Are These Your Choices For George Clooney’s 9 Best Movies?

1. Michael Clayton (2007)

This is arguably the quintessential George Clooney performance. He plays a "fixer" for a high-powered law firm that might be involved in a much bigger conspiracy than he's anticipated.

Clooney channels his signature charisma, but he's burdened by world-weariness and cynicism that differentiates this from his other performances.

He carries the movie and titular character, giving us one of the best performances of all time.

2. Ocean's Eleven (2001)

No film better captures Clooney's effortless movie-star cool and uses it so well. He plays the suave mastermind Danny Ocean, a role that needs a guy as handsome and slick as Clooney to believe he's got it all.

The film is powered by his magnetic charm and the crackling chemistry he shares with the entire ensemble. It's the role he seemed born to play.

3. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

His first collaboration with the Coen Brothers allowed Clooney to shatter his suave image and reveal his incredible talent for physical and screwball comedy.

And guess what? He was amazing at being goofy and a doofus.

He is so funny as the fast-talking, comically vain Ulysses Everett McGill. The role proved his immense range, and I'm always happy when he pulls it out.

4. Burn After Reading (2008)

Another hilarious Coen Brothers collaboration where Clooney excels as a paranoid, philandering federal marshal. Again, he's playing a doofus, but here he's got a gun and is not afraid to use it. His cheating ways get him into a lot of trouble, and the sex swing scene will live on in my memory forever.

5. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

While his performance as CBS newsman Fred W. Friendly is excellent, this film makes the list primarily for showcasing Clooney’s immense talent as a director, too.

He's doing it all in stunning black and white, dramatizing the conflict between journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy. It earned Clooney Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

6. Out of Sight (1998)

This is the film that truly launched Clooney into movie stardom and showed the world he could do it all.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, this slick crime caper features what many consider the most electric screen chemistry of the 1990s between Clooney's smooth bank robber Jack Foley and Jennifer Lopez's U.S. Marshal.

He is impossibly sexy, and the film established the "cool Clooney" persona.

7. The Descendants (2011)

I think this movie is an underrated gem. Clooney stars as a Hawaiian lawyer forced to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.

The range here, to be a guy grieving, parenting, and making the most important business decision of his life, is so fascinating.

It’s a raw, tender, and beautifully understated performance that garnered him yet another Oscar nomination.

8. Syriana (2005)

This is a cool Clooney movie because he really dedicated himself to changing who he is in this world. He gained weight and grew a beard to play a veteran CIA operative caught in the murky politics of the global oil industry.

It's a gritty performance that proved his commitment as a serious dramatic actor, and his dedication was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

9. Up in the Air (2009)

There's a charm to this movie that never wears off. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert who lives his life in airports and hotels.

The film expertly blends his smooth-talking persona with a deep, underlying loneliness and a fear of connection. It’s a funny, sad, and deeply human role that earned him another Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Summing It All Up 

Clooney is such an interesting actor. He's spent his career sort of working out a way to find quirky and challenging roles while also balancing traditional leading man roles.

To me, these were his best works, but you might disagree.