While some stars are made, others are born and Alicia Silverstone fits very well into the second category. Silverstone made a name for herself immediately after launching her Hollywood career in 1993 when she landed the role of Darian/Adrian Forrester in the erotic thriller, Crush. For her performance, she received three awards including the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. Alicia Silverstone’s movies would immediately come to include a few others worthy of note. Following almost immediately was the 1995 coming-of-age romantic comedy, Clueless which won her 5 awards including the MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female.
Alicia Silverstone had always been interested in the show business. From the young age of 6, little Silverstone while growing up in Hillsborough, California where she was raised by her English parents took an interest in modeling and began landing gigs almost immediately, many of which were in TV commercials including one for Domino’s Pizza.
Fast forward to 1992, Silverstone, at the age of 16 had dabbled in acting with her first-ever credit coming in an episode of the 1992 coming-of-age comedy-drama, The Wonder Years titled Road Test where she portrayed the role of Jessica Thomas the dream girl of the character played by Fred Savage. Thanks to her big break with The Crush, Silverstone was on her way to bigger things. First, she attracted the attention of TV director Marty Callner who opted to use her as the video vixen for a couple of music videos he was slated to shoot for the legendary rock band, Aerosmith. These songs were “Cryin,’” “Amazing” and “Crazy”. As a result, Silverstone endeared herself to many fans of the rock band many of who in turn became more interested in her.
Her impressive performance in Clueless opened a much bigger door – thanks to the success of the film, Silverstone earned herself a multimillion-dollar deal (said to be worth an estimated $9 million) with Columbia Pictures which included the role of Barbara/Batgirl in the 1997 blockbuster superhero film, Batman & Robin which unfortunately was critically panned and didn’t earn as much as expected at the box office. It almost seemed as if the failure of the movie was the beginning of a downward spiral for the once-celebrated teen actress.
Many teen actresses often struggle to match the success of their early years and Silverstone somehow found herself in this position. Most of her later movies where she played the leads were only averagely rated, however, she has not backed down. In later years, Silverstone has been able to land bit parts in big movies featuring the biggest stars at the lead while continuing to work hard to remain relevant in the industry. Below is a list of Alicia Silverstone’s top 10 movies beginning from movies where she played the lead down into others where she only managed to score bit parts.
Top 10 Alicia Silverstone Movies
1. Clueless (1995)
Alicia Silverstone would always be remembered for her role in Clueless. She played the lead role of Cher Horowitz, a high school student who makes Tai Frasier, a new student her friend and decides to give her a makeover. The film made the line “as if!” which was popular among the real 90s teens attending the Beverly Hills High School. Ranked among the best teen films of all time, the film developed a cult following with a legacy that continues to live on. Critics had only but nice things to say of the movie with Entertainment Weekly ranking it in 2008 as the 19th best comedy of the past 25 years. The film which grossed over $56 million against a $12 million budget was succeeded by TV sitcom and book series.
2. The Crush (1993)
Viewers who’d seen Alicia Silverstone in The Crush would have been less surprised at her impressive performance in Clueless. For her debut film role, Silverstone aced it, earning herself 4 award nominations and winning two. She played the lead role, a girl who after her advances are rejected by an older man is out to make life miserable for him. To be able to work the hours needed for the shooting of this film, Silverstone who was only 15 at the time became legally emancipated.
3. Vamps (2012)
In this comedy horror film with a dash of romance, Silverstone plays one of the lead characters Goody – a blood-sucking socialite who is living her best life in New York City, she teaches a new vamp how to calm her blood cravings by surviving on rat blood. This film was directed by Amy Heckerling whom Silverstone had previously worked with on Clueless. Though critics mostly gave the film an average review, most of its viewers loved it as evidenced on the 92% viewer rating the film received on Google. The film went to DVD following a limited theatrical release.
4. Blast from the Past (1999)
In this romance film, Silverstone plays Rustikoff the love interest of Brendan Fraser’s character Adam Webber whom the movie is centered upon. However, when Adam’s wit begins to attract other ladies including Eve’s nemesis, jealousy erupts and their relationship is further compounded by Adam’s weird beliefs. Though the movie was only mildly successful at the box office, critics rated it at average, and viewers per Google Users raring seemed to love it.
5. Gods Behaving Badly (2013)
This Alicia Silverstone movie where she played the lead as one part of a mortal couple was adapted from Marie Phillips’ satire novel of the same name. It follows the story of the couple (the other half being Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they encounter a group of New York City-based Greek gods. It is the directorial debut of film producer Marc Turtletaub. The film which premiered at the 2013 Rome Film Festival has a rating of 6.2/10 on IMDb. The film also stars big names like Sharon Stone and Christopher Walken in the roles of Aphrodite and Zeus respectively.
6. Catfight (2016)
Alicia Silverstone plays a supporting role in Catfight which has Sandar Oh and Anne Heche as its main cast. Described as an action black comedy film, it tells the story of two former friends who have now reunited but find themselves coming from different walks of life. The critically acclaimed movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016, and was later released through video on demand. The film now counts among Netflix’s collections.
7. The Lodge (2019)
The Lodge is more of a Riley Keough movie than an Alicia Silverstone movie and that is because while the former played the lead, Silverstone had a slightly smaller part as Laura. However, Silverstone should be commended for being able to earn a small part in what has been described as the next-generation horror film. Following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019, the film was met with largely positive reviews. Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala served as the directors while the screenplay credit goes to Sergio Casci.
8. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
In The Killing of a Sacred Deer Silverstone has a far smaller role than she did in The Lodge as its main cast are Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Barry Keoghan. The psychological thriller is based on Euripides’s Greek tragedy titled Iphigenia at Aulis. It basically tells the story of a cardio surgeon who upon befriending a teenage boy who is connected to his pasts later introduced him to his family but strangely, the boy begins to fall sick. The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2017, winning the Best Screenplay Award for Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou both renowned Greek filmmakers.
9. Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000)
Love’s Labour’s Lost is the title of a comic play by William Shakespeare and this full-length film is adapted from it. However, this is not to be confused with another short film with the same title. Love’s Labour’s Lost is one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known works and this is the first feature film made after its story with Irish actor and screenwriter, Kenneth Branagh who has a small role in the film serving as its director. Branagh made the film into a romantic Hollywood musical with period details including a costume design evoking 1939 Europe, newsreel-style footage, as well as classic Broadway songs of the 1930s. The film features a handful of Shakespearean staples as well as a couple of Hollywood stars including Silverstone who played the role of The Princess of France. Critics rated the film at average.
10. Who Gets the Dog? (2016)
Rounding up our list of the top 10 Alicia Silverstone movies is Who Gets the Dog? a romantic comedy film directed by Huck Botko. It follows two divorcing couples (Alicia Silverstone and Ryan Kwanten) as they battle about who gets to keep what including their dog named Wesley. The story ends with the couple calling off their divorce to remain together. The straight to DVD release is well-loved by its viewers who have rated it highly on Google.
