John Cusack, the former teen heartthrob with a knack for deadpan cool and intense roles, turns 60. From his early days as a wise hobo in The Journey of Natty Gann to his chilling turn in Maps to the Stars, Cusack's career spans decades of memorable performances. Here is a ranking of his 20 best films, highlighting his most intense, ironic, and lovable characters.
20. The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)
Set during the Great Depression, Disney's The Journey of Natty Gann follows a tomboy riding the rails to find her father. Cusack impresses as a wise young hobo, marking his first notable role. Notably, the wolf-dog companion Jed also appeared in The Thing.
19. Tapeheads (1988)
Produced by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, this goofy 1980s slapstick comedy features Cusack with a sleazy mustache alongside Tim Robbins. They play losers whose rock video company thrives after a Skylab-related tragedy, supported by a cult cast and top-notch soundtrack.
18. High Fidelity (2000)
Cusack reverts to a teen movie persona as the list-compiling record store manager in Nick Hornby's novel adaptation, set in Chicago. While he is too cool to be fully convincing, the film offers breezy fun exploring commitment-phobic masculinity and pop culture gatekeeping, though it depicts women as killjoys with poor music taste.
17. Max (2002)
In 1918 Munich, Cusack plays a Jewish gallery owner who indulges the artistic aspirations of a disgruntled army veteran (Noah Taylor) with a talent for antisemitic oration. This Hitler origin story needed more flamboyance, despite eye-popping performance art including Cusack sinking naked into a giant meat grinder.
16. Say Anything... (1989)
Cameron Crowe's directorial debut features Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, a slacker who falls for the cleverest girl in school. The on-again-off-again romance includes the iconic boombox courtship scene, with strong supporting turns from Lili Taylor and Cusack's sister Joan.
15. Con Air (1997)
Amid outrageous hamming from John Malkovich and Ving Rhames as convicts hijacking a plane, Cusack plays an understandably sweaty US marshal. Nicolas Cage stars as the heroic prisoner on parole in this dopey-but-diverting action fest.
14. Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
Paul Newman stars as General Groves in this drama about the first atom bomb. Cusack haunts the memory as a fictional scientist who suffers from a lab mishap. He says, 'Everybody should make it, except me. I'm going to die.'
13. Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
As the Woody Allen surrogate in 1920s New York, Cusack plays a playwright whose production is financed by casting a gangster's moll. Her mobster bodyguard turns out to be a better writer. Dianne Wiest, who won an Oscar, is a hoot as an alcoholic actress.
12. The Sure Thing (1985)
Before Stand By Me, Cusack starred in Rob Reiner's teen variation on It Happened One Night. He plays Gib Gibson, a beer-swilling slob whose plan to hook up with a California hottie is sidetracked by a cross-country ride with a buttoned-up fellow student.
11. Eight Men Out (1988)
John Sayles' period drama details the Chicago Black Sox scandal. Cusack tackles one of his first adult roles as the luckless shortstop Buck Weaver in a stacked ensemble cast.
10. 2012 (2009)
In Roland Emmerich's disaster movie, Cusack plays a sci-fi novelist reuniting with his wife as solar flares and tsunamis destroy the planet. Billionaires hatch a survival plan, but Cusack's love rival meets a sadistic fate.
9. The Paperboy (2012)
This deranged southern gothic features Cusack as a swamp-dwelling, alligator-hunting racist creep with a sad Nic Cage hairdo. Nicole Kidman brings him to orgasm in a prison visiting room in one of the film's most notorious scenes.
8. Grand Piano (2013)
Elijah Wood plays a neurotic pianist threatened with death if he plays a wrong note. Cusack exudes smarmy menace in a mainly voice role as the villain in this preposterous thriller directed by Eugenio Mira.
7. Identity (2003)
James Mangold's psycho-thriller strands ten people at a remote motel, where they are murdered one by one. Cusack plays a Sartre-reading ex-cop solving the mystery, leading to a plot twist that enraged on first viewing but proves fun on rewatch.
6. Maps to the Stars (2014)
In David Cronenberg's Hollywood satire, Cusack is chilling as a celebrity therapist whose pyromaniac daughter confronts her family's dark secrets. Julianne Moore gives a fearless performance as a drug-addled film star with constipation.
5. Love & Mercy (2014)
This non-linear Brian Wilson biopic interweaves Paul Dano as 1960s Wilson with Cusack as the heavily medicated 1980s incarnation. In the 1960s, Wilson revolutionizes pop music while struggling with mental illness; in the 1980s, he is redeemed by love.
4. 1408 (2007)
Stephen King adaptation sees Cusack as a writer checking into a haunted hotel room, wrestling with ghosts and his own traumatic past. Despite a brilliant cameo from Samuel L Jackson, it's virtually a one-man show for Cusack, who delivers a virtuoso display of skepticism dissolving into paranoia.
3. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
Cusack co-produced and co-wrote this black comedy about a depressed hitman attending his high school reunion. Alan Arkin is hilarious as his therapist. The film balances larky tone with dark hints about moral relativism, with Cusack embodying deadpan cool.
2. The Grifters (1990)
Cusack leaves teen movies behind as a cute but shifty conman in this adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel. Anjelica Huston plays his mom, Annette Bening his sexy girlfriend. It's lowlife Greek tragedy with fantastic performances and an unforgettably bleak ending.
1. Being John Malkovich (1999)
Cusack asked for the 'craziest, most unproduceable script' and got Spike Jonze's debut. He plays a peevish street puppeteer who discovers a portal into John Malkovich's mind. Charlie Kaufman's endlessly inventive scenario explores identity, sexuality, and control in a surreal cocktail enhanced by a matter-of-fact mise en scène.
