Andie MacDowell's 10 Best Movies, Ranked By IMDb | ScreenRant
Throughout her career in Hollywood, Andie MacDowell has played a wide range of characters, but there’s always something special about her characters, as they're generally both innocent and knowing. Her career includes many big-name productions, including her recent appearances in Netflix’s TV mini-series, Maid.
Though not all of her movies have been universally beloved by critics, MacDowell has always been the kind of actress to put her all into a role, so that even in the movies that were derided, she rises above the material, a presence that cannot be denied and from which it is impossible to look away.
10 Multiplicity (1996) - 6.1
Multiplicity is one of those movies that could only have been made in the 1990s, and it is a strange mixture of comedy and science fiction, focusing as it does on Michael Keaton’s Doug, who keeps clones of himself.
MacDowell plays his wife, Laura, who finds herself getting increasingly frustrated with her husband since she is in the dark about what’s actually happening. MacDowell imbues the role with a light touch, allowing it to be more humorous than it might otherwise be.
9 Green Card (1990) - 6.2
Green Card is another paradigmatic 1990s movie, fitting nicely into the romantic comedy genre. When the movie begins, her character is married to a French man in a green card arrangement, but it soon becomes clear that there’s something more between the two of them than that.
MacDowell excels at playing the leading lady with grace and a charming personality that helps explain her husband’s genuine love for her, and by the end, the happy ending feels as if it’s a fitting conclusion to their romance.
8 Daydream Nation (2010) - 6.3
Throughout her career, MacDowell has moved freely between both high-profile and independent productions, and Daydream Nation falls into the latter category. Her role in this movie is a relatively minor one -- she plays the mother of one of the main characters -- but she still manages to imbue it with her signature grace and charm.
Through her limited time on-screen, she emerges as a woman with her own history that is just as, if not more, interesting as that of the movie’s leads.
7 St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) - 6.4
The 1980s was something of a golden age for coming-of-age movies, and St. Elmo’s Fire is one of the most notable in that genre. It’s also one of MacDowell’s first roles, and she plays the love interest of one of the main characters.
In less capable hands, the role could have been simply forgettable, but even though this was just her second movie, it was already clear that MacDowell had the sort of grace and screen presence that would allow her to become a star.
6 Unstrung Heroes (1995) - 6.7
Unstrung Heroes is a strange yet touching movie, which is not surprising, considering that it was directed by none other than Diane Keaton. In it, MacDowell portrays a character who is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and though much of the movie focuses on her son’s efforts to deal with her illness, there’s no question that MacDowell’s Selma is the movie’s emotional center.
Her grace in dealing with her impending death is what gives the movie its unique emotional touch, and she allows the audience to appreciate her tremendous strength.
5 Harrison’s Flowers (2000) - 7.1
Harrison’s Flowers is a movie that is, at times, difficult to watch, dealing as it does with the collapse of Yugoslavia and the violence that accompanied that cataclysmic event. MacDowell plays the character Sarah Lloyd, who travels to the war-torn country in search of her missing husband, and in the process, she witnesses a massacre in the city of Vukovar.
MacDowell’s performance brings out the fundamental humanity of her character and allows for an understanding of this woman’s extraordinary journey.
4 Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994) - 7.1
Even though critics, at the time, were dismissive of the movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral is nevertheless very much an endearing romantic comedy. There’s an undeniable chemistry between the two leads, MacDowell and Hugh Grant, and MacDowell makes it clear that she has what it takes to be a romantic leading lady.
What’s more, the movie, despite what its plot seems to promise, doesn’t end with a marriage but instead with the two romantic leads promising a lifelong commitment that is very specifically not marriage, a brave stance for a conservative genre like the '90s romantic comedy.
3 Sex Lies And Videotape (1989) - 7.2
It was only with Sex, Lies, and Videotape, one of Soderbergh's best movies, that Andie MacDowell really came into her own as an actress and started getting the appreciation from the critics that she deserved. She plays a woman who has hidden from her husband the fact that she doesn’t enjoy sex with him.
MacDowell’s portrayal of the character is nuanced and at times devastating, as she brings out Ann’s sadness and growing malaise, and so it’s no wonder that she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.
2 Short Cuts (1993) - 7.7
Robert Altman has long been recognized as a very talented director, and even after his death, his best movies continue to be regarded as deftly combining comedy and drama. That is very much in evidence in Short Cuts, which involves an ensemble cast and a number of interconnecting storylines.
MacDowell plays Anne, a woman whose son is killed after being hit by a car. She wrings the pathos from the role, seeming to inhabit the very body of someone suffering from one of the most devastating events that could occur.
1 Groundhog Day (1993) - 8.0
Given its unique place in the cultural imagination, it’s unsurprising that Groundhog Day would rank highly in MacDowell’s filmography. Not only is it one of Bill Murray’s best roles, but it’s also undeniable that there is a significant amount of chemistry between the two characters.
MacDowell’s Rita is a fiercely independent woman, and she’s just the kind of character that Murray’s Phil Connors needs in order to become the best version of himself. By the end of the movie, it’s clear that these two people truly were made for one another.