Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig have five feature films together when “together” means a substantial credited role as a performer, writer, or director. Ranked here by character writing, tonal control, formal ambition, emotional resonance, and how clearly each film marks a phase of their collaboration, Frances Ha comes first. The order is an editorial judgment, not a consensus scorecard.
What movies have Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig made together?
The five-film set runs from Gerwig appearing in Baumbach’s Greenberg to Barbie, which Gerwig directed from a screenplay she co-wrote with Baumbach. Their roles change from film to film, so this ranking weighs both the finished movies and what each reveals about their evolving partnership.
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| Rank | Film | Year | Their credited roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | White Noise | 2022 | Baumbach directed and adapted Don DeLillo’s novel; Gerwig performed. |
| 4 | Greenberg | 2010 | Baumbach directed; Gerwig appeared in the cast. |
| 3 | Barbie | 2023 | Gerwig directed; Gerwig and Baumbach shared screenplay credit. |
| 2 | Mistress America | 2015 | Baumbach directed; Gerwig and Baumbach co-wrote; Gerwig starred. |
| 1 | Frances Ha | 2012 | Baumbach directed; Gerwig and Baumbach co-wrote; Gerwig starred. |
5. White Noise (2022)
Baumbach’s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel sends Gerwig’s Babette, her family, and an airborne toxic event into an absurdist story about love and death. Its scale and deliberate excess make it the sharpest break from the intimate New York films that came before it. That formal risk is compelling, but it also makes the film less emotionally direct than the others on this list.
In the Rotten Tomatoes snapshot accessed in 2026, White Noise stood at 64% from critics and 33% from audiences. Those changing aggregator figures provide reception context, not a definitive measure of the film.
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4. Greenberg (2010)
Greenberg is the starting point of their on-set collaboration; the BFI says Baumbach and Gerwig met while working on the film. It is an abrasive, awkward portrait of adult disaffection, with an unsettled energy that suits its characters but can make the experience feel prickly. Its lower rank reflects this list’s preference for the fuller shared authorship of their later work, not a lack of merit.
Rotten Tomatoes’ 2026 snapshot recorded 76% for critics and 42% for audiences.
Rank #2
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3. Barbie (2023)
Barbie expands the partnership to its broadest comic canvas. Gerwig directs, while she and Baumbach share screenplay credit; the result turns a recognizable pop-culture figure into a vehicle for satire about identity and social expectations. Its scale and cultural reach distinguish it from their earlier, more intimate films, while Gerwig’s directorial authorship remains central to how the story moves and lands.
The film’s Rotten Tomatoes snapshot, accessed in 2026, was 88% critics and 83% audience. That strong reception is context rather than proof that it belongs above the smaller, more emotionally focused films here.
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2. Mistress America (2015)
Baumbach directs and co-writes with Gerwig, who stars as Brooke opposite Lola Kirke’s Tracy. The BFI’s Sight and Sound review describes it as a social comedy about the pleasures and perils of a New York college girl-crush, and compares its relationship to Frances Ha. Here, the bond between the women becomes a springboard for ambition, self-invention, and the risks of idealizing someone else.
Its screwball pace gives the story a different charge from Frances Ha: Brooke’s confidence and Tracy’s fascination keep the comedy in motion, even as their alliance shifts. Rotten Tomatoes’ 2026 snapshot recorded 82% from critics and 66% from audiences.
Rank #4
1. Frances Ha (2012)
Frances Ha is the clearest synthesis of the early partnership: Gerwig stars and co-writes with Baumbach, who directs. Its nimble character comedy follows precarious adulthood, friendship, and artistic aspiration without turning uncertainty into a grand crisis. The film’s emotional intimacy and formal lightness work together, making it the collaboration’s most complete balance of wit and feeling.
Rotten Tomatoes’ 2026 snapshot put it at 92% for critics and 78% for audiences. Its top spot is this ranking’s judgment about the film’s coherence, not a claim that every viewer should place it first.
How the collaboration changes across the five films
- Shared authorship: Greenberg is the on-set starting point, with Gerwig in the cast. Frances Ha and Mistress America are Baumbach-directed, Gerwig-starring films the pair co-wrote. In White Noise, Baumbach directs and Gerwig performs. Barbie reverses that arrangement: Gerwig directs their shared screenplay.
- Scale and form: The films move from an intimate, awkward character portrait through wistful and screwball comedies to literary absurdism and large-scale fantasy satire.
- What holds the stories together: Their subjects shift from adult disaffection to friendship and ambition, family and mortality, and identity and social expectations. The changing focus is part of what makes the five-film run more than a repetition of one style.
The pair’s writing relationship is conversational rather than fixed to one arrangement. In a Netflix Tudum interview about White Noise, Baumbach described it this way: “there’s always a dialogue going on about each other’s work.”
Rotten Tomatoes snapshot
The figures below are Rotten Tomatoes critics’ and audience percentages recorded in 2026. Aggregator ratings can change; they are not box-office totals or survey results, and they do not determine the ranking above.
Quick Recap
| Film | Critics | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Greenberg | 76% | 42% |
| Frances Ha | 92% | 78% |
| Mistress America | 82% | 66% |
| White Noise | 64% | 33% |
| Barbie | 88% | 83% |
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