26 Best Movies from the 2000s

25th Hour (2002)

Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, a crime drama that chronicles a drug dealer’s last day of freedom before serving a jail sentence, was the first film to incorporate the events of 9/11 into its narrative. Creatively ripe with a melancholic soundtrack that mirrors the mood of a somber city, contemplative dialogue that Edward Norton sinks his teeth into, and, of course, a few of the director’s trademark dolly shots, 25th Hour is a Spike Lee Joint that is no doubt dissimilar from his other films, yet still one of his best.

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Amélie (2001)

Audrey Tautou stars as Amélie Poulain, a 23-year-old Parisian do-gooder who unexpectedly finds love on her mission to help others, in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s oh so charming French romantic comedy. Adorned with a now-iconic choppy bob as whimsical as the film itself, Amélie spends the reel indulging in life’s simple pleasures, making others smile, and enchanting audiences across the globe. If you haven’t seen it yet, now’s the time to fall in love.

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Director Ang Lee’s meditative drama is a cinematographer’s paradise, with shots of rolling countryside and unobstructed sunsets, but it’s also an epic love story. The two men at the heart of the film, Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis (Heath Ledger), find comfort in Wyoming’s secluded vistas, allowing their true feelings for each other to blossom. In doing so, Lee’s groundbreaking film helped pave the way for queer romances to be shown on the big screen to mainstream audiences.

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Another visual masterpiece from contemporary filmmaker Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a wuxia tour-de-force starring international legends including Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh. The story itself is difficult to sum up, but all the drama and action essentially boils down to the whereabouts of a sword: who’s wielding it and who’s stealing. Of course, as the quest for the precious metal unfolds, there’s breathtaking martial arts choreography, sweeping romances, and bitter betrayals to behold.

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Dreamgirls (2006)

Movie musicals have been around since Dorothy was shuffling down that yellow-brick road, but by the turn of the century, they had become a subgenre: No longer the norm, they were a departure from conventional storytelling. Our favorites include Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, Walk the Line, Ray—these films are an escape, they are visual masterpieces, massive cinematic feats that make you want to dance. Same goes for Dreamgirls, Bill Condon’s soul-stirring dazzler that gave Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson the mic and let ’em do their thang.

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Enough (2002)

The 2000s can also be called the initial decade of dominance for Jennifer Lopez. The actress was all over the big screen, starring in romantic comedies like Maid in Manhattan, Monster-in-Law, and The Wedding Planner, but making us feel all warm and fuzzy wasn’t her only talent. That’s where our J.Lo fave, Enough, comes in. Flexing her drama muscles and, well, actual muscles, she plays Slim Hiller, an empowered woman who straps on the brass knuckles and puts an end to her husband’s abuse for good.

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Breaking up is hard to do. So hard, in fact, some would like to forget it ever happened. Which is exactly what the core players in this achingly romantic sci-fi drama from director Michael Gondry and co-writer Charlie Kaufman do. It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as former lovers Joel and Clementine, their relationship relived as they undergo the erasure procedure. Funny thing, though, as they were working to wipe their memories clean, the film became engrained in ours as one of the best of all time.

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Finding Nemo (2003)

A delight from start to finish, this technically groundbreaking Pixar classic takes viewers under the sea on a thrilling adventure, as a clownfish and his blue tang sidekick set out to find his son, Nemo. There are run-ins with the ocean’s creatures, a deeply personal storyline about the fear that comes with parenthood, and—perhaps best of all—the lessons and musings of a fish called Dory that we all still use today. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming …

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

The 2000s are also marked by an insatiable quest for new fantasy films. Hollywood saw a significant rise in the genre dedicated to stories of faraway lands, mythical creatures, and epic narratives—The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Chronicles of Narnia all fit in here. But the most epic of all has to be the Harry Potter franchise. A comforting brew of wizardry, adventure, and young love, the Potterverse was introduced in 2001 and released an installment nearly every year until its conclusion in 2011. Our favorite? Alfonso Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban.

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Kill Bill: Vols. 1 & 2 (2003, 2004)

Not sure if you noticed, but Y2K had a thing for martial arts. And rightfully so. There’s nothing quite like watching finely tuned actors master succinct choreography and gravity-defying stunts. From Rush Hour and Kung Fu Hustle

to Charlie’s Angels and even Kung Fu Panda, Hollywood’s finest were crane beak striking and double-fist punching their way through bad guys. Don’t think it gets better for the decade, though, than Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo slicing her way through a list of enemies in Kill Bill: Vols. 1 and 2.

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Legally Blonde (2001)

Pink. It’s a color whose popularity can be traced back to ancient India and 18th-century European society. So, no, Elle Woods didn’t invent the blushing shade, but she certainly did her part to help launch Y2K’s obsession with it. Played by Reese Witherspoon, the aspiring attorney treated the courtroom like her own personal runway, and she’s quite possibly to thank for the following decade’s fixation on millennial pink, and the next one’s passion for Barbiecore. Plus, this empowerment rom-com just rocks.

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Mean Girls (2004)

For better or worse, teen comedies at the turn of the century were dominated by the male sexual odyssey—his conquest to either lose his virginity or take the V-card of a nubile ingénue taking center stage (see: American Pie, Eurotrip, Can’t Hardly Wait). Tina Fey said eff that and gave us this gem now crowned as one of the most iconic teen movies in the canon. It stars Lindsay Lohan as a transfer student who infiltrates a mean-girl clique led by Rachel McAdams, and it will forever be the reason we wear pink on Wednesdays.

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Once (2007)

John Carney’s Irish treasure Once is a once-in-a-life-time film. It’s that movie that is so painfully beautiful, so perfectly un-perfect you can’t help but cry, applaud, and believe in love. The tears that will roll as the two leads credited only as Guy and Girl realize they have found a soul mate in one another but can do nothing to act on this love will dry up. And the pure feelings you have as the credits roll will disperse. But there’s nothing like your first time watching this film. Until you watch it again.

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Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Guillermo del Toro’s fascination with monsters reaches its pinnacle with this Spanish-Mexican fable about a little girl named Ofelia, who escapes the harsh realities of war by venturing into a mythical and at times frightening fantasy land. Merging historical fact and fiction into a visually stunning period drama buoyed by magical realism yet anchored in the brutality of man, del Toro delivers a gripping, emotional, and astonishing fairy tale for mature audiences.

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Persepolis (2007)

Graphic novels were often looked to for screen inspiration in the aughts (300, Sin City, V for Vendetta, every superhero offering), but in the case of Marjane Satrapi, a filmmaker who grew up in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, her comic-book memoir was more than just inspiration for a movie—it was a way for Satrapi to reinvent genre themes and illustrate them in a new way. Unraveling in black-and-white 2D animation, Persepolis injects humor and heart into one girl’s journey to self-discovery.

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Saving Face (2004)

Queer cinema is having a banner year with 2022—Universal’s Bros, Hulu’s Fire Island, Netflix’s Heartstopper are all raking in the critical acclaim. But back in 2004, Alice Wu made her directorial debut with an indie love story that has become a hallmark of queer cinema. About a Chinese American 20-something whose queerness is ignored by her mother, the film is not only an achievement for queer Asian cinema, but quite possibly the first to feature a Chinese American cast since 1993’s Joy Luck Club.

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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Leave it to Danny Boyle to inject a frenetic energy into a Bollywood-inspired drama about a Mumbai street kid (Dev Patel) who’s poised to win 20 million rupees on a popular game show. The director of films that share similar exhilaration (think: 127 Hours, Sunshine, Trance), Boyle crafts his rags-to-riches story with the vigor, optimism, and joy of a filmmaker who just loves making movies. And the chemistry onscreen between Dev Patel and costar Freida Pinto is just as palpable.

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Superbad (2007)

What Ferris Bueller’s Day Off did for playing hooky, Superbad did for dropping dick jokes. King of the new-class raunch comedies, Superbad came after director Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up and before co-writer Kristen Wiig’s Bridesmaids, and thanks to its unflinching crotch humor, everlasting catchphrases like “Down to fuck,” and a bromance narrative that echoes that of the film’s writers, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Superbad changed the face of the genre.

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The Dark Knight (2008)

Widely credited as the catalyst for the Academy’s decision to swell the Best Picture category beyond only five nominees, The Dark Knight was snubbed for top prize at the 2009 Oscars—not even nominated. But that’s okay; Heath Ledger’s brilliant Joker rightfully won his category, director Christopher Nolan revolutionized the genre with his moody origin story, and the film has transcended the decade to become the best superhero movie ever made.

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The Departed (2006)

Thanks to elite, legendary performances from his key actors—Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, among many others—the master of mob cinema, Martin Scorsese, could finally add a gold statue to his expansive trophy room. The helmer finally won Best Director, after being nominated seven times, in 2007 for what many believe is his best movie: this white-knuckle thriller about an undercover cop tangled up in the Irish gang in South Boston.

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DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and  got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.

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