Want to know the best James L. Brooks movies? How about the worst James L. Brooks movies? Curious about James L. Brooks box office grosses or which James L. Brooks movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which James L. Brooks movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
James L. Brooks (1940-) is a 3-time Oscar®-winning American director, writer and producer. Brooks first gained notoriety for his work on the television shows The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Lou Grant, Taxi and The Simpsons. Winning 22 prime-time Emmy awards along the way. His movie career started with 1979’s Starting Over. His IMDb page shows over 100 credits since 1965. This page will rank James L. Brooks movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles, and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings. Brooks has only directed 6 movies. In the following tables the 6 movies he directed are pointed out in the co-star column.
James L. Brooks Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1983
Terms of Endearment (1983)
AA Best Picture Win
AA Best Director Win
1996
Jerry Maguire (1996)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Picture Nom
1988
Big (1988)
2007
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
1997
As Good as It Gets (1997)
AA Best Writing Nom
1989
The War of the Roses (1989)
1987
Broadcast News (1987)
AA Best Picture Nom
1979
Starting Over (1979)
1989
Say Anything... (1989)
2016
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
2004
Spanglish (2004)
2001
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
1996
Bottle Rocket (1996)
1998
Edge of Seventeen (1998)
1994
I'll Do Anything (1994)
2010
How Do You Know (2010)
2018
Icebox (2018)
HBO Movie
James L. Brooks Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
- Sort James L. Brooks movies by his co-stars
- Sort James L. Brooks movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort James L. Brooks movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort James L. Brooks movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each James L. Brooks movie received.
- Sort James L. Brooks movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews, and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| CreditRank | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Review % | Oscar Nom / Win | S | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CreditRank | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review % | Oscar Nom / Win | S | UMR Score |
| 1 | Terms of Endearment (1983) AA Best Picture Win AA Best Director Win |
Shirley MacLaine & Directed by Brooks |
108.40 | 371.0 | 371.0 | 2 | 83 | 11 / 05 | 99.9 | |
| 2 | Jerry Maguire (1996) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Picture Nom |
Tom Cruise & Cuba Gooding Jr. |
154.00 | 375.5 | 667.2 | 4 | 82 | 05 / 01 | 99.1 | |
| 3 | Big (1988) | Tom Hanks & Directed by Penny Marshall |
115.00 | 301.5 | 397.8 | 4 | 84 | 02 / 00 | 98.2 | |
| 5 | The Simpsons Movie (2007) | Dan Castellaneta & Albert Brooks |
183.10 | 286.9 | 825.8 | 11 | 82 | 00 / 00 | 97.8 | |
| 7 | As Good as It Gets (1997) AA Best Writing Nom |
Jack Nicholson & Directed by Brooks |
148.50 | 348.7 | 737.9 | 6 | 73 | 07 / 02 | 97.5 | |
| 7 | The War of the Roses (1989) | Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner |
86.90 | 235.9 | 435.0 | 13 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 97.3 | |
| 7 | Broadcast News (1987) AA Best Picture Nom |
William Hurt & Directed by Brooks |
51.20 | 141.3 | 185.6 | 18 | 85 | 07 / 00 | 97.0 | |
| 8 | Starting Over (1979) | Burt Reynolds & Jill Clayburgh |
35.60 | 153.1 | 153.1 | 24 | 63 | 02 / 00 | 88.9 | |
| 9 | Say Anything... (1989) | John Cusack & Directed by Cameron Crowe |
20.80 | 56.4 | 56.4 | 49 | 90 | 00 / 00 | 87.3 | |
| 10 | The Edge of Seventeen (2016) | Hailee Steinfeld & Woody Harrelson |
14.40 | 18.0 | 23.4 | 125 | 87 | 00 / 00 | 79.9 | |
| 11 | Spanglish (2004) | Adam Sandler & Directed by Brooks |
42.70 | 74.2 | 95.5 | 71 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 69.1 | |
| 12 | Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) | Drew Barrymore & Directed by Penny Marshall |
30.20 | 57.6 | 68.2 | 78 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 63.3 | |
| 13 | Bottle Rocket (1996) | Owen Wilson & James Caan |
0.60 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 217 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 60.4 | |
| 14 | Edge of Seventeen (1998) | Chris Stafford & Tina Holmes |
0.90 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 198 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 47.4 | |
| 15 | I'll Do Anything (1994) | Nick Nolte & Directed by Brooks |
10.40 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 110 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 39.0 | |
| 17 | How Do You Know (2010) | Reese Witherspoon & Directed by Brooks |
30.20 | 41.3 | 66.5 | 96 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 24.8 | |
| 16 | Icebox (2018) HBO Movie |
Genesis Rodriguez | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 386 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 23.4 |
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I’ve seen 8 of the 17 films on the chart, favorites are – Big, Jerry Maguire, The Simpsons Movie, War of the Roses and As Good As it Gets. I’ve also seen Broadcast News, Say Anything and Terms of Endearment.
John Cusack’s 80s comedy ‘Say Anything’ beats all the Oscar winning films on the critics chart, I mean what are the odds? 😉
Nice work Bruce. Vote Up!
awesome oscar winning director. i saw 10 including top 7 and top 5 he directed. 10s and favorites as good as it gets, broadcast news, big, jerry maguire. 10 not favorite terms of endearment (i went to high school with lisa folse bimbo blonde with nicholson in convertible). 9 and favorite say anything. 9s spanglish, ill do anything, war of the roses. i love the humanity and humor he permeates his actors with. i love to laugh.
I have seen 5 James L Brooks movies.
Jerry Maguire and Big are favourites.
I have also seen Terms of Endearment, War of the Roses and as Good as it Gets.
Great UMR Page