Bob Balaban films and TV shows, ranked by your taste

Actor · 39 films and 1 TV show on Boxlist

Known for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

See which ones match your taste

Starring Bob Balaban

The Grand Budapest Hotel
2014 · Film
8.0/10 · TMDB
The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Film
7.9/10 · TMDB
In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island that's a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Moonrise Kingdom
2012 · Film
7.7/10 · TMDB
Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The French Dispatch
2021 · Film
7.5/10 · TMDB
The staff of a European publication decides to publish a memorial edition highlighting the three best stories from the last decade: an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Midnight Cowboy
1969 · Film
7.5/10 · TMDB
Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Spielberg
2017 · Film
7.5/10 · TMDB
A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Deconstructing Harry
1997 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
This film tells the story of a successful writer called Harry Block, played by Allen himself, who draws inspiration from people he knows in real-life, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
80 for Brady
2023 · Film
7.4/10 · TMDB
A quartet of elderly best friends decide to live life to the fullest by taking a wild trip to the Super Bowl LI to see their hero Tom Brady play.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Ghost World
2001 · Film
7.2/10 · TMDB
Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Capote
2005 · Film
7.1/10 · TMDB
A biopic of the writer, Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book, 'In Cold Blood'.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Waiting for Guffman
1996 · Film
7.1/10 · TMDB
Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Best in Show
2000 · Film
7.0/10 · TMDB
The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Gosford Park
2001 · Film
6.9/10 · TMDB
In 1930’s England, a group of pretentious rich and famous gather together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
A Mighty Wind
2003 · Film
6.9/10 · TMDB
In "A Mighty Wind", director Christopher Guest reunites the team from "Best In Show" and "Waiting for Guffman" to tell tell the story of 60's-era folk musicians, who inspired by the death of their former manager, get back on the stage for...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The Chair
2021 · TV
6.9/10 · TMDB
At a major university, the first woman of color to become chair tries to meet the dizzying demands and high expectations of a failing English department.
Where to watch:
The Majestic
2001 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Absence of Malice
1981 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was allegedly committed—but it involves an innocent party. When he tells Carter the truth and...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Recount
2008 · Film
6.8/10 · TMDB
In 2000, the election of the U.S. Presidential boiled down to a few precious votes in the state of Florida — and a recount that would add "hanging chad" to every American's vocabulary.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Asteroid City
2023 · Film
6.7/10 · TMDB
In an American desert town circa 1955, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
Where to watch:Rent or buy
2010
1984 · Film
6.7/10 · TMDB
While planet Earth poises on the brink of nuclear self-destruction, a team of Russian and American scientists aboard the Leonov hurtles to a rendezvous with the still-orbiting Discovery spacecraft and its sole known survivor, the homicidal...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Altered States
1980 · Film
6.7/10 · TMDB
A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from native American shamans, he explores these altered states of consciousness and finds that memory, time...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
No Reservations
2007 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
Master chef Kate Armstrong runs her life and her kitchen with intimidating intensity. However, a recipe for disaster may be in the works when she becomes the guardian of her young niece while crossing forks with the brash sous-chef who...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Little Man Tate
1991 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
Dede is a sole parent trying to bring up her son Fred. When it is discovered that Fred is a genius, she is determined to ensure that Fred has all the opportunities that he needs, and that he is not taken advantage of by people who forget...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Jakob the Liar
1999 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Bob Roberts
1992 · Film
6.5/10 · TMDB
Mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate written and directed by actor Tim Robbins. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the...
Alice
1990 · Film
6.4/10 · TMDB
Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for the handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults Dr. Yang, an oriental herbalist who realizes that her problems are not related to her...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
For Love or Money
1993 · Film
6.2/10 · TMDB
New York concierge Doug Ireland wants to go into business for himself and refurbish a hotel on Roosevelt Island, N.Y., but he needs an investor. With a few weeks left before his option on the site runs out, Doug agrees to help wealthy...
Greedy
1994 · Film
6.2/10 · TMDB
Meet the McTeagues. They've come to stake a claim in their wealthy uncle's will… only he's not dead yet!
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The Monuments Men
2014 · Film
6.0/10 · TMDB
Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on seven over-the-hill, out-of-shape museum directors, artists, architects, curators, and art historians who went to the front...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
The Mexican
2001 · Film
5.9/10 · TMDB
Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, has been given two ultimatums: The first is from his mob boss to travel to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique pistol, known as "the Mexican"... or suffer the consequences. The second is from his...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
For Your Consideration
2006 · Film
5.9/10 · TMDB
Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are generating award-season buzz.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Fading Gigolo
2013 · Film
5.8/10 · TMDB
Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray acting as his "manager", the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money.
Where to watch:
The Tuxedo
2002 · Film
5.7/10 · TMDB
Cabbie-turned-chauffeur Jimmy Tong learns there is really only one rule when you work for playboy millionaire Clark Devlin : Never touch Devlin's prized tuxedo. But when Devlin is temporarily put out of commission in an explosive accident...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
License to Wed
2007 · Film
5.7/10 · TMDB
Newly engaged, Ben and Sadie can't wait to start their life together and live happily ever after. However Sadie's family church's Reverend Frank won't bless their union until they pass his patented, "foolproof" marriage prep course...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
Girl Most Likely
2012 · Film
5.7/10 · TMDB
A failed New York playwright stages a suicide in an attempt to win back her ex, only to wind up in the custody of her gambling-addict mother.
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Three to Tango
1999 · Film
5.6/10 · TMDB
Oscar and Peter land a career-making opportunity when a Chicago tycoon chooses them to compete for the design of a cultural center. The tycoon mistakenly believes that Oscar is gay and has him spy on his mistress Amy. Oscar goes along with...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Lady in the Water
2006 · Film
5.5/10 · TMDB
Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her...
Where to watch:+ rent/buy
Amos & Andrew
1993 · Film
5.3/10 · TMDB
When Andrew Sterling, a successful black urbanite writer, buys a vacation home on a resort in New England the police mistake him for a burglar. After surrounding his home with armed men, Chief Tolliver realizes his mistake and to avoid the...
Where to watch:Rent or buy
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
2016 · Film
4.4/10 · TMDB
A young nurse takes care of elderly author who lives in a haunted house.
Where to watch:

Credits from TMDB, for the films and shows in the Boxlist catalogue. Star ratings are quality scores, not fit.