10 Best Michael Cera Movies, Ranked (2024)

Michael Cera has carved out an impressive film career with his unique delivery and offbeat charisma, with some of his best movies taking advantage of these assets to great effect. The Canadian actor first rose to prominence in 2003 with his role as George Michael Bluth in the iconic sitcom, Arrested Development. However, he was actually a prolific child actor since 1999. Cera’s striking persona and easy screen presence have allowed him to prove himself a reliable talent across numerous genres and forms.

The star is something of an anomaly in contemporary Hollywood. Despite lacking the traditional profile of a leading actor, Cera has proved himself more than capable of leading a mainstream project. The actor's library of late 2000s romantic comedies built up a considerable goodwill within the filmgoing public. As such, even as Cera has aged out of the boyish looks which allowed him to star in teen movies, his prominence has hardly wavered. Here's a breakdown of Michael's Cera's 10 best movies.

10 Sausage Party (2016)

Michael Cera co-starred alongside frequent collaborator Seth Rogen in the raunchy animated comedy Sausage Party. The film, following the anthropomorphized foodstuff inhabitants of a grocery store who seek to avoid being killed and eaten by humans, features all the drug use, sex, and obscenity that viewers have come to expect from a Seth Rogen project. What’s surprising, though, is just how much heart and philosophical depth Rogen and his fellow co-writers are able to mine out of the film's absurd premise. The movie is bolstered by a stellar voice cast, with Cera lending his distinctive voice to the role of the instantly empathetic, malformed hot dog wiener, Barry.

9 Youth In Revolt (2009)

Michael Cera proved a surprisingly compelling romantic lead with his string of late-2000s offbeat romantic comedies. One of his best performances of this era comes from Youth in Revolt, a sharp, cynical comedy about an unassuming teen who adopts an alter-ego as a dangerous rebel in hopes of capturing the attention of his dream girl. It’s a deeply inventive film that mines insightful comedy out of exposing the affected, bizarre, and deeply uncool ways teenagers will behave in pursuit of attention and, ultimately, sex. While the film boasts a stacked supporting cast, it’s carried by Cera’s absurd yet deeply relatable turn as the dual-identity wielding teen, Nick Twisp.

8 Molly’s Game (2017)

Molly’s Game is not Aaron Sorkin’s best work, as the film, based on Molly Bloom’s autobiographical memoir of the same name, is too cluttered and episodic to fully cohere. However, the movie is enriched by some standout sequences and characters. Michael Cera plays the unnamed real-life movie star who exploits and nearly ruins Molly Bloom. It’s a great performance from Cera, who leverages his likable persona to give th narcissistic Player X in Molly's Game an unsettling edge. Had he featured more prominently in the film, there’s no telling what dramatic heights Molly’s Game might have reached.

7 Nick And Nora’s Infinite Playlist (2008)

Another great outing from his rom-com years, Michael Cera proves his chops as a straightforward romantic lead in the charming indie comedy Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. Cera plays the titular Nick, a recently-dumped bassist whose search for a secret rock show brings him to Nora and sends him on a deeply strange and revelatory night of comic misadventures. The movie proves an easy-watching indie gem, benefiting from a witty script and the thriving chemistry between Cera and co-star Kat Dennings.

6 This Is The End (2013)

Michael Cera gives a small but hilariously memorable performance in another Seth Rogen comedy, This is The End. The film, which sees an A-list Hollywood party interrupted by the sudden onset of a hellish apocalypse, features numerous big-name actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves. It’s a hilarious, bitingly cynical commentary on celebrity narcissism, with Michael Cera making the boldest turn of the film with a manic, obnoxious, cocaine-peddling impression of himself. Like his role in Molly’s Game, it succeeds due to Cera’s vivid self-understanding, which allows him to act against his own persona in an enganging manner.

5 Juno (2007)

Widely cited as the best indie comedy of the 2000s, Juno tells the story of a dry-witted teenager whose unplanned pregnancy pushes her into a world of daunting choices and reluctant maturity. The film is carried by Elliot Page’s starmaking performance as the eponymous teenager, but Michael Cera puts in a wonderful supporting role as the hapless teenaged baby father, Paulie Bleeker. Both actors bring the awkwardness and warmth needed to sell the stylized dialogue of Diablo Cody’s Oscar-winning screenplay.

4 Superbad (2007)

In Superbad, Michael Cera’s first collaboration with Seth Rogen, the actor plays one half of a duo of tragically uncool childhood friends desperately trying to secure some alcohol for a party and end their High School years with a bang. The movie makes sharp and relatable use of raunchy humor, while telling a surprisingly moving story about the inherent sadness of drifting away from one’s childhood best friend. Cera, having honed his awkward act for years on Arrested Development, transforms one of the film’s more neutral characters into a likable protagonist.

3 The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

It’s not often that Michael Cera lends his voice to animated projects, but the star reunited with his Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett for The Lego Batman movie. In the film, Arnett’s Batman is forced to fight off an interdimensional coalition of evil while reluctantly mentoring a teenaged orphan, Cera’s Dick Grayson a.k.a. Robin. It’s an extremely fun movie, one that takes full advantage of the creative possibilities of a Lego film to deliver an adventure both feverishly inventive and unexpectedly heartfelt. Cera’s Dick Grayson is one of his most endearing performances, swinging between excitability and vulnerability with practiced ease.

2 Barbie (2023)

Michael Cera brings his unassuming but intriguing screen presence to bear in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 monster hit. Cera plays Barbie's discontinued doll Allan, a supporting character who, despite being largely sidelined, turned into one of the most talked-about aspects of a film stacked with great performances and great character moments. It’s another example of Cera wielding his star power to bring an unexpected and vivid texture to a character.

1 Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

Michael Cera finished off his rom-com decade with a romantic comedy blended with action, which went one to become one of the most popular movies of the year. 2010 saw Cera play Scott Pilgrim, the emotionally stunted 22-year-old forced to battle seven evil exes over the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World an eccentric, hilarious treat of a film, one with an absurd amount of talent in front of and behind the camera, including the meticulous, dynamic direction of Edgar Wright, the phenomenal soundtrack from Beck, and one of the best casts ever assembled. Cera pulls off a mammoth task with Scott Pilgrim, portraying an awkward, often unlikable character who nonetheless carries the surreal adventure with his vulnerability and charm.