Few performers have had the kind of success that Jonah Hill has found at such a young age. He’s been a comedy star since he was basically a teenager, and he has also found success as a more dramatic actor in recent years. That combination of work means that Hill has a pretty extensive catalog of great movies to choose from, and they run the gamut from out-and-out comedies to much subtler, more dramatic work.
Whatever version of Hill you like best, it’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t like at least one of the films on this list of the best Jonah Hill movies.
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Moneyball (2011)
87%
7.6/10
134m
Genre
Drama
Stars
Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by
Bennett Miller
Watch on Netflix
When Jonah Hill co-starred in Moneyball, he was not known for his skills as a dramatic actor. He was a young comedian, and his casting in Moneyball was undoubtedly an out-of-left-field choice range. As soon as you watch Moneyball, though, you realize how essential he is to the brilliance of the movie. Hill plays a young statistician who falls under the wing of Billy Beane and helps him to reinvent how baseball is played. Hill is funny in the role but not overly so. He plays things pretty much perfectly and proves to be an excellent foil to the angular, subdued performance that Brad Pitt is giving in the lead role. This is also one of the best movies of Pitt’s career.
21 Jump Street (2012)
69%
7.2/10
109m
Genre
Action, Comedy, Crime
Stars
Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson
Directed by
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Watch on Amazon
If Superbad proved that Hill could carry a movie, it was 21 Jump Street that cemented him as a movie star. Creating an unlikely but undeniable partnership with Channing Tatum, the duo play a pair of FBI agents who have to pretend they’re in high school in order to break open a major investigation. Part of the joke is that they don’t look like high school kids, but one of the great joys of the movie is that the humor comes with some genuine creativity. 21 Jump Street is above all else a really smart comedy, and it’s all the proof we needed that Jonah Hill was going to be around for years to come.
This Is the End (2013)
67%
6.6/10
107m
Genre
Action, Comedy
Stars
James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen
Directed by
Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Watch on Amazon
Everyone is pretty close to perfect in This is the End, including Seth Rogen, but Hill has one of the best parts in the movie playing a version of himself. As he and his comedian/actor friends reckon with the end of the world, Hill gets to be the one who has gone prestige. He’d already been nominated for an Oscar for Moneyball at this point, and he’d worked with Martin Scorsese as well. All of that plays delightfully into the version of himself that Hill plays here, even as he also gets a full scene where he plays out a hilarious possession. This is the End is a comedy to end all comedies, and Hill is playing perhaps the best parody of himself in the bunch.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
75%
8.2/10
180m
Genre
Crime, Drama, Comedy
Stars
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Directed by
Martin Scorsese
Watch on Amazon
The genius of Jonah Hill’s casting in The Wolf of Wall Street is that his performance is actually the one the movie is based around. Even though it’s three hours long and deals with serious issues, The Wolf of Wall Street is a comedy, and it’s Hill who is most in line with its tone. He received his second Oscar nomination for his performance here, and it’s one he richly deserved. His performance as Donnie in the movie is specific in its broadness, and it’s much less subdued than his work in Moneyball, but no less worthy of praise as a result.
Superbad (2007)
113m
Genre
Comedy
Stars
Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Directed by
Greg Mottola
Watch on Amazon
Jonah Hill was around in comedies before Superbad, but this was his chance to shine, and he didn’t take it lightly. Co-starring with Michael Cera, Superbad is the bawdy, raucous high school comedy that defined a generation, and with good reason. Many of its jokes still hold up, and its lead performances are maybe its crowning achievement. As Seth, Hill proved that he was more than capable of carrying a comedy, even as he also proved that he could give it a dramatic core. Seth is scared of the future, and the whole series of events that propel the single wild night at this movie’s center arise because of that insecurity.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
67%
7.1/10
111m
Genre
Comedy, Romance, Drama
Stars
Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis
Directed by
Nicholas Stoller
Watch on Amazon
It’s a small part, but an unforgettable one. Forgetting Sarah Marshall may be the ultimate underrated comedy of the Apatow era, and basically every performance of any size in it is perfect. As Matthew Van Der Wyk, Hill plays a low-level worker who is obsessed with the rock star played by Russell Brand, and wants him to take a listen to his music. It’s a performance built around a single joke, but Hill knows how to make virtually every moment he’s on screen funny. He may be one of the most naturally gifted comedic actors alive right now, and it’s his work in a tiny role like this that may prove that best.
22 Jump Street (2014)
71%
7/10
112m
Genre
Crime, Comedy, Action
Stars
Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare
Directed by
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Watch on Amazon
It may be cheap to put two performances in which he plays the same character on this list, but the genius of 22 Jump Street is the way it shifts the dynamics at play in the first movie. There’s no longer such a clear distinction between Hill and Tatum in terms of status, and the movie is much more about how the two of them navigate their friendship with one another. Even though it’s a sequel, 22 is just as funny as its predecessor, and its end-credits sequence, which proposes an entire extended universe of sequels and re-treads, is one of the sharpest statements about modern moviemaking that’s ever been put to film.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
72%
6.3/10
106m
Genre
Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Stars
Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich
Directed by
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Watch on Amazon
Another small role in a great film, Hill’s one-scene performance here is up there with his best work. The Coen brothers know how to reel in A-list talent for even small, supporting roles, but they don’t waste Hill in the brief time he appears on screen. Hill plays Joseph Silverman, a surety agent who works with the studio and becomes wrapped up in an attempt to keep news of a pregnancy from becoming public. Silverman is really just a paperwork man, but there’s no one able to wring more laughs out filing a few papers than Hill, who, when asked if it’s hard to squeeze down on a notary stamp, whispers “it’s part of the job, miss.”
Don't Look Up (2021)
49%
7.2/10
143m
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction
Stars
Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep
Directed by
Adam McKay
Watch on Netflix
Hill’s most recent performance to make the list is as the truly detestable son of Meryl Streep’s president. As Jason Orlean, Hill gets many of the movie’s most overt punchlines and is also the ultimate mama’s boy, incapable of doing anything without her buy-in. Hill’s role in the film is fairly meaty, and he plays the egotistical, nepotistically gifted character with such smarm that it can be hard to resist him. In a movie filled with terrible people, he may just be the worst, but Hill knows how to dole out the bombast so that it doesn’t totally outweigh the humanity he tries so desperately to conceal.
Get Him to the Greek (2010)
65%
6.3/10
109m
Genre
Comedy, Adventure, Music
Stars
Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Rose Byrne
Directed by
Nicholas Stoller
Watch on Amazon
In this soft sidequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hill is playing Aaron Greene, an entirely new character who is responsible for getting Russell Brand’s rocker Aldous Snow to a concert on time and in one piece. The movie has plenty of laughs, but it’s also about a regular guy trying desperately to keep a rock star from spiraling out as he deals with hit after hit. It’s of a piece with movies like The Hangover, in that it chronicles a single, raucous night in Las Vegas. Hill has rarely played a more normal person, but even when he’s playing the straight man, he understands how to make his scenes sing.
War Dogs (2016)
114m
Genre
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Stars
Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Ana de Armas
Directed by
Todd Phillips
Watch on Amazon
War Dogs is a dark comedy crime film loosely based on a true story about two young friends, Efraim Diveroli (Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller), who exploit a loophole in a U.S. government program that allows small businesses to bid on military contracts. They start by supplying small items and quickly escalate to landing a massive $300 million contract to arm the Afghan National Army. Fueled by their success, they live lavishly; however, the enormous deal forces them to deal with shady characters and puts them in dangerous situations. The film was directed by Todd Phillips (known for The Hangover trilogy), and it also stars Bradley Cooper.
