The Complete Ranking of Every Zac Efron Movie
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Zac Efron came into America's collective consciousness in 2005 living the true American dream: singing while playing basketball. 15 years later, and the now 32-year-old star might not be doing much singing or hooping anymore, but he's still making us smile, whether he's leading comedies, showing off his workout routines, or playing a far-too-charismatic (and terrifyingly chilling) serial killer.
Recently, Efron had his own feel-good Netflix travel show, called Down To Earth. But the reason we're willing to go on adventures with him in a nonfiction show is because we already feel like we know him well from the work he's done in the fictional realm. For someone who started off as basically a teeny-bopper, Efron has done a lot of work in the past few years to make us enjoy his presence on screen, whether it's making us laugh, making us terrified, or just putting us in awe of how he managed to get in such insanely-good shape.
We can't say every movie on this list is great (they can't all be winners!), but it's been a blast to watch one of the industry's most likable figures go from a Disney-bred teenager to someone who could feasibly play Ted Bundy, a pyromaniac with wild facial hair named Flicker, and Freddie from Scooby Doo in just about the same calendar year. A note here, too, that we're looking fairly exclusively here at movies where Efron played a leading or at least semi-leading role; it's very fun to see him pop up in The Disaster Artist, but that's way more of a fun project for laughs than a real leading role to be judged. We also didn't include TV like Summerland or his little-seen abandoned comedy pilot with Jennifer Coolidge (yes, that certainly exists, and yes, we, too, wish there was more). But we digress: we're here for the movies.
So, without further ado, we give you the definitive ranking of every movie Zac Efron has ever starred in.
The Derby Stallion (2005)
Look, The Derby Stallion was basically Efron's first leading role (before even High School Musical), so we'll cut him some slack. This is very much a kid's straight-to-video movie about a kid with nautral horseback riding talent. It's a niche (and it's not even available to stream/rent, even on Amazon). Just let it be.
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Charlie St. Cloud (2010)
Guys, it's not good. It's just not. Efron was in something of a transitionary period in 2010 (after his High School Musical era, but before finding his talent for comedy) and Charlie St. Cloud—which finds Efron as the titular character, playing a teenage boy pursuing a woman's love to keep a promise to a deceased younger brother—is just melodramatic and not the movie you're looking for. Can't all be winners.
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Firestarter (2022)
This was a pretty lifeless Stephen King adaptation from Blumhouse, which struggles to clear the not-very-high bar set by its preceding 1984 incarnation (which also wasn’t a huge smash). Efron is perfectly serviceable as the young, fire-slinging main character’s telepathic father, but the movie delivers very few scares and thrills.
Stream It Here
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Baywatch (2017)
To co-star with The Rock, Efron got more jacked than ever for Baywatch (and it's not something he wants to do again). And, well, at least he got that experience out of it. Because despite this movie's 21 Jump Street potential, it was...well, it was simply not good. The Rock even graciously accepted his Razzie for it. Despite the great cast, we can just pretend this one didn't happen.
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The Lucky One (2012)
This is one of many cornball melodramatic post-The Notebook Nicholas Sparks romance films, where Efron, playing a Marine, falls in love with a woman based just on a photo he found of her. The woman is played by a pre-Orange Is The New Black Taylor Schilling. You know exactly what you are getting with this one!
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At Any Price (2013)
This movie is fine! A low-stakes drama that features a father (Dennis Quaid) who runs an agriculture business, and wants his son (Efron) to take over. The son, however, has his sights set on becoming—this is out of left field—a race car driver! A conflict, and a totally watchable-if-not-spectacular-or-memorable movie, ensues.
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Parkland (2013)
One of Efron's biggest swings yet was as a real-life figure in Parkland, where he played one of the first doctors to see JFK after being shot (the title refers to Dallas' Parkland Memorial Hospital). The movie didn't catch on in the same way that other JFK movies (like Oliver Stone's) did, but it's perfectly solid and well done—in addition to Efron, there's also good acting from a pair who have since become big TV stars: Stranger Things' David Harbour, and Succession legend Jeremy Strong (as Lee Harvey Oswald).
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New Year's Eve (2011)
You know about these movies. Just like Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day, et cetera, New Year's Eve follows a bunch of intertwining stories that all take place on, you guessed it, New Year's Eve. Efron plays a delivery guy who has an older sister (Sarah Jessica Parker), a best friend (Ashton Kutcher) who are tangentially involved with the story (these movies really model themselves after Love Actually). The most interesting part, though, is Efron's romantic storyline with Michelle Pfeiffer. This movie isn't exactly going to be honored at the Oscars, but it's silly fun.
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Dirty Grandpa (2016)
So, this is not a good movie. But amidst a lot of moments that miss, it does have a few fun, raunchy moments too. If nothing else, it's worth watching to see Efron goof off with Robert De Niro (as the titular Dirty Grandpa) and Aubrey Plaza, who both give it their all. If you were expecting Citizen Kane when watching Dirty Grandpa, we don't know what to tell you.
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The Paperboy (2012)
Efron plays a reporter in The Paperboy, which is a perfectly solid drama/mystery/thriller. Somtimes notable as an early entry in the McConaussaince (before Dallas Buyers Club and True Detective) this is also a movie notable for a scene where Nicole Kidman, uh, pees on Efron.
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The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Greatest Showman is another movie that's basically just fine. Efron is here as a playwright who becomes a partner in the circus, and is perfectly charming as usual in his limited role (and shares a romance with Zendaya). The music is great, though.
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The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022)
Efron is charming as ever in this biographical comedy-drama about a New Yorker, Jack “Chickie” Donahue, who travels to Vietnam to deliver beers to his neighborhood buddies fighting in the Vietnam War. Directed by Peter Farrelly, The Greatest Beer Run Ever is watchable, but it doesn’t stick out as the greatest release of 2022.
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The Beach Bum (2019)
This film from Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers, Kids) is just as wild as his other movies, but you've got to know what you're getting into—the main character is Matthew McConaughey as a writer named Moondog who mostly stumbles around getting drunk and doing drugs. Efron shows up about halfway through the movie with some truly wild facial hair as a pyromaniac who Moondog meets in rehab. It's truly something.
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We Are Your Friends (2015)
In We Are Your Friends, Efron plays an upcoming DJ whose life changes when he meets an older DJ (Wes Bentley), his assistant (Emily Ratjkowski) and starts taking MDMA (also known as Molly). If you were looking for a coming-of-age DJ story, this is basically the only show in town (and as silly as the premise is, Efron's actually pretty solid in it and the movie is stylistically done—it's a fun watch). It's got a not-great reputation these days, mostly due to the fact that it only made an average of $758 per theater, which is among the worst box office openings ever.
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Gold (2022)
Efron plays a drifter named Virgil in a dystopian near-future, who discovers the world’s largest gold nugget while en route to try and get a for a mysterious corporation. Virgil and his traveling companion hatch a scheme to take it for themselves, but he has to stay with it through the night and protect it from wild dogs and other people. It’s a slow-burn thriller, but Efron does a solid job—even if it doesn’t have the most original setting.
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High School Musical 3 (2008)
The final High School Musical is distinguished as the only one that was actually released in theaters. It is perfectly fine for what it is! It's a three-quel to a Disney Channel Original Movie. It is what it is.
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High School Musical 2 (2007)
We basically bunch HSM2 and HSM3 together here, and despite HSM3 actually getting the big screen treatment, we are going to give the advantage to HSM2 because it included Efron's UTTER show stopper, "Bet On It." If you haven't seen this clip before, do yourself a favor and watch it. It is, unironically, one of the most entertaining things you will ever see.
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Scoob! (2020)
Freddie Prinze Jr. did his thing in the early 2000s, but has a role ever screamed ZAC EFRON more than Freddie in Scooby-Doo? It finally happened with Scoob!, which came out a couple months ago and is already available to stream on HBO Max. It's an adorable cartoon Scooby-Doo mystery, so just enjoy it for what it is if you're into that kind of thing. There are far worse ways the spend an hour and a half.
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Hairspray (2007)
Efron is very much leaning into his HSM bonafides as singing and dancing heartthrob Link Larkin in the fun 2007 musical remake of Hairspray, appearing alongside a talented cast that includes John Travolta as Edna Turnblad.
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Me & Orson Welles (2008)
This movie from director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, Boyhood) is solid by default, because there is no such thing as a bad Richard Linklater film. Efron plays a 17-year-old who meets the titular multi-hyphenate star of a century ago, and has an exciting adventure lucking into a role in his new Broadway production. One of Efron's first post-HSM performances turned out to be an early sign that he had more to offer than just silly Disney musicals.
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Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
While it didn't match up to the original Neighbors, Neighbors 2 was nonetheless a fun movie that found Efron examining something he's probably not too familiar with: failure. With his character, Teddy, now a post-college frat legend, he's looking for what's next in his life, and the movie examines that in a way that still allows him to be very funny. Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Ike Barinholtz and Dave Franco are among the funny returning characters.
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That Awkward Moment (2014)
If you don't love a good romantic comedy, you probably have no soul. And sometimes you just need a solid one that you can put on and turn your brain off. And That Awkward Moment is exactly that. Efron leads a cast that includes fellow stars Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan along with romantic interests Imogen Poots (I Know This Much Is True) and Mackenzie Davis (Black Mirror, Terminator: Dark Fate). It's a movie about three recently broken-up guys who want to maintain their 'single' status as long as possible—but it doesn't take long until that starts coming into question.
This is very much a "guy's romantic comedy," but one that by the end of the movie you'll be happy you took the time to watch. Full disclosure: I have a number of friends who, for whatever reason, adore this movie. Is this a normal thing? I don't know. But it's not half bad, and Efron has the charm turned up to 11.
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The Lorax (2012)
Based on Dr. Seuss' classic children's book, The Lorax is the most underrated animated film of the last 20 years. Don't @ me. Efron plays the boy at the center of the story, who eventually meets The Once-ler, voiced by Ed Helms.
With a great voice cast (Efron, Helms, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate, Taylor Swift), and even better music (maybe the best Ed Helms has ever done, Office fans), this is a must-watch for anyone who loves animation movies. It was recently put on Netflix, and has flown up near the top of the daily charts. Be a part of the revolution. Watch The Lorax.
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17 Again (2009)
Kind of a reworked version of Big, 17 Again finds Efron as a younger version of Friends star Matthew Perry, and he's at his charming best. Not only does Efron really feel like a young version of Perry, but he's got a great chemistry with love interest Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911) as his best friend. Perhaps the first time that Efron really showed the comedy chops that he's become known for.
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Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
Efron really wanted to go the other way with his movie choices, and did just that when he played the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy in 2019's Netflix film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The movie was perfectly fine, but Efron was excellent as the movie's terrifying central character—just like the real guy, he played him with a charismatic charm that make his heinous criminal acts seem almost impossible. And that's exactly the point.
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Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
We said earlier in the list that sometimes you just need a romantic comedy—Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates isn't quite that. It's more along the lines of something like Forgetting Sarah Marshall meets Zack and Miri Make a Porno meets School of Rock; two bozos being scammed in a very tropical location where we all probably wish we were vacationing right now. Efron plays one of those bozos (Adam DeVine plays the other) and they're getting scammed by Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick (and all four are partying it up as hijinx ensue). The movie got a mixed reaction from critics when it was released in 2016, but just turn your brain off and have fun with this one—you'll probably laugh a lot and have a ball.
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High School Musical (2005)
Maybe you're laughing. Maybe a song just got stuck in your head. Maybe you agree. But it's pretty certain: without High School Musical, there is no Zac Efron. Yes, it's an extremely corny Disney Channel Original Movie. Yes, it's predictable. Yes, it's silly.
But at the same time, it was a sensation for a reason, launching the careers of not only Efron (who did become its biggest star), but also Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Corbin Bleu. And you're lying to yourself if you don't think the music is catchy. You just are. "We're All In This Together" is the anthem of these trying times.
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Neighbors (2014)
The best Zac Efron movie, bar none, is Neighbors. Exactly what 21 Jump Street did for Channing Tatum, Neighbors did for Efron; the perfect role fell right into his lap. It's not just that it's a comedic role (he'd done those before, and has done plenty of them since), but that it's a self-aware role playing against someone who's basically his true opposite: a stoner dad in Seth Rogen. Efron isn't getting goofed for being a stereotypical frat guy—he knows he's a goofy frat guy, and the movie knows exactly how stereotypically Frat-ish he can be, and mixes that with the undeniable charm that every movie on this list exhibits.
Neighbors has a lot of classic moments, but Efron's frat star Teddy carries the movie as a quasi-villain who likes to host Robert De Niro parties, debate who the best Batman was, and drive his young parent neighbors absolutely crazy. Not only is this Efron's best movie, but it's one of the best party movies ever, and one of the greatest comedies of the 2010s, period.
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