Ranked: the Best Woody Allen Movies of the Post-K Era

From Small Time Crooks to To Rome With Love and every 21st Century Woody film in between, ranked by our expert panel.

Blue Jasmine will be Woody Allens fourteenth film of the 21st Century. Its an era that has taken the legendary director from depths to heights (and across much of western Europe). On the occasion of his latest, weve assembled an all-star team of movie experts from around the internet to rank his post-2K output. Our panelists submitted their ranked lists and the results have been tallied to arrive at these ultimate rankings.

Your panelists: from Deadspin, Will Leitch; from Huffington Post, Christopher Rosen; from The Film Experience, Nathaniel Rogers; from Hitfix, Guy Lodge; from Film.com, Daniel Walber; from VH1, Mark Graham; and from right here at Tribeca, Karen Kemmerle, Arthur Ryel-Lindsey, and yours truly.

#13: Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) : An attempted stylistic throwback to Screwball Woody that got caught up in the Great Helen Hunt Backlash of the early 2000s.

"I used to call this Woodys nadir and found it nearly unwatchable with Helen Hunt being Woodys first (but not last) female lead who just couldnt sell his comic cadences." - Nathaniel Rogers

#12: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) : Woodys fourth trip to London, after Match Point, Scoop, and Cassandras Dream, was his least successful, at least according to our panel.

"My one overriding memory of this forgettable film is the really dynamite red dress worn by Frieda Pinto that made the permanently disheveled Josh Brolin practically lose his mind with desire. Oh, also worth the price of admission was the way that the always lovely and totally underrated Lucy Punch played the prostitute bride of Anthony Hopkins. " - Karen Kemmerle

#11: Hollywood Ending (2002): Debra Messing takes her turn among the impressive gallery of Woody Allen on-screen paramours, though between this and Jade Scorpion, the knives were out to carve up the corpse of Woodys career.

"Hollywood Ending gets points for the innate hilariousness of hysterical blindness but loses points for everything else. A 114-minute reminder that Woody doesnt like Los Angeles." - Daniel Walber

#10: Whatever Works (2009) : A very old script (originally intended for Zero Mostel) was resurrected with Larry David as one of the better Woody avatars, though the creakiness in the bones of that script was unavoidable.

"Its trouble when a movie cant even be saved by Patricia Clarkson." - Christopher Rosen

#9: Anything Else (2003): Turning his eye to the youngs, Woody directed this tale of Jason Biggs romancing what was becoming a sadly typical Alen trope: the neurotic, unreasonable, nightmare girlfriend, this time played by Christina Ricci.

"Woody tries to go young to strange effect, but at least he wrote himself an atypical and funny character for himself" - Nathaniel Rogers

"One of Woodys better, subtler performances." - Will Leitch

#8: To Rome With Love (2012): The tour of the Continent continues, with this story of Jesse Eisenberg choosing between his boring girlfriend (Greta Gerwig) and her free-spirit friend (Ellen Page), despite the fact that casting either woman in the others role might have been a lot easier to swallow.

"The Benigni segment is better than its given credit for." - Will Leitch

"The image of Woodys character directing a production of Tosca entirely within a phonebooth is enough for me." - Daniel Walber



#7: Cassandras Dream (2007): A class-conscious family drama set in London, starring Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, and a wonderful, unheralded performance by Clare Higgins as their mother.

"Sneaky great cast (Woody on Sally Hawkins and Hayley Atwell long before mainstream Hollywood), and while not actually very good, at least its different. I like when Woody changes it up." - Christopher Rosen

"This is a good movie. Maybe its just a good movie because Vilmos Zsigmond is a great cinematographer and Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor are very nice to look at." - Daniel Walber

#6: Small Time Crooks (2000): The crime comedy was an oasis of positive critical attention during a slump.

"Tracey Ullman does her best Judy Holliday, and its a surprisingly funny success for an actress who usually works in such a different comic milieu. Also, how can a movie with both Elaine Stritch and Elaine May be anything other than wonderful?" - Daniel Walber

"Earns its place for Elaine May alone." - Guy Lodge

#5: Scoop (2006): In the immediate aftermath of Match Points success, Woody stayed in London and stuck with new muse Scarlett Johansson, this time with a deeply silly comedy about a reporter (ScarJo), the ghost of a dead magician (Ian McShane), and a possibly murderous dreamboat (Hugh Jackman).

"Who knew that Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen would make such a dynamic duo? You may think I'm joking, but I'm totally not. This romantic comedy/murder mystery got an unfair shakedown by critics when it should have been applauded for harkening back to past madcap-style Allen classics like Manhattan Murder Mystery and Mighty Aphrodite. Plus, any movie, that features Ian McShane as some sort of strange ghost sensei has to be top shelf stuff. " - Karen Kemmerle

#4: Melinda and Melinda (2004): This odd experiment featured Radha Mitchell in the title role, playing a woman whose life is presented in two possible directions, one dramatic and the other comedic.

"This is a shaggy dog, but again the cast is great. Im not going to kick a movie with Chiwetel Ejiofor out of any top-five list." - Christopher Rosen

"Ill still watch anything Radha Mitchell is in, because of this movie." - Will Leitch

"I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Melinda and Melinda. The film explores two interrelated narrative trajectories one comic and one tragic which, let's face it, mirrors the nature of life itself. This is one of the hidden jewels in Woo

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