Russell Crowe's 8 Most Underrated Movies. Gladiator Fans, Look Away.

Everybody knows the sandals and the math genius. These eight had smaller crowds and scores that say they deserved bigger ones. Gladiator sat this one out.

Number one outscores Gladiator by nearly a full point. Yes, really.

1. 8
   The Weight (2026)6.8

   Crowe's 2026 sleeper deserved way more than one weekend.

   94% on Rotten Tomatoes and just $2.65 million worldwide. Ethan Hawke and Crowe in a crime adventure, and almost nobody showed up. That one's on us.
2. 7
   Nuremberg (2025)7.8

   Crowe's best late-career work, and audiences already know it.

   Audiences beat 90% of movies, critics only 55%. A 7.8 movie.guru score and just $14.5 million domestic. Crowe opposite Rami Malek deserved a much bigger room.
3. 6
   American Gangster (2007)7.6

   Denzel got the poster. Crowe's honest cop holds it up.

   A 7.6 movie.guru score and $269.8 million worldwide, yet everyone remembers one guy. Ridley Scott handed Crowe the thankless role and he turned it into the backbone.
4. 5
   3:10 to Yuma (2007)7.6

   The best modern Western Crowe ever smirked his way through.

   IMDb 7.6 across 354,771 votes, but only $70 million worldwide on a reported $48 to 55 million budget. Crowe plays the outlaw like he knows he's the best part.
5. 4
   Les Misérables (2012)7.5

   Crowe's singing is fine. Javert deserved better than the jokes.

   A CinemaScore of A and $442.8 million worldwide. Audiences loved it. The internet still roasts Crowe's voice, but his stiffness is the whole character, and it works.
6. 3
   The Nice Guys (2016)6.8

   Crowe's funniest movie, and theaters treated it like a rumor.

   91% on Rotten Tomatoes, a Guru's Take of 8.0, and only $71.3 million worldwide against a reported $50 million budget. That B minus CinemaScore is a crime.
7. 2
   Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)7.7

   The best seafaring movie of the century. Fight me on deck.

   Metacritic 81 and a Guru's Take of 8.4. A reported $150 million budget and $93.9 million domestic. Crowe and Paul Bettany have more chemistry than most rom-coms.
8. 1
   L.A. Confidential (1997)9.2

   Better than Gladiator. It's not close, and the numbers agree.

   A 9.2 movie.guru score against Gladiator's 8.3. 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 90. Crowe's Bud White is all fists and feelings, and he walks off with the movie.

$247.19 says somebody types GLADIATOR in all caps within ten minutes of reading number one.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it