Rotten Tomatoes Ranks Timothée Chalamet’s 5 Must-Watch Movies

Timothee Chalamet does not play it safe. He jumps from tender coming-of-age stories to desert-spanning sci-fi epics to candy-colored musicals, and he keeps finding new gears. If you want a quick tour of why people won’t shut up about the guy, here are his five best lead performances, ranked by the Tomatometer. And yes, I kept the numbers, the context, and the where-to-watch details so you can actually use this.

5. Wonka (2023) - 82%

Everyone had the same question going in: how do you follow Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp without doing a weird impersonation? Chalamet and director Paul King dodged that trap entirely. Their Wonka is a bright-eyed, idealistic prequel version of the chocolatier, more warmth than menace, and it works because Chalamet grounds the whimsy with total sincerity.

Also, apparently it nearly broke him. He has said this was the most physically demanding job he has ever done, and you can see why: months of rehearsal, singing while staying dead center in frame, doing take after take with pro dancers who were literally icing their ankles between set-ups. The musical numbers may play light, but they are not light to perform.

Bottom line: Chalamet makes the character his own, and that is why the movie clicks. Wonka is currently streaming on HBO Max (USA).

4. Dune (2021) - 83%

Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune is the patient, world-building half of Frank Herbert’s saga. Chalamet’s Paul Atreides starts here as a kid in over his head, carrying expectations he doesn’t fully understand. When he was asked if playing Henry V in The King prepped him for Paul, he basically said: not really. Hal in The King begins from moral chaos; Paul does not. Paul is 15 or 16, not naive exactly, but still a boy who is shoved toward a larger purpose he didn’t choose.

Chalamet sells that shift with quiet, coiled tension: hesitation, fear, flashes of anger he keeps tamped down. The visions that creep in feel less like a gift than a burden. Between Villeneuve’s patience and Hans Zimmer’s sandstorm of a score, Part One sets the table beautifully. Dune is currently streaming on HBO Max (USA).

3. Dune: Part Two (2024) - 92%

Now the gloves are off. Villeneuve slams the gas — war, prophecy, and consequences — and Chalamet flips the switch from 'I don’t know if I want this' to 'I know exactly what this is going to cost.' He summed up Paul’s fork in the road pretty cleanly to Screen Rant:

'He is torn in two directions, one that makes sense to him from perhaps a more human perspective, a path of responsibility to Chani, of personal growth, being held accountable the way you would be if you were accepted amongst the new people and adopted in some ways. And this other path that is almost the complete opposite, that is assertive and destructive and messianic and all things he is sort of reluctant to be. At some point, he is put on a split path and has to make a choice.'

You can see the choice harden on his face. Posture changes. The gaze locks. The voice drops into command mode. He becomes Muad'dib to the Fremen, and by the end he steps into an even bigger mantle as Lisan al-Gaib — a finale Villeneuve stages like a thunderclap. Dune: Part Two is currently streaming on HBO Max (USA).

2. Call Me By Your Name (2017) - 95%

Luca Guadagnino’s summer-in-Italy romance is intimate and restrained, and Chalamet thrives in that space. As Elio, he falls for Oliver (Armie Hammer) over a few sun-soaked weeks in the 1980s, and the movie resists melodrama in favor of tiny, telling details. Chalamet communicates pages of longing with almost no words, and that final stretch by the fireplace is the definition of 'less is more.' He earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for it — he didn’t win, but it was the performance that kicked open the big doors. Call Me By Your Name is currently streaming on HBO Max (USA).

1. Marty Supreme (2025) - 95% (so far)

This one is the outlier: it is not in theaters yet, but early reactions are sky-high. The A24 film stars Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a character loosely based on table-tennis legend and hustler Marty Reisman. Different gear for him here — not inward or shy, but swaggering, mouthy, addicted to the win. The marketing has been pretty funny, and you can feel how deep Chalamet is in on the character’s bravado and obsession.

What has me curious is how the movie apparently leans into the ego and legacy side of sports, not just the grind. If that 95% sticks once people actually see it, this could be one of the year’s most confident swings. Marty Supreme is directed by Josh Safdie and is set for theatrical release on December 25, 2025 (USA).

• Wonka (2023) - Role: Willy Wonka - Director: Paul King - IMDb: 6.9/10 - Tomatometer: 82% - Streaming: HBO Max (USA)
• Dune (2021) - Role: Paul Atreides - Director: Denis Villeneuve - IMDb: 8/10 - Tomatometer: 83% - Streaming: HBO Max (USA)
• Dune: Part Two (2024) - Role: Paul Atreides - Director: Denis Villeneuve - IMDb: 8.4/10 - Tomatometer: 92% - Streaming: HBO Max (USA)
• Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Role: Elio Perlman - Director: Luca Guadagnino - IMDb: 7.8/10 - Tomatometer: 95% - Streaming: HBO Max (USA)
• Marty Supreme (2025) - Role: Marty Mauser (inspired by Marty Reisman) - Director: Josh Safdie - IMDb: 8/10 (so far) - Tomatometer: 95% (so far) - Release: December 25, 2025 (USA)