6 Best Ryan Gosling Performances
Back in 2004, Ryan Gosling was on the verge of movie stardom after pinning for seven years for Rachel McAdams in the beloved weeper The Notebook. But the Canadian actor had no such ambition, deciding instead to delve in the indie scene, by starring in 2006′s Half Nelson, for which he earned an Oscar nomination; Lars and the Real Girl, which had him become disturbingly enamored with a sex doll; and 2010’s Blue Valentine, a heart-wrenching movie that caused hundreds of couples to split.
But this reluctant movie star is back at it again with three wide releases this year, Crazy Stupid Love which came out this past summer, the artsy action-thriller Drive which just hit movie theaters this past weekend to wild raves and the upcoming The Ides of March. Also adding to the intrigue is Gosling off-screen persona which has taken a life of its own as of late with that strange New York City street fight and even his own internet meme spreading on the web.
There is no doubt that Gosling is one of the most talented actor of his generation and that his star is on the rise. So why not have a look at his six best performances?
6. The Believer (2001)
Gosling is nothing less than mesmerizing as Danny Balint, a young conflicted Jewish man who struggles with his own faith and becomes a neo-Nazi skinhead due to his misunderstanding of its principles. Portraying his character as smart and extremely articulate, Gosling brings intense inner-conflict to this walking contradiction that Danny is. Based on a real story, The Believer was quite controversial when it came out right around the September 11 terrorist attacks but if you want to watch a young Ryan Gosling lighting up the screen, you definitely want to see this.
5. The Notebook (2004)
Let’s face it, Ryan Gosling is mostly known as “that guy from The Notebook” for a good reason. This unabashedly romantic tearjerker has been seen by more people than all of his other movies combined… times one hundred. Aside from being broadcast on cable TV seemingly 24/7, the movie has been in the Netflix top 20 rental for years. It’s hence no wonder that this iconic role has become somewhat of his signature performance. Gosling gives a quiet, soulful turn as Noah, a young man pinning for the love of his life across social barriers, World War II and years of separation. The Gos shares rare chemistry with Rachel McAdams (which is no wonder since they became an item soon afterward), making for a memorable screen couple. The movie was shot backward so he could lose 25 lbs to play the younger Noah.
4. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Ryan Gosling is nothing short of spectacular as Lars, an intensely dysfunctional and painfully shy young man who starts a relationship with Blanca, a sex doll he bought off the internet. He proceeds to treat her as a real girlfriend, taking her around town and introducing her to family members. Soon enough, the entire small town begins to play along for Lars’ sake. If you haven’t seen this movie, I urge to do so. Don’t be put off by its seemingly off-putting premises, it’s a sweet, heartwarming story of acceptance and Gosling pulls out all the stops in a superb performance.
3. Half-Nelson (2006)
Gosling received an Oscar nomination for his emotionally-charged portrayal of Dan Dunne, an idealistic inner-city teacher struggling with drug addiction and the disappointments that life brings. He begins to form an unlikely friendship with 13-year old Drey (Shareeka Epps) after she finds him passed out from cocaine use on the floor of the girl’s bathroom. The two of them must rely on each other in the hopes to overcome their bleak circumstances. It’s an eye-opening performance with the actor yielding his character so much nuance and complexity. Dan is thoroughly sympathetic despite his tendencies for self-destruction and we can see the great man that he can be behind all his flaws.
2. Drive (2011)
Gosling shines bright as “Driver” in Nicholas Winding Refn’s sleek and offbeat crime thriller Drive. The gifted Canadian-born actor has always been at his best playing quietly tormented, highly romantic loners so this role certainly was a perfect fit for him. At times abnormally cool and emotionally vacant, Driver is also capable of tender affection and seething rage. You can almost tell that he never had any kind of close relationship with anyone before he meets Carey Mulligan’s character. Subtly conveying a world of emotions through minimal delivery of dialogue and quiet body language, Gosling gives an intensely internal performance, one just as brilliant as his work in last year’s Blue Valentine.
1. Blue Valentine (2010)
“How do you trust feelings when they can disappear on you?” Anyone who has seen the gut-wrenching Derek Cianfrance romantic drama Blue Valentine can testify of the incredible work that Ryan Gosling does in this movie. Already an actor who tends to give quiet, naturalistic performances, Gosling pushes it to another level, giving a completely raw, seamless and genuine turn as Dean, a sympathetic loser whose sole aspiration is to devote his life to being a loving husband and father. His drunken rage in the hospital provides a thoroughly devastating and heartbreaking climax to a doomed romance. It’s transcendent acting at its best.
What do you think? Agree? Disagree? What is your favorite Ryan Gosling performance?
53 Comments
Would you believe I haven’t seen anything on this list yet? I want to see Drive in the worst possible way now that I’m hearing such good buzz. The first thing I saw Gosling in was Fracture. Not the best movie, but I immediately thought that this guy had charisma. I was disappointed that he didn’t get to star in “The Lovely Bones” as originally intended. This guy seems cool and underrated…..maybe that’s how he likes it!
Ah Markus, you definitely need to get to work. Yea, he’s been underrated for a long time because he made all of those little seen indies after The Notebook.
Totally agree that Blue Valentine and Drive should be at the top. I liked Half-Nelson, but not as much as everyone else. And I haven’t seen The Believer or The Notebook yet. Or Crazy Stupid Love, but you didn’t rank that one.
But I’m pretty much onboard for anything Gosling is in. I’m not a fan of politics-related stuff, but I’m pretty interested in The Ides of March solely on Gosling and Clooney (I’ve liked everything Clooney has directed, yes, even Leatherheads to some extent).
Yea, The Ides of March doesn’t really look that appealing to me but I will probably give it a watch just because of that superb cast.
He was also pretty good in Crazy Stupid Love.
We are movie snobs. We pretend these kind of roles don’t deserve any recognition
Have to agree with you there Max:)
He’s just so awesome. My favorites: Half Nelson and Blue Valentine.
I am voting for Other because I think The Gos has not even started yet. And also because I haven’t seen Drive or The Ides of March. He is so enormously talented, and thorough in his roles that he is capable of great performances now and in the future. I mean the only reason why The Notebook was remotely bearable was because of him. And that’s saying something.
And yes I know this list is about performances but can I just mention that how unbelievably sexy he is…:P
Ahahah I guess that’s good reason for you to watch his movies
I’m also sad to admit that all I’ve seen from this list is Half Nelson. Have you seen Stay? The movie is sort of a mess but Gosling does a good job.
Haven’t seen Stay but I’m not surprised that he is one of the highlights.
No Breaker High or Young Hercules? Oh dear
I haven’t seen enough of his work to vote Castor. I think he was good in The Notebook but not spectacular. I’m curious to see Half Nelson and Lars & The Real Girl, and of course Drive.
Has anyone seen anything from Ryan Gosling???
Starting with Remember the Titans, I only count 14 features released for the guy, and I’d guess that only about half grossed more than $30 million, including 5/6 of this list. Not all that surprising.
I’ve seen plenty of Gosling’s work and think he’s a great actor. In fact, a while back I put him at the top of my list for best actors under 30 (granted he’s right at the 30 years old mark for now).
I haven’t seen Drive, yet. And I really have no interest in seeing The Notebook.
I think he does great in pretty much everything he does. I didn’t care for Blue Valentine, though. His performance was indeed good, but the movie itself was just “eh” to me. I’d actually probably have to put his work in Lars or Half-Nelson at the top. Especially given that I haven’t seen Drive yet.
Others to mention:
Fracture. While not the greatest movie, he does nicely in there. Even managing to go toe-to-toe with the great Hopkins and hold his own.
Murder By Numbers. Again not a great movie but Gosling plays his role well there. Though, I will say, I think Michael Pitt actually shows him up in that one.
All Good Things. This was his other “big” one last year and I actually think the movie itself was more entertaining than Blue Valentine. And in some ways, parts of his performance in this one I thought were even better than his work in Blue Valentine.
Glad to see “Murder By Numbers” getting mentioned by you and others. The Gosling/Pitt storyline in that movie was actually quite good and very well acted. It was Sandra Bullock’s half of that film that brought the whole production down.
I think Drive maybe too violent for you Ruth
Hmmm, perhaps I should do some more research first, thanks for the warning Scottie. I probably just rent it then.
Big fan of Gosling and I think this list is great! Although I still need to see Drive.
Thanks Dan, I hope you like Drive.
Probably not going to get to “Drive” until this weekend and I’m so desperate to go in cold I didn’t even read your blurb about it here. But as for the other 5, I’d say “Lars and the Real Girl” is my favorite. Such a tricky part to play and he does it perfectly. But you’re totally right about how raw he is in “Blue Valentine.”
It’s always best served cold. Looking forward to your take on the movie.
This is tough as I didn’t get to see “Drive” this weekend due to the flu. Plus, I’m trying to handle my own financial situations as my plans to see the Pearl Jam documentary tomorrow fell apart because of scheduling reasons. I will see “Drive” this weekend along with another film. Probably “Moneyball” if it’s playing in the same theater. I’m trying to figure out the schedule and hopefully see “Restless” as well if it arrives.
For Ryan Gosling… so far…
1. “Blue Valentine”
2. “Half Nelson”
3. “The Believers”
4. “Lars & the Real Girl”
5. “Remember the Titans”
6. “The Notebook”
7. “The Slaughter Rule”
8. “Fracture” (kind of a lame film but Gosling holds his own with Anthony Hopkins)
9. “The United States of Leland” (Awful film but Gosling is great along Michelle Williams and my muse, Jena Malone)
10. “Murder by Numbers”
I also saw Gosling in “Stay” but don’t remember that film very well.
Glad to see some of you agree with Blue Valentine as his best work so far!
I’m actually one of the few people who like his work in “Stay”…although it’s such a trippy movie it’s hard to focus on the actors at since you spend most of your time trying to understand what’s happening:P
Great list. For my money you can’t beat BLUE VALENTIN. He and Williams just work so well in that movie, both in the falling in love scenes and the falling apart ones. His best film undoubtedly.
Thanks. Glad we agree on Blue Valentine. More people need to see that movie.
I was contemplating doing this list, but I have some weird obsession with the number ten, so I decided not to do it. Good thing too, because you did a damn fine jib with it.
Nice to see we agree on the number one spot. My personal list would go as thus:
1. Blue Valentine
2. The Believer
3. Drive
4. Murder by Numbers
5. Half Nelson
6. Lars and the Real Girl
7. The Slaughter Rule
and maybe an honourable mention for his ‘work’ on The Mickey Mouse Club.
Again, great list.
I suppose I should add Crazy, Stupid, Love. and All Good Things as no.’s 8 and 9. Still have not seen Remember the Titans nor The Notebook.
Thanks Kevyn! Glad we agree on his number one work to date. I was literally floored by his performance in Blue Valentine. FLOORED!
Hard to believe the only movie I have seen with Gosling in it is Blue Valentine. I need to check these out, especially Drive. I hope to see that this week.
Definitely check out Drive!
I’ve seen half this list (I won’t be watching The Notebook anytime soon, thanks). That said, I have to call shenanigans (on your opinion – that’s right!!!). I enjoyed Drive a lot and thought he was solid in it at times, but his performance won’t be topping any list of mine anytime soon, unless I take a look at lead characters with the least amount of words spoken.
Now, that’s not to say that quiet performances can’t be great, because as we know, some of the best acting comes when actors aren’t saying a word, but Driver is a pretty ridiculous character, and some of those scenes with their interminably long awkward pauses are just laughable.
I, too, would like to see Fracture on here. Sure, it’s a boilerplate-y legal thriller, but the two lead performances are awesome. I dig that movie a lotta lot.
But Driver is an awkward character. We take it he probably doesn’t have more than one friend (Bryan Cranston’s character) and never had much of a close relationship with anyone. I didn’t find the long pauses ridiculous, I thought they added to the characters. Given that he barely any dialogue and that we managed to learn so much about his character is a testament to Gosling’s performance.
Really? What did we learn? He’s the strong, silent type that works for crooks but has morals. He’s a consummate professional at everything he does. A lot of the rest of what we “learn” is assumptions.
I’m not trying to hate on his performance or the movie, just saying that his performance specifically will never be thought of as “great” by me, especially when compared to the rest of his filmography.
We learn that the Driver is a broken young man behind his cool facade, and we learn it without ever having to be explicitly told by either Refn or Gosling. The Driver exerts control over everything within his power exactly because he knows what happens when he loses control– he crushes a guy’s skull in an elevator. Or nearly kills someone with a hammer. Drive is all about him losing control and revealing that he’s not the cool and collected person he pretends he is; he’s something of a psychopath, in fact.
But what really makes it a great performance is that it never feels like Gosling’s acting.
Blue Valentine was severely underseen. I don’t even remember it getting SAG nominations, did it?
A Golden Globe and a Broadcast Film nod for both Gosling and Williams and an Oscar nod for Michelle but no SAGs.
I would rate Blue Valentine as his best for sure. Followed closely by Drive. Although the ‘look like I might have left the iron on’ stare was getting a bit old…HAHAH I joke.
Great list Castor, as you know I have just come out of my own Goslathon and I am so impressed with how he has honed his craft and not sold out at all.
Thanks for putting this together
Your man-love for the Gos was reaching epic proportion! Glad we agree on Blue Valentine at the top of his work so far!
It has to be ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ for me, which was a breakout hit considering I avoided anything and everything about the film before I saw it. BUT, with that said, I’m in the UK and I still haven’t seen ‘Drive,’ which by all accounts (inc reviews by the guys on here) is a brilliant film, drive by a masterful performance, so maybe my opinion will change in around a weeks time.
Looking forward to your take on Drive, it’s a bit of a polarizing film. Gosling certainly was very impressive in Lars and the Real Girl, there is no denying that.
Glad to see no one thought much of All Good Things…kind of a waste for all parties involved:(
This is a really good list, I actually pretty much agree with every one of them. Ryan Gosling is a fantastic talent…and yeah he’s not bad to look at
lol
Blue Valentine definitely deserves its place at the top of this list. I’m still angry that he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar along with Williams. The only other ones of his I’ve actually seen are The Notebook, Crazy Stupid Love and Remember The Titans, all of which probably disqualify me for the snob awards (hahaha). Lars, Believer and Half Nelson are all on my must see list at some point. Will be seeing Drive this weekend no matter what.
Full disclosure: I think Gosling is one of the most overrated actors working today, whiny and far too obvious when he tries to slip into the skin of one of his characters. I flat-out loathe Lars and the Real Girl and I think Half Nelson is decent but fairly flawed.
I haven’t seen Blue Valentine yet but I intend to, as I hear he’s actually good in that. So basically, my list would look like
1. Drive
2. Drive
3. Drive
4. Drive
5. Drive
6. Drive
I seem to remember being the one recommending Lars and the Real Girl to you ah. Sorry you didn’t like it Andrew :/
Oh, it’s not your fault, Cas– I watched that one ages ago.
I remember him in Young Hercules LOL! I think Gosling is an amazing actor, reminds me of DiCapiro…huge romantic film then he made specific choices “indie” films so that the romantic film didn’t define him. Both easy on the eyes but take their craft very seriously. Love ‘em! Looking forward to The Ides of March and anything Gosling does. He is f’ing sexy!
Yes, the DiCaprio and Gosling parallel is interesting. So A-list stardom is next you think?
A List fur sure
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