Want to know the best Frances McDormand movies? How about the worst Frances McDormand movies? Curious about Frances McDormand’s box office grosses or which Frances McDormand movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Frances McDormand movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Frances McDormand (1957-) is a Chicago born, three-time Academy Award® winning actress. I noticed McDormand in her very first movie 1984’s Blood Simple. I worked at a video store back in the mid 1980s. One of the movies that I always recommended was Blood Simple. The feedback I got back from those people that took my recommendation was either they loved the movie or the hated the movie – there was no middle ground. Blood Simple was the first movie that was directed by the brother team of Joel and Ethan Coen and the first movie of Frances McDormand. This partnership between the Coen brothers and McDormand continues to exist today and has produced 8 movies together, two Oscar® wins, multiple Oscar® nominations, and with the Joel half of the Coen brothers, a marriage and one son.
Her IMDb page shows over 75 acting credits since 1984. This page will rank Frances McDormand movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.
Frances McDormand Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
2003
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
2017
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Actress Win
2015
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Voice Only
1996
Fargo (1996)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Actress Win
1988
Mississippi Burning (1988)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
1996
Primal Fear (1996)
2020
Nomadland (2020)
AA Best Actress Win
2000
Almost Famous (2000)
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
2011
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
2012
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
2008
Burn After Reading (2008)
1990
Darkman (1990)
2018
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Voice Only
1987
Raising Arizona (1987)
1996
Lone Star (1996)
2000
Wonder Boys (2000)
1984
Blood Simple. (1984)
1993
Short Cuts (1993)
2022
Women Talking (2022)
AA Best Picture Nom
1998
Madeline (1998)
2001
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
2005
North Country (2005)
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
2021
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
2021
The French Dispatch (2021)
2008
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
2006
Friends with Money (2006)
1990
Hidden Agenda (1990)
2002
City by the Sea (2002)
2002
Laurel Canyon (2002)
2011
This Must Be the Place (2011)
1995
Palookaville (1995)
2012
Promised Land (2012)
1997
Paradise Road (1997)
1998
Talk of Angels (1998)
1995
Beyond Rangoon (1995)
1985
Crimewave (1985)
2005
Aeon Flux (2005)
1991
The Butcher's Wife (1991)
1989
Chattahoochee (1989)
1992
Passed Away (1992)
Frances McDormand Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Frances McDormand movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Frances McDormand movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Frances McDormand movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Frances McDormand movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Frances McDormand movie received.
- Sort Frances McDormand movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 2 | Something's Gotta Give (2003) | Jack Nicholson & Keanu Reeves |
124.70 | 258.6 | 552.90 | 16 | 71 | 01 / 00 | 95.1 | |
| 1 | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actress Win |
Woody Harrelson & Sam Rockwell |
54.50 | 75.9 | 219.50 | 52 | 90 | 07 / 02 | 93.1 | |
| 4 | The Good Dinosaur (2015) Voice Only |
Anna Paquin | 123.10 | 182.5 | 492.60 | 25 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 92.9 | |
| 2 | Fargo (1996) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actress Win |
Steve Buscemi | 24.60 | 69.6 | 171.40 | 66 | 91 | 07 / 02 | 92.4 | |
| 4 | Mississippi Burning (1988) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
Gene Hackman | 34.60 | 105.2 | 105.20 | 32 | 79 | 07 / 01 | 91.8 | |
| 10 | Primal Fear (1996) | Richard Gere & Edward Norton |
56.10 | 158.7 | 290.20 | 27 | 68 | 01 / 00 | 89.7 | |
| 5 | Nomadland (2020) AA Best Actress Win |
David Strathairn | 2.10 | 2.7 | 7.00 | 50 | 81 | 06 / 03 | 89.7 | |
| 8 | Almost Famous (2000) AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
Kate Hudson | 32.50 | 75.5 | 109.90 | 78 | 89 | 04 / 01 | 89.0 | |
| 7 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) | Shia LaBeouf & John Turturto |
351.40 | 553.9 | 1,769.90 | 2 | 51 | 03 / 00 | 88.8 | |
| 9 | Moonrise Kingdom (2012) | Bruce Willis & Bill Murray |
45.50 | 71.5 | 107.20 | 71 | 90 | 01 / 00 | 87.4 | |
| 11 | Burn After Reading (2008) | George Clooney & Brad Pitt |
60.40 | 105.1 | 285.00 | 52 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 85.5 | |
| 14 | Darkman (1990) | Liam Neeson | 33.90 | 100.1 | 144.40 | 35 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 84.3 | |
| 11 | Isle of Dogs (2018) Voice Only |
Bill Murray & Bryan Cranston |
32.00 | 43.7 | 87.50 | 83 | 89 | 02 / 00 | 84.1 | |
| 14 | Raising Arizona (1987) | Nicolas Cage & John Goodman |
22.80 | 73.0 | 93.30 | 49 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 81.5 | |
| 15 | Lone Star (1996) | Matthew McConaughey | 12.40 | 35.1 | 35.10 | 114 | 85 | 01 / 00 | 80.6 | |
| 16 | Wonder Boys (2000) | Michael Douglas & Robert Downey Jr. |
19.40 | 45.0 | 77.50 | 97 | 79 | 03 / 01 | 80.5 | |
| 16 | Blood Simple. (1984) | Joel Coen & Ethan Coen |
6.50 | 24.2 | 24.20 | 100 | 88 | 00 / 00 | 79.8 | |
| 18 | Short Cuts (1993) | Julianne Moore & Robert Downey Jr. |
6.10 | 18.5 | 18.50 | 132 | 87 | 01 / 00 | 78.2 | |
| 19 | Women Talking (2022) AA Best Picture Nom |
Rooney Mara | 5.50 | 6.1 | 9.70 | 86 | 80 | 02 / 01 | 77.4 | |
| 23 | Madeline (1998) | Nigel Hawthorne | 30.00 | 79.9 | 79.90 | 64 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 72.4 | |
| 19 | The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) | Billy Bob Thornton & Scarlett Johansson |
7.50 | 16.6 | 41.90 | 136 | 80 | 01 / 00 | 72.3 | |
| 20 | North Country (2005) AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
Charlize Theron & Woody Harrelson |
18.30 | 35.8 | 49.20 | 124 | 72 | 02 / 00 | 71.4 | |
| 21 | The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) | Denzel Washington | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.70 | 229 | 81 | 03 / 00 | 71.1 | |
| 22 | The French Dispatch (2021) | Bill Murray | 16.10 | 19.8 | 54.80 | 49 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 65.7 | |
| 24 | Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) | Amy Adams | 12.30 | 21.4 | 29.10 | 137 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 65.1 | |
| 25 | Friends with Money (2006) | Jennifer Aniston | 13.40 | 25.4 | 34.70 | 141 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 62.6 | |
| 26 | Hidden Agenda (1990) | Brian Cox | 1.00 | 3.0 | 3.00 | 188 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 58.5 | |
| 30 | City by the Sea (2002) | Robert DeNiro | 22.40 | 48.4 | 63.40 | 103 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 52.0 | |
| 27 | Laurel Canyon (2002) | Christian Bale | 3.70 | 7.9 | 9.50 | 171 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 49.3 | |
| 29 | This Must Be the Place (2011) | Sean Penn | 0.10 | 0.2 | 18.60 | 231 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 44.7 | |
| 30 | Palookaville (1995) | Vincent Gallo | 0.40 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 220 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 38.2 | |
| 32 | Promised Land (2012) | Matt Damon | 7.60 | 11.9 | 12.80 | 137 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 25.5 | |
| 31 | Paradise Road (1997) | Glenn Close & Cate Blanchett |
2.00 | 5.5 | 5.50 | 173 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 25.4 | |
| 33 | Talk of Angels (1998) | Franco Nero | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 303 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 20.2 | |
| 35 | Beyond Rangoon (1995) | Patricia Arquette | 5.80 | 16.5 | 16.50 | 139 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 19.3 | |
| 36 | Crimewave (1985) | Brion James | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 218 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 16.9 | |
| 36 | Aeon Flux (2005) | Charlize Theron | 25.90 | 50.5 | 102.20 | 102 | 35 | 00 / 00 | 14.6 | |
| 37 | The Butcher's Wife (1991) | Demi Moore | 9.70 | 28.8 | 28.80 | 96 | 36 | 00 / 00 | 7.6 | |
| 38 | Chattahoochee (1989) | Gary Oldman & Dennis Hopper |
0.30 | 0.8 | 0.80 | 191 | 39 | 00 / 00 | 3.9 | |
| 40 | Passed Away (1992) | Bob Hoskins & William Peterson |
4.00 | 12.1 | 12.10 | 131 | 33 | 00 / 00 | 2.6 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Frances McDormand
1. Frances McDormand has been nominated 6 times for an acting Oscar®….three times for Best Actress in Nomadland, Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (she won all three times) and 3 times for Best Supporting Actress…those movies were Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous and North Country.
2. Frances McDormand has been nominated 6 times for a Golden Globe® award….twice for Best Actress….Fargo, Burn After Reading and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and twice for Best Supporting Actress….Almost Famous and North Country. She won the Golden Globe® for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.
3. Frances McDormand has been married to director Joel Coen since 1984…..they adopted their son Pedro in 1994. Adoption was something Frances McDormand was very familiar with, as she was adopted by Noreen and Vernon McDormand when she was a young child.
4. Frances McDormand has screen credits in 8 Coen brother movies. The first was 1984’s Blood Simple and the most recent was 2008’s Burn After Reading. Of course her most famous Coen brother role was her Oscar® winning performance in 1996’s Fargo.
5. Premiere magazine ranked Frances McDormand’s role in Fargo as the 27th Greatest Movie Character of All Time.
6. Frances McDormand is a graduate of Yale University.
7. Two roles Frances McDormand was considered for but did not do Apollo 13 and Thelma and Louise.
8. Frances McDormand got her role in the 1990’s Darkman after Julia Roberts decided to make Pretty Woman…a good decision by Julia Roberts.
Check out Frances McDormand‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
I saw 14, yeah I know its not a new page but this is a great actress.it is eerie how closely I agree with bob on favourites. Mississippi burning is a ten and a favourite. hidden gem is possibly the man who wasn’t there. I did not like it, too dark, but seven deep in good to great performances: shaloub, mcdormand, thornton, gandolfino, Johansson, Jenkins, badalucco, and daringly well directed.
Frances never achieved great box office status but as Bruce’s write-up and table above illustrate she has provided the cinema with such a fine body of artistic work that she richly deserves to be among those performers who have probably earned a Cogerson page primarily for their great acting.
Like Grace Kelly with Hitchcock Frances has, as again explained above by Bruce, developed a great affinity with The Cohens but my own favourite McDormand performances are (1) first in Mississippi Burning and (2) second as the iconic pregnant police chief in the Cohens’ Fargo.
Not even my own favourite western heroes Wayne, Scott, Glenn Ford and [among the B men] Rory Calhoun ever gave us THAT kind of original interpretation of a law officer! By the time Missouri Breaks came around though Brando had ballooned so much that when his bounty hunter Robert E Lee Clayton went into drag as a disguise for his latest serial kill he looked for all the world like a pregnant villainess – Steve’s favourite mother [Bates] let loose Out West! [see photo 45 of 57 on IMDB]
Anyway, talking of Steve a “Vote up” for this new McDormand page.
Hey Bob
1. Thanks for the thoughts on the now two-time Best Actress Oscar winning actress. That is a pretty small group to be in.
2. This was a suggestion from a Hub Page person…..probably the first page written that was not a superstar…..so in some ways it opened the door for expanding the UMR catalog.
3. I agree with you about her never receiving box office status….actually before Three Billboards….I think she was almost a forgotten actress.
4. Being married to a Coen brother has not hurt her career….lol. One Oscar win with them and one without them.
5. Good point on Fargo…..you are correct..a very original way to play a police officer.
6. Missouri Breaks is an interesting movie…..with Brando stealing the movie from Jack…….even though many times the viewer will not know what Brando is doing or talking about.
Good feedback
HI BRUCE
McDORMAND
1 I see you’re getting back into things again and Steve will be pleased if he feels that the Automation has been stood down for now! I personally could not praise the brilliant McDormand enough but the Dan-like link in the matter is that it was my continuing to think about your Frances page that caused me to call Francis Frances if you get what I mean!
JOEL
2 Naturally I agree with John’s assessment of Julius Caesar and Brando’s performance and Joel was entitled to criticise any performance he didn’t like; but the piece that you kindly reproduced for me was not in my opinion so much a critique as a character assassination.
3 Again actors are fair game and as our societies believe in freedom of speech Hirschhorn was entitled to conduct such an assassination if he felt it was warranted. However I thought that rather than rely solely on his own opinions and prejudices it was unprofessional of him to lean on for example the subjective views of Sinatra who harboured personal ill-feeling against Brando. Either Joel was a poor researcher and so ignorant of the other side of the story that Professor Mizruchi has recounted in relation to Apocalypse Now or else Joel was not interested in anything that showed Brando might not have been completely at fault.
4 Certainly Sinatra has never been regarded universally as a role model.to say the least and for a professional author and critic to cast him in the role of the good guy in a dispute with a fellow Great without looking into both sides of the story does to mind smack of either unbelievable bias or professional laziness.
5 However just as Joel’s crazy ratings some which Steve for one also found ‘”hilarious” show up how sensible your own and Steve’s usually are Hirsch’s one-sided rant against Brando illustrates how much the Cogerson site with its own likes and dislikes is overall very fair
balanced and professional.
1 In any good overall history of the movies the partnership of the Johns Wayne and Ford will invariably be highlighted, and so as the Work Horse has indicated above Frances will usually be linked with the Coens – Blood Simple, Crimewave, Miller’s Crossing [Frances uncredited] and most recently Hail Caesar.
2 However just as the Duke was a massive screen personality in his own right – ignore Hirschhorn’s 186th ranking of him! – Frances whilst no leading box office star is nonetheless a wonderful and compelling performer with or without the Coens
3 I especially admired her work in Mississippi Burning with Hackman, in Something’s Gotta Give with Nicholson/Keaton and in Primal Fear with Gere and Edward Norton. However I will probably always most remember her for Fargo in which she played a Minnesota police chief doggedly investigating roadside homicides – despite being heavily pregnant. Even the likes of Fonda, Widmark, McCrea and Scott who played great sheriffs/marshals down the years were never able to bring THAT original concept to their portrayals of law enforcers!
4 Frances was possessed of an acting talent that fully justified this Cogerson page and it surprises me that her profile here has got so little attention hitherto. That situation brings once again to my mind those wonderfully observant lines from the classical Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Hey Bob. Thanks for helping out Frances McDormand page….lots of dust bunnies on this page. I agree she and the Coens will be forever linked. From so many great movies to their children…this has been a great partnership.
Ah… Bringing up poor defenseless Joel. That Oscar win will keep her in the record books forever. Good poem….very fitting for her. She got off to a great start at Hub Pages…but not so impressive on website 2 or 3. Thanks again for checking out this page.