The 8 Best Movies of 2000, Ranked

2000 was stacked. Two Soderbergh movies, a Roman arena, a rock tour bus. The data did the ranking. I'm just the guy holding the clipboard.

Number one made a fraction of Gladiator's money and still beat it on our score.

1. 8
   Traffic (2000)8.0

   Critics' darling, crowd's homework. Still eighth best of the year.

   93% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 86 on Metacritic, then a B CinemaScore. Critics took notes. Regular audiences treated it like a group project with Michael Douglas.
2. 7
   Erin Brockovich (2000)8.3

   Julia Roberts carries this whole lawsuit on her shoulders.

   An A CinemaScore and $257.9 million worldwide on a reported $52M budget. Soderbergh made two movies on this list, and this is the one people actually rewatch.
3. 6
   Gladiator (2000)8.3

   The most beloved movie here, ranked sixth. Fight me.

   8.5 on IMDb from 1.89 million votes, the highest on this list. Critics gave it a 67 on Metacritic. The crowd won the arena. Critics kept their thumbs sideways.
4. 5
   Requiem for a Dream (2000)8.7

   The best movie you will never, ever watch twice.

   Just $3,635,482 domestic on a reported $4.5M budget. Audiences still rated it above 98% of movies. Nobody has ever called it a fun Friday night.
5. 4
   Almost Famous (2000)8.9

   Box office flop with the best vibes of 2000.

   A reported $60M budget, only $47.4 million worldwide. Still a 90 on Metacritic. Kate Hudson and a tour bus did what the marketing department couldn't.
6. 3
   Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)9.3

   A subtitled martial arts epic out-grossed Erin Brockovich domestically.

   $128 million domestic on a reported $17M budget. A 94 on Metacritic, the best critic score here. Michelle Yeoh on rooftops. Rooftops, people.
7. 2
   Amores perros (2000)9.4

   Iñárritu's debut beats Gladiator, and it isn't close.

   Made on a reported $2.4M budget, it scored a 9.4 on movie.guru, 1.1 points above Gladiator. Three stories, one car crash, Gael García Bernal running the show.
8. 1
   Memento (2000)9.5

   A movie told backwards is the best of 2000.

   9.5 movie.guru score, audiences rated it above 99% of movies, 1.46 million IMDb votes. Guy Pearce runs on tattoos and Polaroids. Christopher Nolan was just warming up.

$563.41 says someone in the comments puts Gladiator at number one and calls the rest of us cowards.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it