be nice if you two would team up again. We're just saying.

2. Django Unchained (2012)

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino
Written By: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

It was really hard not putting Django Unchained as number one because every single person involved in this film brought their A-game. Quentin Tarantino was his usual Quentin Tarantino self from a directing standpoint. Leonardo, Kerry, and Samuel L. Jackson's performances were stellar (we'll rave about them in their own individual articles), and Jamie Foxx played the hell out of Django. It's been over a decade since Django Unchained was released, so it might be worth a rewatch just to see how great Jamie was in this, and why he deserved the stellar reviews he got.

1. Ray (2004)

Directed By: Taylor Hackford
Written By: Taylor Hackford, James L. White
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Regina King, Kerry Washington
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

But nothing tops Ray in our book. As we've said before, biopics are a tricky thing to nail because of the margin of error is so slim. When you are portraying somebody else (especially an icon like Ray Charles), you want to embody that person to the fullest without looking like an impersonator. You have to become them so well, that people start forget that you actually aren't the person you are portraying, and that's been the difference between the biopics that have succeeded, and the ones that haven't. Mr. Foxx did everything we listed above and then some, which is why he truly deserved the Academy Award he won the year after its release.

Matter of fact, we're rewatching this movie tonight.

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