The 10 Most Underrated Anne Hathaway Movies, Ranked (from Least to Most Underrated)

Anne Hathaway’s filmography stretches across fantasy, indie drama, sci-fi, and character-driven romance, and several of her projects slipped past wider recognition despite strong craft and interesting choices. This list spotlights titles that didn’t always sit at the center of the conversation but show the range of roles she has taken on, from intimate character pieces to genre-bending experiments.

You’ll find studio fare alongside smaller releases, remakes next to originals, and collaborations with filmmakers known for very different sensibilities. To keep things clear, each entry below includes concrete details—roles, collaborators, production facts, release context, and reception markers—so you can quickly see what each project set out to do and how it was put together.

‘The Last Thing He Wanted’ (2020)

Directed by Dee Rees and adapted from Joan Didion’s novel, this political thriller follows a journalist who becomes entangled in a Central American arms deal. Anne Hathaway plays Elena McMahon, working opposite Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck, and Rosie Perez, with production companies including Elevated Films and Bloom backing the project for a streaming-first release.

The film was shot across multiple locations to depict Washington corridors and tropical settings, with the narrative interlacing newsroom procedure and covert logistics. Its release strategy emphasized a festival bow before wide streaming availability, and the screenplay retains Didion’s fragmented reportage structure, bringing together press briefings, flight manifests, and field notes as storytelling devices.

‘Locked Down’ (2021)

This heist-tinged relationship drama was written by Steven Knight and directed by Doug Liman under pandemic production protocols, using a limited crew and real retail settings. Anne Hathaway stars as Linda, paired with Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Paxton, with cameos from Ben Stiller, Mindy Kaling, and Ben Kingsley appearing through video calls that mirror the story’s communication constraints.

The plot threads a jewelry theft at London’s Harrods with a domestic crossroads, blending logistics of access badges, inventory systems, and courier timing with personal stakes. The film’s shoot incorporated lockdown street exteriors and remote-capture elements, and the dialogue includes corporate restructuring and freight scheduling details that tie the relationship story to specific workplace pressures.

‘Serenity’ (2019)

Written and directed by Steven Knight, this neo-noir mystery stars Matthew McConaughey alongside Anne Hathaway’s character Karen, who arrives with a cash offer and a detailed plan tied to a fishing charter. The supporting cast features Djimon Hounsou, Diane Lane, and Jason Clarke, and the production uses a contained island environment to stage surveillance cues, phone logs, and GPS trails as plot levers.

The movie incorporates layered realities and algorithmic motifs to explain unusual behavioral patterns in the characters’ world. Its release highlighted genre twists and a coastal setting, with set design foregrounding boat instrumentation, weather tracking, and harbor schedules that function as narrative breadcrumbs throughout the investigation.

‘Ella Enchanted’ (2004)

This fantasy adventure adapts Gail Carson Levine’s novel and blends fairy-tale elements with contemporary musical moments. Anne Hathaway plays Ella, navigating a “gift” of obedience imposed by a fairy godmother, alongside Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, and Aidan McArdle, with Miramax handling distribution and Tommy O’Haver directing.

Costuming and production design mix medieval silhouettes with playful anachronisms, while the script uses literal rules of magical compulsion to structure the quest’s obstacles and solutions. The film’s supporting creatures and species are brought in via make-up, puppetry, and early-2000s visual effects pipelines, and the story structure follows a clear sequence of tasks, contracts, and oaths that bind characters’ choices.

‘Colossal’ (2016)

Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, this genre hybrid links a personal crisis in a small American town to a kaiju’s movements overseas. Anne Hathaway plays Gloria opposite Jason Sudeikis, with photography that juxtaposes neighborhood bars, playgrounds, and time-stamped news footage to sync cause-and-effect between distant locations.

The film maps character actions to identical coordinates on a playground grid that mirror the creature’s footprint, using recurring timestamps, broadcast clips, and public-safety briefings to align scenes. Practical effects, minimal-crew setups, and VFX composites integrate the monster sequences with grounded spaces, and the release toured festivals before expanding, emphasizing its single-concept ruleset.

‘Love & Other Drugs’ (2010)

This romantic drama, directed by Edward Zwick, adapts Jamie Reidy’s pharmaceutical-sales memoir and tracks the detailing culture around prescription medications. Anne Hathaway plays Maggie, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jamie, with supporting roles from Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, and Judy Greer, and the production covers sales territories, formularies, and sample-drop routines.

Clinical and business details—physician access policies, conference exhibits, and insurance gatekeeping—frame the central relationship, with scenes built around diagnostic terminology and treatment adherence. The film’s score and montage structure trace quarterly targets and competitive market shifts, while location work moves through clinics, hospital corridors, and industry events that anchor the story’s timelines and pressures.

‘Rachel Getting Married’ (2008)

Directed by Jonathan Demme from Jenny Lumet’s screenplay, this ensemble drama places Anne Hathaway as Kym within a family gathering that unfolds over rehearsals, dinners, and ceremonies. The cast includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, and Debra Winger, and Demme’s documentary-inflected approach uses handheld cameras, diegetic music, and long takes across real house interiors.

The production incorporates live performances recorded on set, with music serving as both atmosphere and schedule marker for the weekend’s events. The script tracks logistical details of guest lists, toasts, and recovery meetings, and the editing preserves full processes—table settings, rehearsal timing, and kitchen prep—to situate character interactions inside verifiable tasks.

‘One Day’ (2011)

Adapted by David Nicholls from his novel and directed by Lone Scherfig, this drama revisits the same calendar date across multiple years to check in on two lives at set intervals. Anne Hathaway plays Emma alongside Jim Sturgess’s Dexter, with makeup and design teams coordinating hairstyles, wardrobe tags, and set dressing to document changing fashions, technologies, and career stages.

The structure relies on date-stamped scenes that reappear in consistent locations—apartments, workplaces, and family spaces—allowing the production to chart relocations and job roles through props and signage. The cinematography and editing maintain a clear pattern for annual returns, and the score supports temporal jumps by repeating themes associated with specific milestones.

‘Becoming Jane’ (2007)

This period drama, directed by Julian Jarrold, explores biographical elements of Jane Austen’s early adulthood and literary formation. Anne Hathaway portrays Austen opposite James McAvoy’s Tom Lefroy, with locations across Ireland standing in for English settings, and departments coordinating quill-and-ink writing setups, circulating libraries, and publisher correspondence.

Costume construction references extant garments and fashion plates to align silhouettes with social status and regional differences. The narrative traces draft pages, family finances, and the mechanics of courtship within documented customs, while the production design features dance cards, letter seals, and travel arrangements that ground the story in daily logistics of the period.

‘The Intern’ (2015)

Written and directed by Nancy Meyers, this workplace comedy pairs Anne Hathaway’s Jules, the founder-CEO of an online fashion retailer, with Robert De Niro’s Ben, a senior-intern program hire. The production maps out warehouse pick-pack flows, customer-service escalation paths, and office-floor seating charts, using real-world e-commerce operations as visual reference points.

Scenes incorporate board decks, fulfillment dashboards, and marketing calendars to detail how the company runs day to day. Location work includes Brooklyn neighborhoods and staged office interiors equipped with open-plan workstations, photo studios, and conference rooms, and the script threads HR procedures, investor meetings, and site-traffic milestones into the story’s timeline.

Share your favorite under-the-radar Anne Hathaway performance in the comments and tell us which title you think deserves more attention.