How Many Movies With the Word 'Best' in the Title Are Actually the Best?

Putting the word “best” in a movie title can, optimistically, have the subliminal effect of making moviegoers think, “Oooh, that movie must be the best!” And it’s great when it holds up: Lukas Moodysson’s (Together) new ’80s-era punk-rock comedy, We Are the Best, has a near-unanimous 97 percent Rotten Tomato rave of a rating. However, it can backfire: If the movie stinks, it’s just begging for a critic to make a “This ‘Best’ Is the Worst” joke. How often does the word pay off? We combed through a surprisingly length list of films that used “best” in their titles (more than 200, according to IMDb), and picked nine to see if these movies actually represented the best in their genres.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, viewable on iTunes)
A genuine film classic, Years tells the story of three servicemen returning home from combat in World War II — and the difficulties they encounter adjusting to civilian life. Director William Wyler and a magnificent cast (including a disabled first-time actor — Harold Russell — who took home an Oscar) presented America with a humanizing look at how war can have a devastating effect even on the victors.  
THE BEST? You bet! It won seven Oscars, including Best Picture!

Personal Best (1982)
Legendary screen scribe Robert Towne (his Chinatown is widely considered one of the greatest scripts to ever come out of Hollywood) wrote, produced and directed this intriguing drama about two female pentathletes competing for spots in the 1980 Olympics — which the U.S. would end up boycotting. The fact that the story doesn’t build up to a climactic run at Olympic gold isn’t the only thing that differentiates it from uplifting sports tales like Miracle and Invincible: Personal Best  is more of a character study about competition and sexuality, with its brave, groundbreaking look at the blooming but complicated lesbian attraction between a young star runner (Mariel Hemingway) and a more experienced track star (Patrice Donnelly).  
THE BEST? A very important movie at the time, it is oddly left out of most round-ups on movies that realistically explore sexuality. It shouldn’t be!

Best Boy  (1979)
Documentary filmmaker Ira Wohl spent three years chronicling the increasingly fraught and complicated decisions facing the elderly Max and Pearl Wohl over how to best provide care for their middle-aged, mentally disabled son (and Ira’s cousin) Philly. Thirty-five years later, the film has lost none of its emotional power.  
THE BEST? Won the Oscar for Best Documentary. So yes.

The Best of Youth (2003)
This Italian drama — a multi-generational family saga originally presented as a miniseries — runs long (the version that played in U.S. theaters unspooled over 6 butt-numbing hours) but offers the broad view and fine detail of a tapestry.  
THE BEST? You’ve got another six-hour Italian story that bests it? Thought not.

Best in Show (2000, iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube)

Christopher Guest’s second improvised mock-doc oh-so-gently pokes fun at the narrow lives of five sets of dog owners seeking top prize in a prestigious dog show. Guest’s usual troupe (Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard) are all spot-on in their mix of sweetness and wackiness.
THE BEST? Arguably the best of Guest’s mockumentaries, nudging ahead of Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind.

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012, iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube)
Sold on a website photo, a group of Brit pensioners seek sunny adventures at a retirement hotel in India — and (this being a geriatric rom-com) find love and laughter. A predictable story for which the likes of Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom WiIkinson, and Maggie Smith are compelled to work their considerable on-screen magic.  
THE BEST? It was a surprise hit, and inspired a sequel coming next year, but it feels indistinguishable from other benign AARP romances like Hope Springs and Calendar Girls.

The Best Man (1964)
Gore Vidal wrote the screenplay — based on his play of the same name — about the many compromises made by two aspirants to the White House maneuvering to win the nomination of an unspecified political party.
THE BEST? Talky but gripping.

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997, iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube)
A famously mean-spirited rom-com (pictured on top) in which Julia Roberts realizes that her good friend (Dermot Mulroney) is her true love when he gets engaged (to Cameron Diaz). She plots to undermine the wedding, with the aid of the heroically fey scenery-chewing of Rupert Everett.   
THE BEST? Many romantic comedy aficionados consider this an important part of the canon — but, boy, is it mean-spirited.

The Best of the Best (1989, Amazon Video and iTunes)
The five members of the U.S. karate team (including Eric Roberts; James Earl Jones is the coach) head to Korea for a match. The teammates are different but — hold on to your hats! — eventually overcome their differences to bond together against a common to-be-kicked enemy.  
THE BEST? Well, it is the only film here to use the word “best” twice, so that’s something. But Roger Ebert concluded his review thusly: “There is not a single scene in this movie that I found amusing, original or interesting. What we really have here is a documentary of the actors wasting their lives.”

Photos: © Everett Collection