Juliette Lewis Best Movies & Shows, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
With the recent return of Yellowjackets for its much-anticipated second season, fans of the show might be seeking out media featuring the amazing cast. Those looking for more of the talented Juliette Lewis need only turn to her Rotten Tomatoes page for the list of her highest and lowest rated performances.
Whether the actress is in a comedy, a drama, a thriller, or anything in between, she is always able to shine in her wide array of roles. She recently stood out on the true crime Hulu series Welcome to Chippendales based on the real life story of the Chippendales murders, and she’s currently back on screen in the fan-loved series Yellowjackets.
10 'I Know This Much Is True' (2020)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 74%
The I Know This Much Is True television miniseries focuses on identical twins Thomas and Dominick (both played by Mark Ruffalo). One of the brothers, Thomas, is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic that has severe episodes that disrupt his life, leading him to often depend on Dominick for help. The series is based on the novel by Wally Lamb.
In HBO miniseries, Juliette Lewis plays a graduate student named Nedra who gets hired by Dominick. Her character is portrayed as self-centered and quite vapid, letting the actress show that she is capable of a more in-depth range of acting skills. Juliette Lewis stands out in the drama, showcasing that she can be a serious actress as well as the usual comedic one she tends to be.
9 'Hysterical Blindness' (2002)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 75%
In Hysterical Blindness, Uma Thurman plays Debby, who is stressfully searching for her Mr. Right, every single night in fact. Though one night she thinks she’s found him, over the course of the movie viewers (and Debby) realize that her relationship with her best friend is more important than one with any man. In addition to this, Debby suffers from a clinical case of hysterical blindness, hence the film’s title.
Beth, Debby’s best friend who spends every night with her at the local pub Ollie’s, is played by the talented Juliette Lewis. Though Beth and Debby do find men to pursue, things don’t plan out the way the girls intended, and things get tricky when Debby’s mother Virginia (Gena Rowlands) has issues of her own. Viewers will have to watch to find out the outcomes for the three women.
8 'Cape Fear' (1991)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 75%
In the 1991 Martin Scorsese remake of the 1962 Cape Fear, viewers watch Nick Nolte play the attorney Sam Bowden, who is forced to go to extreme measures to protect his family after ensuring someone goes to prison. When the violent rapist named Max (Robert De Niro) gets out of prison after 14 years, he is determined to enact revenge on the entire Bowden family, leading Sam to do unthinkable things to save his wife and daughter.
The character Danielle Bowden, who is Sam’s daughter, is played by Juliette Lewis in this thriller film. His wife Leigh is played by Jessica Lange, and this all-star main cast is certainly a sight to see. The deranged Max stalks and seduces the young Danielle, and a young Juliette Lewis is able to show off her stelar acting skills alongside Academy Award-winning Robert De Niro.
7 'My Name is Earl' (2005 - 2009)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 82%
My Name is Earl is a comedy series that follows the events that take place when a small-town thief named Earl (Jason Lee) decides to turn his life of deceit and crime around when he loses his winning lottery ticket after he’s hit by a car. When he finds the lotto ticket after one good deed, he commits even further to his plan of doing better.
In this series, Juliette Lewis plays a former girlfriend of Earl named Jessie who appears in Season 1, Episode 21: “The Bounty Hunter.” Their relationship ends when Earl marries Joy (Jaime Pressly) after getting drunk, and viewers see Jessie and Joy fighting over Earl throughout the episode. As usual, Juliette Lewis brings her unique style of comedy to the role in an unforgettable way.
6 'Whip It' (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 85%
The film Whip It follows main character Bliss (Elliot Page), whose mother Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden) forces into beauty pageants. However, Bliss desires different things and eventually tries out for a roller-derby team called the Hurl Scouts, lying to her mother about her whereabouts in order to continue enjoying her secret new love of roller skating.
Juliette Lewis plays the character Iron Maven in the film, which also stars the beloved Drew Barrymore, Alia Shawkat from Arrested Development, and Jimmy Fallon. Iron Maven is a tough-shelled character in the rival roller-derby team the Holy Rollers, who doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with Bliss and fights for what she deserves and believes in. Maven also has some hilarious one-liners.
5 'What’s Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%
The Oscar-nominated film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape tells the story of the titular Gilbert Grape (played by accused abuser Johnny Depp), a young adult with a lot on his shoulders. Between caring for his overweight, house-ridden mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates) and Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), his mentally impaired young brother, as well as working at his low-paying supermarket job, his life is filled with stress and responsibility.
Juliette Lewis plays a free-spirited character named Becky who successfully brings abundant change and excitement to Gilbert’s monotonous life. Becky enters his life at a time when he’s in a scandalous affair with an older woman named Betty (Mary Steenburgen). The film received many Oscar nominations, including the first for DiCaprio.
4 'The Conners' (2018 - )
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%
A direct spin-off of Roseanne, The Conners follows the titular family as they attempt to move forward from the death of their beloved matriarch, Roseanne. It features original characters everyone knows and loves, as well as new characters like Ben, played by Jay R. Ferguson from Mad Men, and Louise, played the iconic Katy Segal from Married… with Children.
In The Conners, the unforgettable Juliette Lewis plays Blue, the new-love interest of Darlene’s (Sara Gilbert) ex David (Johnny Galecki). She is a free-spirited, scatterbrained hippy who certainly doesn’t fit in well with the loudmouthed, brash and sarcastic Conner clan. But then again, maybe that’s why David likes her so much.
3 'Husbands and Wives' (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%
In the fittingly-titled film about marriage and relationships, Husbands and Wives focuses on what happens when married couple Gabe (accused abuser Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow) learn that their friends Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are separating. This leads the two to reevaluate their own relationship.
Juliette Lewis plays the young college student named Rain that Gabe considers being with for a time as he’s experiencing relationship doubt. The two develop a bond as she offers opinions about the draft of his novel, and he attends her twenty-first birthday party. This is the final film featuring Allen and Farrow together, as their relationship came to an end and further ugly truths have since come to light.
2 'Portlandia' (2011 - 2018)
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%
The arguably cult-classic hit show keeping Portland weird created by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, Portlandia, pokes fun at the real city of Portland, Oregon, and it’s reputation for being an eccentric spot filled with hipsters. The series spawned out of Armisen's and Brownstein’s original ThunderAnt internet show, which consisted of comedy sketches that often focused on Portland.
In the series, Juliette Lewis appears as a guest star like many other actors such as Olivia Wilde and Steve Buscemi have. She plays a character named Darcy on Season 3, Episode 5: “Squiggleman”, and the titular character of the episode is played by the hilarious Matt Berry, who viewers can watch now as the vampire Laszlo Cravenworth on What We Do in the Shadows.
1 'Yellowjackets' (2021 - )
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 97%
In the critically-acclaimed show Yellowjackets, inspired by but not based on true stories, an all-girl’s soccer team on their way to a national’s game crashes in the wilderness of Ontario and is left stranded. In their quest for survival, viewers witness the girls descend into chaos, violence, cannibalism and war for 19 months before being rescued. The series also jumps between two time periods, during the crash and 25 years later.
Juliette Lewis plays the adult version of Natalie throughout the series, with Sophie Thatcher playing her as a teen. Younger, she is portrayed as a rebellious but kind goth who is addicted to drugs and alcohol, with few close friends. As an adult, it seems not much has changed for Natalie. The beginning of season one sees her leaving rehab, bent on tracking down her fellow Yellowjackets from the past.
ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51kr6a%2F02ahrqSZmsG1sYylnLCho2K6sMLInqpmq5ikxLR50airrZ2eYsGwucCtpp6rXw%3D%3D