Adam Scott is television’s dreamboat and he has been for years. Decades even. From his brief role in Boy Meets World through his romantic leads and beyond, he is someone that many of us love seeing on screen. But there are those who I envy who haven’t seen a lot of Adam Scott’s work and now get to go through it for the first time.
And there’s a lot to go through. There are comedies that I left off this list that I do genuinely like. I think Our Idiot Brother and My Blind Brother are funny movies but I tried to level the list out with a mix of Scott’s more serious roles with his television ones, so that you can have a balance of all that Scott is capable of.
All of these entries are worth your time but I have ranked the 15 best Adam Scott movies and television shows for your viewing pleasure.
15. Black Mass
Stories about real historical people can often be boring and while this isn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen, it does include Adam Scott as Robert Fitzpatrick with a mustache. Also David Harbour is in this movie. There’s really no shock here why I dragged my friends to the movie theater while I was visiting back home in California to see this.
It’s a fine movie, not incredibly special. But if I went to the theaters to see this for Adam Scott, you can watch it to see how good he is in it.
14. The Vicious Kind
(72nd Street Productions)
A family drama that includes betraying your brother? I’m invested.
The movie itself was a very important time in my Tumblr life when I reblogged gifs of this movie over and over again—because I am but a creature of habit. However, it’s also a great look into Adam Scott as a dramatic actor. He has a big bear in it (so a plus) and it is only an hour and 34 minutes long so a quick look into the side of Adam Scott that people are only just now discovering.
13. Friends With Kids
Look, I like this movie. Despite being a single woman with no kids, I found it fascinating how this friend group and their relationships all shift in different ways once they started having kids and I think it is genuinely funny. The cast is also stacked with comedic legends like Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm on top of Adam Scott, making it an easy movie to love.
12. A.C.O.D.
As a child of divorce (that led to my older brother being an “adult” child of divorce”), this movie really hit home. It is part of the Adam Scott and Amy Poehler are perfect on screen together series and I did watch it because I love them both but it is one of those simple comedy movies that they don’t really make anymore. There was a sweet spot in the early 2010s where we had a lot of these oddball comedy movies coming out and now it doesn’t seem to happen as often and I miss when we’d see movies like A.C.O.D. coming out.
11. The Overnight
Making friends as an adult is hard but doing so in Los Angeles seems like Hell. So when a couple who just moved to the neighborhood has a chance meeting with a cool couple, they jump at the idea of a friendship. The problem is that it is a weird encounter that just keeps on going. I saw this at the Tribeca Film Festival and it truly is one of those movies that you just sort of have to watch to understand. It’s an easy film to get through and it’s Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Taylor Schilling, and Judith Godrèche so you know you’re in for a fun time.
10. The Greatest Event In Television History
Have you ever wished that Adam Scott and his friends would recreate old television show openings together? Well, you’re in luck! They did it and it is one of the funniest things they have ever chosen to do. The series focused on older shows like Simon & Simon and Hart to Hart and he’d bring in celebrities like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, and Jon Hamm to help him recreate some of these classic opening numbers. It’s a fictional look behind the scenes into how they did the recreations and I’m honestly very sad they stopped making them.
9. Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later
When Bradley Cooper couldn’t make Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later work into his schedule, Adam Scott stepped into the role of Ben and I am grateful to him. The series is a comedy show that spawned off the movie Wet Hot American Summer and the first series titled Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. I highly recommend watching the film and both television series because they’re some of my favorite things in this world and are genuinely hilarious but Scott is only in this season as Cooper typically played that role.
Still, he’s pretty hilarious as Ben and it works because the show isn’t afraid of making fun of itself and that definitely means making fun of the fact that Bradley Cooper wasn’t there and was replaced by Adam Scott.
8. The Good Place
You know how Adam Scott was everyone’s favorite sweet boyfriend on television because of a show we’ll talk about later? Well, his role as a demon in The Good Place showed us just how good Scott is at playing an asshole as well. Trevor is the worst and it works because it’s Scott. This is also here because you should just watch The Good Place in general because it is a great show! And Adam Scott being part of it is just a bonus!
7. Big Little Lies
For fans of Adam Scott who didn’t know who he was from comedy, they probably know him as Reese Witherspoon’s husband on Big Little Lies. Ed had a nice beard, was sweet, and was being cheated on because Madeline had more important things to do. I absolutely love him and it is one of those Scott roles where he’s playing against what we’ve known him to be. Ed isn’t really that assertive and while I would necessarily call some of his more famous roles “assertive,” they at least have a bit more to say and more of a personality than Ed—but that doesn’t mean he’s boring. He’s fascinating and it is well worth the watch.
6. Step Brothers
Alright—who doesn’t think about Adam Scott singing “Sweet Child of Mine”? Because I know that I do and I can’t be alone in this. One of those comedies where everyone quotes it over and over again, Step Brothers has taken over in comedy circuits for a reason. It’s funny, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly really just ham it up, and also I love that Adam Scott is yet again a complete asshole in this but we love him for it. Also it’s Adam Scott married to Kathyrn Hahn, a masterpiece!
5. Sleeping With Other People
The movie Sleeping With Other People is one of my favorite romantic movies and one that really has Adam Scott pushing the boundaries of what we admire in his work. He plays Matthew, a man sleeping with Lainey (Alison Brie) who refuses to do anything right by her. He’s gross, rude, and the kind of character we rarely got to see from him. In a movie where I genuinely love every character no matter how messed up they are, it is hard to stand out—and yet Scott does.
Genuinely one of my favorite movies and one I think everyone should watch.
4. Party Down
HENRY! Okay, the first episode of Party Down has one of the best bits I have seen in a long time. Henry Pollard works for Party Down, a catering service that is filled with failed creatives. For Henry, he’s the kind of character who is so jaded because of his failures that the thing he is known for weighs heavily on him. He was in a commercial where he said “Are we having fun yet?” and the entire episode, Henry hates when people say it to him but the last moment? Iconic.
As we gear up for the return of Party Down with Scott coming back as Henry, it’s the perfect time to watch the series for the first time if you haven’t yet!
3. Bachelorette
Leslye Headland really knows how to make Adam Scott work. Bachelorette much like Sleeping With Other People is one of my favorite romantic movies and the movie, based on the play by Headland, has Adam Scott as a romantic lead opposite Lizzie Caplan (who also plays his love interest on Party Down). Plus, Scott singa “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, making it just perfect in my book.
2. Severance
Adam Scott getting praise and recognition for his work is my dream and with Severance, we have finally started to see it! The show brings us into the severance program of Lumon Industries, Mark (Scott) is someone who joined the program because of how sad his life had made him but throughout the first season, we learn just what it means to truly have an innie and an outtie self. This show is so surprisingly good that it was one of those new series where someone watched it and then just kept telling everyone they knew to watch it too and the game of telephone continued until we all were screaming together.
It’s fantastic and I can’t wait for season 2 but if you’re here because you just love Adam Scott and you haven’t watched this one yet, what are you doing?!
1. Parks and Recreation
Come on, it’s me. The girl with the cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. What did you think I was going to put at number one? Not the first show that Scott was in but the one that many were introduced to him through. He played Ben Wyatt, the money man who came to ruin Leslie Knope’s dreams when he started to slash the Pawnee budget but throughout the show, the two found love and happiness together and it is one of the best love stories (in my opinion). I want that kind of love and I love Ben so much.
If you haven’t seen this show yet, I genuinely envy you. This is the show that I wish I could see for the first time again and I love it so much.
This is my definitive list and honestly, I’m right.
(featured image: NBC)
