10 Underrated Ryan Gosling Movies You Must See
Ryan Gosling’s career includes massive hits and awards players, but he has also built a deep bench of projects that many viewers miss on first pass. This list gathers ten lesser discussed titles that show his range across crime stories, intimate dramas, and adventurous experiments with style.
You will find early breakthroughs, midcareer detours, and collaborations with distinctive directors that shaped his path. Each entry includes clear plot context, key creative credits, and production details that help you decide what to queue up next.
‘The Believer’ (2001)
Henry Bean wrote and directed this drama about Danny Balint, a Jewish man who becomes involved with a white supremacist group. The story engages with real world inspirations connected to extremist movements and follows Balint through meetings, training sessions, and internal debates that expose contradictions in his ideology. Summer Phoenix, Billy Zane, and Theresa Russell appear in principal roles.
The film was shot around New York and uses handheld camerawork for an urgent feel in rallies and confrontations. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and sparked discussion in press and academic circles for its portrayal of radicalization and identity.
‘The United States of Leland’ (2003)
Written and directed by Matthew Ryan Hoge, this drama centers on Leland P. Fitzgerald after a shocking crime and examines his background through a teacher who mentors him in juvenile detention. The cast includes Don Cheadle, Jena Malone, Michelle Williams, and Kevin Spacey, with a structure that alternates between present interviews and past events.
The production was handled by Trigger Street and filmed in Southern California locations that stand in for suburban communities. Its focus remains on character studies, using classroom scenes and family interactions to map how small choices and private pressures accumulate into life altering outcomes.
‘Stay’ (2005)
Marc Forster directed this psychological thriller from a screenplay by David Benioff. Ewan McGregor plays psychiatrist Sam Foster, who treats Henry Letham as Henry recounts disturbing visions and memory gaps connected to an accident. Naomi Watts and Bob Hoskins appear in pivotal roles that link to recurring motifs involving paintings and bridges.
The production uses New York City exteriors with mirrored compositions and repeated camera moves to create visual echoes across scenes. Roberto Schaefer’s cinematography blends practical lighting with stylized transitions, and the editorial design layers match cuts and overlapping dialogue to suggest fractured perception.
‘Fracture’ (2007)
Gregory Hoblit directed this legal thriller in which deputy district attorney Willy Beachum prosecutes a wealthy engineer after a shooting inside a modernist Los Angeles home. Anthony Hopkins plays the defendant, Ted Crawford, who insists on representing himself and exploits procedural gaps inside the courtroom. Rosamund Pike and Embeth Davidtz round out the core ensemble.
The film combines location photography in downtown court buildings with controlled stage interiors for interrogation and cross examination sequences. Attention to chain of evidence, lab work, and plea negotiation timelines drives the plot forward, while the script tracks Beachum’s career shift as he weighs a move into corporate law.
‘Lars and the Real Girl’ (2007)
Craig Gillespie directed this small town story from a script by Nancy Oliver. Gosling plays Lars Lindstrom, who introduces his family and neighbors to Bianca, a life size doll he treats as a real partner, and a local therapist frames the situation as a delusion that the community can accommodate while Lars works through grief and isolation. Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson, and Kelli Garner support the narrative.
Production took place in rural and small city settings with attention to modest homes, church gatherings, and clinic visits that ground the premise in everyday routines. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and its design choices use knitwear, church bulletins, and community events to show how social networks provide structure during treatment.
‘All Good Things’ (2010)
Andrew Jarecki directed this crime drama inspired by events connected to real estate heir Robert Durst, presented here through fictionalized characters. Gosling plays David Marks, whose marriage to Katie McCarthy unravels amid missing person reports and a widening investigation that moves from New York to New England and the Gulf Coast. Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella portray Katie and David’s father.
The film mixes period specific production design with archival style elements such as faux newscasts and staged interviews. Jarecki later revisited aspects of the same case in the documentary series ‘The Jinx’, and viewers often map details between the drama and the nonfiction treatment to track what evidence and testimony align.
‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ (2012)
Derek Cianfrance directed this multigenerational crime drama that begins with motorcycle stunt rider Luke Glanton turning to bank robbery to support a child in upstate New York. Bradley Cooper plays police officer Avery Cross, whose career decisions intersect with Luke’s family in ways that reverberate through a second set of characters. Eva Mendes, Dane DeHaan, and Emory Cohen play central roles across the connected chapters.
Filming took place around Schenectady with practical motorcycle stunts and extended takes inside working banks and city streets. Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography favors natural light and fluid movement, and composer Mike Patton provides an atmospheric score that ties the film’s three part structure together.
‘Only God Forgives’ (2013)
Nicolas Winding Refn directed this stylized crime story set in Bangkok, where club owner Julian navigates pressure from his mother after a killing leads to violent reprisals. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Crystal, whose demands escalate the conflict with a police lieutenant known for ritualized forms of punishment. Vithaya Pansringarm appears as the officer who acts as both investigator and moral figure.
The production built neon soaked interiors and used night exteriors that emphasize saturated color and symmetry. Cliff Martinez composed the score, and Larry Smith’s cinematography uses locked off frames and slow camera moves that turn fights and chases into choreographed set pieces grounded in local boxing gyms and alleys.
‘The Nice Guys’ (2016)
Shane Black directed this buddy detective story set in Los Angeles during a wave of auto industry protests and adult film scandals. Gosling plays licensed investigator Holland March, who teams with enforcer Jackson Healy as they search for Amelia and follow clues linked to the death of performer Misty Mountains. Russell Crowe co leads, with Angourie Rice as March’s daughter who often advances the case.
The film recreates late seventies Los Angeles through wardrobe, billboards, and period cars, and it uses practical stunt work in house parties, freeway crashes, and a convention center finale. Black co wrote the script with Anthony Bagarozzi, and the production design tracks the investigation across chatty witnesses, reel to reel film, and corporate conference rooms.
‘First Man’ (2018)
Damien Chazelle directed this biographical drama about astronaut Neil Armstrong from the authorized book by James R. Hansen. The story follows mission assignments, simulator training, and family life, with Claire Foy as Janet Armstrong and Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin. The narrative culminates in the Apollo 11 landing and returns home to the personal routines that frame post mission life.
Linus Sandgren’s cinematography shifts formats across scenes, including large format for lunar sequences that expand image scale inside the theater. Justin Hurwitz composed the score, and the effects team combined practical cockpit rigs, archival hardware, and in camera projection to stage launches, docking, and surface operations. The production received the Academy Award for Visual Effects for its work.
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