Every Aaron Sorkin Movie Screenplay, Ranked (2024)

His dialogue-heavy screenplays are masterclasses in the art of writing for film and television. Aaron Sorkin is known for his rhythmic writing style, his scripts carrying a cadence that actors are tasked with executing on a whole other level of professional precision. The Academy Award and Emmy-winning writer is a notorious perfectionist when it comes to translating his words from page to screen. Sorkin knows his characters inside and out and exactly how the fast-paced dialogue should be performed onscreen.

Sorkin has written some of the most iconic lines in cinema while also creating one of the best political dramas in television history. Sorkin’s film work is mainly adaptations of significant stories in history and pop culture. With any Sorkin-penned film, audiences know to expect immaculate timing, wit, emotion, and meticulousness. And while not all of his efforts have been successful, the best Aaron Sorkin scripts captivate audiences on a whole other level.

10 'Malice' (1993)

Directed by Harold Becker

Just his second feature film script, Sorkin shares writing credits with Jonas McCord and Scott Frank for this red herring thriller. Nicole Kidman and Bill Pullman star as married couple Tracy and Andy, whose lives take a sharp left when Andy's high school classmate, Jed (Alec Baldwin), a co*cky surgeon, comes into their lives and rents a room in their house. The trio become further entangled as Andy is implicated in a rape investigation and Jed performs emergency surgery on Tracey, their lives never returning to normal.

Sorkin's scripts are usually busy with dialogue, but Malice is busy with just about everything else, and not in a good way. Audiences are left questioning not only the mystery but Malice's overall logic as well. The premise and twists slowly shift from being unpredictable to improbable as the writers fiddle with the formula a little too much for the usually reliable thriller genre.

Buy on Amazon

9 'Being the Ricardos' (2021)

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

Paying tribute to one of TV and comedy's most legendary stars, Being the Ricardos drops viewers behind the scenes of the beloved, revolutionary sitcom I Love Lucy. During one tumultuous week of filming, Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) are confronted with one crisis after another, including infidelity and political accusations, along with combating cultural taboos onscreen. In true Sorkin style, Being the Ricardos combines real-time and flashbacks juxtaposing Lucille and Desi's relationship from past to present.

While both its leading stars and supporting actor, J.K. Simmons, earned Oscar nominations, Being the Ricardos falls flat compared to Sorkin's other snappy scripts. There's no doubt it's thought-provoking, but audiences struggled to decipher what it was trying to say. Trying to tell too much at once muddles the brilliance of Sorkin's dialogue; however, Being the Ricardos satisfies the nostalgia for returning to the historic era of television and its stars.

Being the Ricardos

R

Drama

Biography

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Release Date

December 21, 2021

Cast

Nicole Kidman , Javier Bardem , J.K. Simmons , Nina Arianda

Runtime

131 minutes

Writers

Aaron Sorkin

8 'Steve Jobs' (2015)

Directed by Danny Boyle

An uncompromising depiction of the greatest tech giant of all time, Steve Jobs is another satisfying biopic in Sorkin's resume. The self-titled film takes audiences literally behind the scenes of Apple's co-founder (Michael Fassbender) during the three pivotal product launches of his career. Spanning decades, the drama follows Jobs as his personal and professional lives collide while at the center of a technological revolution.

Sharing the writing credits with Walter Isaacson, Sorkin delivers yet another rousing triumph with his scripted illustration of Steve Jobs while receiving criticism from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The screenplay demands a character study rather than a progressive plot and that's what the director Danny Boyle and Fassbender deliver from Sorkin's pages. More like a play than a movie, Steve Jobs is still riveting and revelatory, even if it becomes somewhat maddening in the process.

Steve Jobs

R

Biography

Drama

See Also

Lovely Runner to Doctor Slump: Highest-rated romance K-dramas of 202450 Most Romantic Korean Dramas Ever That You Need To Watch - OtakuKartThe 10 best K-dramas of 2024 – so far10 Best Revenge K-Dramas, Ranked

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Release Date

October 9, 2015

Cast

Luis Salazar , Michael Fassbender , Kate Winslet , Seth Rogen , Jeff Daniels , Sarah Snook

Runtime

125 minutes

Writers

Aaron Sorkin , Walter Isaacson

7 'Charlie Wilson's War' (2007)

Directed by Mike Nichols

Based on the book by George Crile of the same name, Charlie Wilson's War stars Toms Hanks as the titular character, a real-life Texas congressman who took matters into his own hands and formed a covert operation to aid Afghan freedom fighters in their war against the Cold War Soviets during the 1980s. Wilson teams up with socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) and CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to get the job done.

With the do-it-yourself mentality of its source subjects, Sorkin penned a multi-functional script that not only educated and informed audiences but, more importantly, entertained them. Teetering on the edge of a black comedy, Charlie Wilson's War allows audiences to peek behind the curtain and understand how the government works and where it is undoubtedly broken. Hanks delivers Sorkin's dialogue with charisma, while Hoffman steals every scene, earning a richly deserved Oscar nomination. In his first feature screenplay back after a series of TV hits, Sorkin proved his pen was just as punctuated as before.

Charlie Wilson's War

R

Biography

Comedy

Drama

History

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Release Date

December 19, 2007

Cast

Tom Hanks , Amy Adams , Julia Roberts , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Terry Bozeman , Brian Markinson

Runtime

102 minutes

Writers

Aaron Sorkin , George Crile

6 'Molly's Game' (2017)

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

In his directorial debut, Sorkin comes out swinging, meticulously choreographing the dance between his stars and script. Molly's Game is based on the memoir of the same name about the infamous poker princess, Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), who ran a high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested by the FBI and indicted on federal charges. In his wonderful whiplash style, Sorkin bounces viewers between past and present as Bloom confides in her criminal defense lawyer, Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba).

Molly's Game is among the best Aaron Sorkin movies, earning him a third Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film is another commanding study of Sorkin's ability to zero in on a real-life subject and explore its intricacies through dialogue and exposition. Chastain and Elba nail the Sorkin cadence as if these exchanges were inherently word-for-word true, making it an all-around great movie.

Molly's Game

R

Crime

Drama

Biography

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

See Also

Best Tearjerker Anime

Release Date

December 25, 2017

Cast

Jessica Chastain , Idris Elba , Kevin Costner , Michael Cera , Jeremy Strong , Chris O'Dowd , Bill Camp

Runtime

141

5 'Moneyball' (2011)

Directed by Bennett Miller

A unique entry in the baseball genre, Moneyball is the perfect Sorkin screenplay as the real-life story focusing on the analytics of the game meshes seamlessly with his approach to writing. Based on the book by Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, the feature recounts the overhaul of the Oakland Athletics and its approach to drafting a winning team led by general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt). The six-time Oscar-nominated film co-stars Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Sorkin shares the writing credits with Steven Zaillian and Stan Chervin, and the trio illuminates an underdog story that is reachable to audiences outside the sports genre. While Sorkin's writing style is formulaic, Billy Beane's reinvention of the system is anything but. This unique combination makes Moneyball such a pleasure to watch for cinephiles as the dialogue and pacing give structure to this unconventional installment in sports history.

Moneyball

PG-13

Biography

Drama

Sport

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Release Date

September 23, 2011

Cast

Brad Pitt , Jonah Hill , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Robin Wright , Stephen Bishop , Chris Pratt

Runtime

133 minutes

Writers

Steven Zaillian , Aaron Sorkin , Stan Chervin , Michael Lewis

4 'The American President' (1995)

Directed by Rob Reiner

Equal parts sweet romantic comedy and rivetting political drama, The American President was the perfect recovery for Sorkin's feature writing following Malice. Michael Douglas stars as the widowed President Andrew Shepherd as he seeks reelection. However, he doesn't anticipate the relationship that develops between him and environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening). As his opponent uses their romance as firepower to win voters, Andrew must choose between his winning voters or Sydney.

It's a complicated romance movie that rivals some of the best in the genre. While there's an idealist lens of the political landscape, Sorkin's script is sharp and poignant without preaching or alienating the audience, full of well-executed back-and-forths and speeches delivered as if they were straight out of a time capsule. What he did with The American President proved to be a successful trial run for the greatest television political drama series of all time, The West Wing.

Watch on Amazon

3 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' (2020)

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

Sorkin is no stranger to writing for hefty television ensembles, but The Trial of the Chicago 7 further solidifies his skills in crafting dialogue for every important person in the room. His fourth Oscar-nominated screenplay is a dramatic retelling of the 1969 Chicago Seven Trial, where anti-Vietnam War activists were charged on various counts for alleged involvement in the 1968 riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The ensemble cast portraying real-life characters includes Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Mark Rylance, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Alex Sharp, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and John Carroll Lynch.

With a larger-than-life cast, each line of dialogue seamlessly flows for each character, punctuating every scene with such natural ease. No stranger to social-political commentary in his work, Sorkin's screenplay just scratched the surface of the dramatic five-month-long trial. What plays out on screen is frustratingly brilliant as Sorkin, from the writer's room and director's chair, depicts courtroom corruption and social injustice while infusing it with the appropriate amount of well-timed comedic relief.

The Trial of the Chicago 7

NONE

Drama

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Not available

Release Date

September 25, 2020

Cast

Eddie Redmayne , Jeremy Strong , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Sacha Baron Cohen , Yahya Abdul-Mateen II , Michael Keaton

Runtime

129

Writers

Aaron Sorkin

2 'A Few Good Men' (1992)

Directed by Rob Reiner

A puzzling snub that this film's screenplay was not nominated for an Academy Award, A Few Good Men was a brilliant entrance into filmmaking for Sorkin. His first feature-length script sets Tom Cruise as military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who is tasked with defending two Marines charged with the murder of a third at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. What seems like a routine case for him quickly turns shady as he digs into a conspiracy that the defendants were carrying out orders from commanding officer Colonel Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson).

A Few Good Men is inspired by true events, making it a much darker glimpse behind the closed doors of the U.S. military. Sorkin writes one of the most quoted movie lines of all time in the iconic heated exchange between Kaffee and Jessep: "You can't handle the truth!" The dialogue is the driving force as the palpable tension rises throughout the film, culminating in riveting exchanges and masterful performances where the actors are in jaw-dropping sync even when talking over one another. For aspiring screenwriters, rewatching Sorkin's introduction to writing for the big screen is an absolute must.

A Few Good Men

R

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Release Date

December 11, 1992

Cast

Tom Cruise , Jack Nicholson , Demi Moore , Kevin Bacon , Kiefer Sutherland , Kevin Pollak

Runtime

138 minutes

Writers

Aaron Sorkin

1 'The Social Network' (2010)

Directed by David Fincher

Sorkin's first Oscar nomination and win would be for his adaptation of Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. The biography chronicles the inception of the social media juggernaut, Facebook, from the mind of Mark Zuckerberg and his then-best friend and business partner, Eduardo Saverin. The film version bounces between multiple depositions as Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) defends his rise to fame and fortune while flashing back through the evolution of the platform and Zuckerberg's relationships with those suing him.

The Social Network relies heavily on spectacular editing (one of its Oscar wins), but the editing relies on Sorkin's script and intersecting and paralleling timelines. A whiplash that's necessary and well-executed, the viewer is never lost because of how perfectly Sorkin paces the shifts between past and present, often jolted back to the deposition room for clarification before whirling back into the testimony's flashback. With masterful performances by the cast and under the meticulous direction of David Fincher, The Social Network is Aaron Sorkin's best screenplay.

The Social Network

PG-13

Biography

Drama

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Release Date

October 1, 2010

Cast

Jesse Eisenberg , Rooney Mara , Bryan Barter , Dustin Fitzsimons , Armie Hammer , Joseph Mazzello

Runtime

120 minutes

Writers

Aaron Sorkin , Ben Mezrich

NEXT: Every Quentin Tarantino Screenplay, Ranked