In ascending order, here is our ranking of the 12 best Queen Latifah movies.
Best Queen Latifah Movies of All Time
11-12. (tie) Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) and Beauty Shop (2005)
In the first sequel to 2002’s smart, often-hilarious Chicago-set ensemble comedy Barbershop, Latifah was introduced as beautician Gina. She then got her own spinoff film; Beauty Shop co-starred Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou.
10. The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in the 1960s and based on the novel of the same name by Sue Monk Kidd, this uplifting drama stars Dakota Fanning as a grieving young girl who finds healing and grace in a small South Carolina town, thanks to a spiritual community and sisterhood. Critics singled out Latifah’s work here, praising her performance as beekeeper August Boatwright as the backbone of the picture. The Secret Life of Bees won 2008’s NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture.
9. Just Wright (2010)
A breezy, winning chemistry between Latifah and co-star Common drives this rom-com about a physical therapist who falls for a star basketball player.
8. Jungle Fever (1991)
Latifah’s first big-screen appearance was in Spike Lee’s award-winning drama about an interracial romance. She’s the waitress who doesn’t want to serve the couple (Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra) in a Harlem soul food restaurant. “I had a cold that day, so I’m a little stuffy,” she says. Jungle Fever also marked the feature debut of Halle Berry, and this is widely considered Samuel L. Jackson’s big breakthrough.
7. Hairspray (2007)
Based on a 1988 John Waters comedy and the Broadway sensation it inspired, this blissful musical deals with racial tensions of 1960s Baltimore. The seriously impressive cast includes John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Marsden, AmandaBynes, ChristopherWalken, Allison Janney and Zac Efron. Latifah plays Maybelle “Motormouth” Stubbs, a radio DJ and record shop owner. Perhaps the best part of Hairspray is her stirring performance of “I Know Where I’ve Been.”
6. Chicago (2002)
In Rob Marshall’s enormously popular and successful adaptation of the stage musical, Latifah played Mama Morton, matron of Cook County Jail’s women’s block. “There was so much rehearsal, but we pulled it off!” she says. She received her first-ever Oscar nod (Best Supporting Actress). Chicago ultimately won six Academy Awards, the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! over 30 years prior.
5. Hustle (2022)
In We the Animals director Jeremiah Zagar‘s sports film for Netflix, Adam Sandler plays NBA talent scout Stan Sugerman, who’s risking his reputation and career for a Spanish recruit (real-life Utah Jazz player Juancho Hernangómez) he believes in. With a quiet determination and subtle, deeper humor than you might expect, Sandler plays maybe his most sympathetic character ever, a 180 from his (lamentably Oscar-snubbed) titanic turn as the angel of death in Uncut Gems. The supporting cast including Latifah, Ben Foster, Robert Duvall and countless real-life sports stars, is uniformly excellent.
4. Bessie (2015)
In this HBO original, Latifah dazzled and moved audiences as the Empress of the Blues, Chattanooga-born singer Bessie Smith. Bessie became the most-watched HBO original film of all time, and it won four Primetime Emmys including Outstanding Television Movie. Director Dee Rees went on to co-write and direct Netflix’s Oscar-nominated Mudbound.
3. Set It Off (1996)
This action crime drama directed by F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious, Straight Outta Compton) was a landmark moment in the careers of Latifah and co-stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise. It’s a thriller focused on four LA friends who plan a bank robbery. Over two decades later, Set It Off holds up as superior genre filmmaking with memorable, well-developed and sympathetic characters. Many have even compared it to Thelma & Louise. Set It Off was referenced with a wink in the uproariously funny dance-off scene in Girls Trip, which reunited Latifah and Pinkett Smith.
2. Last Holiday (2006)
In this gender-swapped loose modernization of a 1950 Alec Guinness drama, Latifah plays a humble salesperson who jets off to Europe for a no-expenses-spared final hurrah after she learns she has a rare terminal illness. What could have been fluff is a very special film, thanks to Latifah’s generous, commanding performance. Last Holiday is full of warmth, human touches, it’s sometimes hilarious—and yeah, it’s even life-affirming. It’s a movie you want to hug (and watch over and over).
1. Girls Trip (2017)
What happens when you combine an uncommonly perceptive script about longterm friendship with four of the most appealing, comedically adroit leading ladies on this planet? That’s Girls Trip, the crowd-pleasing sensation that became the surprise comedy smash of 2017. Latifah plays a gossip columnist struggling with a crisis of conscience in Malcolm D. Lee’s epic ensemble piece, alongside the talents of Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and breakout star Tiffany Haddish. One of the key reasons the thing works like gangbusters is the lived-in chemistry between Latifah and Hall, who play former besties who’ve had a falling out over money and other messy, relatable stuff like that. Girls Trip is so preposterously successful at everything it sets out to do (make us laugh ’til it hurts throughout, tell a character-driven story with some meat to it) that it’s practically perfect. The only gripe here is that we don’t have Girls Trip 2 yet. That is going to happen, right?! What is your favorite Queen Latifah performance of all time? Let us know in the comments!
