The 99 Best Movies Under 2 Hours, According to Critics

7 minute read
Updated: | Originally published:

In 1984, TIME film critic Richard Corliss wrote a piece titled “Why Do Movies Seem So Long?” In it, he recalled a piece of wisdom from Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry Cohn, whose method for judging the quality of a film came down to this: “If my fanny squirms, it’s bad. If my fanny doesn’t squirm, it’s good.”

The question Corliss explored that year is a perennial one, and it’s typically posed as a gripe. In Corliss’ estimation, movies had become “longer but not richer,” a trend he argued began toward the end of World War II when movies shifted, broadly speaking, from creations of the studio system to the artistic visions of directors. Speaking to the Daily Beast three decades later, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers blamed the bloat on studios’ misguided belief that the longer the movie, the greater the sheen of prestige, the greater the potential for prestigious awards. Newsweek critic David Ansen wondered if studios weren’t reluctant to give notes to some of the biggest and most visionary directors in Hollywood.

In reality, a chart of average movie length over time looks less like the trajectory of the flying bikes in E.T. (114 min.) than the waves in Jaws (124 min.). Yes, movies today are on average much longer than they were in the 1930s — excluding the 222-min. Gone With the Wind — but they’re not necessarily much longer than popular films of the ’50s and ’60s. This year’s Best Picture winner Moonlight is practically a Vine when compared with past winners Ben-Hur (1959, 212 minutes) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962, 222 minutes) and nominee Cleopatra (1963, 248 minutes).

Still, even if today’s movies aren’t the longest they’ve ever been, there’s still the problem of the squirming fanny. To help you out, we’ve analyzed Rotten Tomatoes reviews to come up with a list of the top-scoring movies that ring in under two hours, using a dataset of IMDB’s 10,000 top-grossing films.

There’s something for everyone on the list: classics like Frankenstein (1931) and The Wizard of Oz (1939); animated favorites like Pinocchio (1940) and 101 Dalmatians (1961); Oscar Best Picture winners like On the Waterfront (1954) and Moonlight (2016); and, among other genres, documentaries like Twenty Feet From Stardom (2013) and Blackfish (2013). Below is the list, presented from lowest to highest average score:

99. Chicken Run (2000), 85 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

98. 50/50 (2011), 100 min.

Rent on Amazon

97. Fruitvale Station (2013), 84 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

96. Monsters, Inc. (2001), 92 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

95. Lost in Translation (2003), 102 min.

Watch on Starz, rent on Amazon

94. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), 115 min.

Watch on Amazon Prime

93. Anomalisa (2015), 96 min.

Watch on Amazon Prime and Hulu

92. Looper (2012), 119 min.

Rent on Amazon

91. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), 115 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

90. The Nice Guys (2016), 116 min.

Rent on Amazon

89. 101 Dalmatians (1961), 79 min.

Buy on Amazon

88. Night of the Living Dead (1968), 90 min.

Watch on Amazon and Shudder

87. City of Ghosts (2017), 90 min.

Watch on Amazon

86. Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013), 89 min.

Rent on Amazon

85. Blackfish (2013), 80 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

84. Stronger (2017), 119 min.

In theaters

83. Little Men (2016), 85 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

82. Project Nim (2011), 99 min.

Watch on HBO Now, rent on Amazon

81. What We Do in the Shadows (2014), 86 min.

Watch on Amazon

80. The Edge of Seventeen (2016), 98 min.

Watch on Showtime, rent on Amazon

79. Enough Said (2013), 93 min.

Rent on Amazon

78. The Queen (2006), 103 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

77. All Is Lost (2013), 105 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

76. Logan Lucky (2017), 119 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

75. Spy (2015), 117 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

74. Moonrise Kingdom (2012), 94 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

73. Nightcrawler (2014), 117 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

72. Dallas Buyers Club (2013), 117 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

71. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), 105 min.

Watch on Amazon Prime

70. Whiplash (2014), 106 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

69. Dunkirk (2017), 107 min.

Rent on Amazon and Watch on HBO

68. To Catch a Thief (1955), 106 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

67. King Kong (1933), 103 min.

Rent on Amazon or Google Play

66. Taxi Driver (1976), 112 min.

Watch on Sundance, rent on Amazon and Google Play

65. Don’t Think Twice (2016), 92 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

64. The Big Sick (2017), 119 min.

Rent on Amazon

63. Man on Wire (2008), 94 min.

Watch on Netflix and Hulu, rent on Amazon

62. Toy Story 2 (1999), 92 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

61. Sing Street (2016), 106 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

60. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), 115 min.

In theaters

59. Life Itself (2014), 120 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

58. The Florida Project (2017), 115 min.

In theaters

57. Paterson (2016), 115 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

56. The Muppets (2011), 102 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

55. The Lego Movie (2014), 101 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

54. The Incredibles (2004), 115 min.

Rent on Amazon

53. Ratatouille (2007), 110 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

52. WALL-E (2008), 97 min.

Watch on Starz, rent on Amazon

51. Carol (2015), 118 min.

Watch on Netflix and Showtime, rent on Amazon

50. True Grit (2010), 110 min.

Watch on Vudu, rent on Amazon

49. The King’s Speech (2010), 118 min.

Rent on Amazon

48. Room (2015), 113 min.

Watch on Amazon Prime and Google Play

47. Finding Dory (2016), 100 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

46. Arrival (2016), 116 min.

Watch on Epix, rent on Amazon

45. Some Like It Hot (1959), 120 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

44. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 95 min.

Watch on Starz, rent on Amazon and Google Play

43. I Am Not Your Negro (2016), 93 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

42. Short Term 12 (2013), 21 min.

Watch on Hulu and Yahoo, rent on Amazon

41. Before Midnight (2013), 108 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

40. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), 101 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

39. How to Train Your Dragon (2010), 98 min.

Rent on Amazon

38. The Wrestler (2008), 109 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

37. Moana (2016), 103 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

36. The Artist (2011), 100 min.

Rent on Amazon

35. The Jungle Book (2016), 111 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon

34. The Social Network (2010), 120 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

33. Bambi (1942), 69 min.

Buy on Amazon

32. It Follows (2014), 94 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

31. Hell or High Water (2016), 102 min.

Watch on Showtime, rent on Amazon and Google Play

30. Finding Nemo (2003), 100 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

29. Argo (2012), 120 min.

Rent on Amazon

28. Gravity (2013), 91 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

27. High Noon (1952), 85 min.

Rent on Amazon

26. Citizen Kane (1941), 119 min.

Rent on Amazon

25. Baby Driver (2017), 113 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

24. Zootopia (2016), 108 min.

Watch on Netflix, rent on Amazon and Google Play

23. Up (2009), 89 min.

Rent on Amazon

22. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), 120 min.

Rent on Amazon

21. Cat People (1942), 73 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

20. Double Indemnity (1944), 107 min.

Rent on Amazon

19. Touch of Evil (1958), 95 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

18. Lady Bird (2017), 93 min.

Rent on Amazon

17. Moonlight (2016), 110 min.

Watch on Amazon Prime

16. Toy Story 3 (2010), 103 min.

Rent on Amazon

15. Inside Out (2015), 94 min.

Rent on Google Play, buy on Amazon

14. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), 83 min.

Buy on Amazon and Google Play

13. Singin’ in the Rain (1952), 102 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

12. On the Waterfront (1954), 108 min.

Watch on Hulu, rent on Amazon

11. An American in Paris (1951), 115 min.

Rent on Amazon

10. Get Out (2017), 104 min.

Rent on Amazon

9. Strangers on a Train (1951), 101 min.

Rent on Amazon

8. Fantasia (1940), 116 min.

Watch on Netflix, buy on Amazon

7. Rear Window (1954), 115 min.

Rent on Amazon

6. Casablanca (1942), 102 min.

Rent on Amazon and Google Play

5. The Wizard of Oz (1939), 101 min.

Rent on Amazon

4. The Gold Rush (1925), 85 min.

Watch on Film Struck

3. Modern Times (1936), 87 min.

Rent on Amazon

2. Pinocchio (1940), 88 min.

Buy on Amazon and Google Play

1. Frankenstein (1931), 70 min.

Watch on Shudder, rent on Amazon

Correction, June 17

The original version of this story incorrectly included Lawrence of Arabia in the list of movies under two hours, listing its running time as 111 minutes. It is actually over two hours, at 222 minutes.

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com