Top 10 Movies From The 2000s You Forgot Were AWESOME

For fans of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “The Rundown” still stands up more than two decades later. Aside from “The Scorpion King”, it’s one of the first movies fans point to as the signal of his transition from the wrestling ring to the silver screen. In it, he gets to flaunt both his comedy chops and his wrestling moves for a new audience, what with his trademark “Rock Bottom” finishing maneuver in the opening sequence. Even though the film only earned $80 million at the worldwide box office against its $85 million budget, it would mark the beginning of things to come for the man who would become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood (both physically and financially).

This inventive and fun film marks one of the early standout performances of the late, great Heath Ledger. After “10 Things I Hate About You”, Ledger moved from a Shakespeare adaptation to palling around with another luminary of English Literature: “The Canterbury Tales” author Geoffrey Chaucer, played by Paul Bettany. Ledger showed his talent in handling romance, comedy, action, and musical numbers. The contrast between the medieval setting and the classic rock soundtrack makes this movie a hidden gem in Ledger’s engaging career. If you’ve ever wanted to rock out to tracks from AC/DC, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, and Queen while watching a jousting tournament, this is the movie for you!

What if you weren’t real? What if you only existed as the lead character in someone else’s story? That’s where IRS agent Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, finds himself in this surreal comedy. As the story unfolds, Ferrell’s character hears an unseen narrator, played by Emma Thompson, relating the events of his boring, humdrum day. Thompson plays an author who’s made a career out of killing off her main characters, with Ferrell’s character next on her hit list. The film also marks a departure from Ferrell’s usual over-the-top performances, as he actually lends a grounded presence to the otherwise rather outlandish premise. USA Today critic Cory Woodroof called Ferrell’s performance “heartfelt” and “one of his best” roles.

And you thought you had relationship issues! Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a socially awkward young man who struggles to connect with the people around him. Lars finds his answer in a doll from an adult shop, which he names Bianca. He introduces the doll to his circles as his girlfriend, who all play along, treating the doll like she’s a human being in an effort to help Lars. This low-budget film was a box office bomb, having not even made back its $12 million budget. However, it still pulls at the heartstrings and highlights why Ryan Gosling is the A-list star he is today.

The life of music icon Bob Dylan is so multifaceted that capturing its many dimensions in a single performance might seem like an impossible task. While the 2024 film “A Complete Unknown” specifically focuses on Dylan’s rise to the heights of popular music in the early 1960s, the 2007 film “I'm Not There” takes a broader approach. Director Todd Haynes employs numerous actors to convey the range of Dylan’s talent and genius. The cast includes Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, and Cate Blanchett, each of whom plays a key figure of Dylan’s popular image, while the film as a whole conveys the complexities of his personality. If you want a break from formulaic musical biopics, “I'm Not There” is what you’re looking for.

What does a Depression-era Chicago hitman have in common with a medieval Japanese samurai? In the case of the 2002 film “Road to Perdition”, a lot! Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, a hitman forced to take his young son on the run after the boy witnesses a murder. Hanks shed his “good guy” persona for this film, adopting instead to take on the part of a mob enforcer. Max Allan Collins, who wrote the graphic novel the movie is based on and also helped write the screenplay, attributes the Japanese manga series “Lone Wolf and Cub” as a major inspiration for the story. The cast is also a murderers’ row of acting talent, including Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, and Stanley Tucci.

The old saying goes, “Never meet your heroes.” In the case of Robert Ford, played by Casey Affleck, that advice gets thrown out the window. The movie sees him idolizing infamous outlaw Jesse James, played by Brad Pitt. Idolization eventually turns to resentment as
as Jesse fails to live up to the image the younger outlaw holds for him. The ambitious project did terribly at the box office, likely contributing to its forgettability. However, Affleck’s performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, while the film’s imagery of the Wild West earned a nom for Best Cinematography.

Writer-director Sam Raimi launched his career by crafting low-budget, high-tension horror films. His first professional feature, “The Evil Dead”, quickly became a cult classic. After his success with the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, he returned to his roots with “Drag Me to Hell”. The story follows a young bank employee, played by Alison Lohman, who tries to earn a promotion by foreclosing on an elderly woman’s house. When the woman puts a curse on her, she has three days to pass it on or she’ll be dragged to… well, you read the title. The film came out during the Great Recession and the mortgage crisis and, although Raimi has stated the timing was coincidental, the parallels certainly help lift the film’s impact.

Wes Anderson does “Moby Dick”. This simple yet surreal sentence could sum up the plot of 2004’s “The Life Aquatic”. The film features an obsessive oceanographer, played by Bill Murray, who goes on a search for the shark that killed his partner. Anderson said that he wrote the role with Murray in mind, which explains why the actor feels so perfectly cast as the expedition’s lunatic leader. Much like Captain Ahab, Murray’s Zissou is on a desperate mission and gathers a motley crew for his epic hunt. Unlike the legendary literary figure, Zissou also employs a full camera crew and an editing suite on his submarine to record their adventure for his latest documentary. The cast features frequent Anderson collaborators Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson.

What do you get when the creative minds behind “This Is Spinal Tap” and “Schitt’s Creek” team up? How about one of the funniest movies of all time! Writer/director Christopher Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy also star in this scathing mockumentary about the high-stakes world of competitive dog shows. The cast features comedy all-stars Jennifer Coolidge, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, and Will Sasso. Meanwhile, the film received rave reviews from both ticket buyers and critics, with a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A 2022 article in Rolling Stone called “Best in Show” “the greatest comedy of the 21st century”. And, still, we rarely see it get the credit it deserves.






Do you have a forgotten favorite film of the 2000s? Leave your suggestions in the comments. Be sure to like and subscribe! Thanks for watching!