There are few contemporary filmmakers who have more successfully helped audiences navigate the treacherous waters of relationships than The Union" is excluded from this list because it is currently unavailable to stream anywhere. Hopefully that'll change)

11. “Aloha” (2015)

Despite featuring a lead character whose last name is very similar to this author’s, Crowe’s most recent big-screen effort proved to be his least effective. From its woeful but well-intentioned cultural representation (Bradley Cooper) to its sociopolitical maneuvering (its climax involves a missile strike), this emotionally underwhelming dramedy (a ion project for the filmmaker that for many years existed under the title "Deep Tiki") assembles a lot of intriguing pieces that never quite fit together.

10. “Elizabethtown” (2005) 

There are so, so many individual parts that work in this 2005 drama about failed sneaker designer Drew Baylor (Kirsten Dunst), the flight attendant so perky that she inspired the movie trope Manic Pixie Dream Girl, that it comes as no small heartbreak that they don’t add up to a truly special whole, undone by a repetitive story and some very bad casting decisions (Bloom might be many things but a romantic comedy lead is not one of them). But Crowe’s gifts for weaving moments of magical humanism remain sharp even if they aren’t as focused as in previous years.

9. “We Bought A Zoo” (2011) 

Based on the real-life memoir by Benjamin Mee, Crowe’s second meditation on grief and redemption is slightly more grounded than the first, but it still involves a dad (Scarlett Johansson). While some of the idiosyncrasies of the plot are of course excusable because they actually happened, again Crowe doesn’t quite synthesize his story’s darker themes with his more whimsical ones, although the score by Sigur Ros mainstay Jonsi is genuinely lovely.

8. “The Wild Life” (1984) 

Directed by James L. Brooks to bankroll his first directorial effort than as an especially memorable ‘80s teen film, it manages to offer some nice grace notes to a genre that wasn’t often marked by anything original, much less sensitive.

7. “Vanilla Sky” (2001) 

Hot off of the tremendous success (critical, if not commercial) of “Almost Famous,” Crowe reunited with his “Jerry Maguire” star Penelope Cruz would reprise her role from the original. Unfortunately, much of the dreamlike magic of the original is lost in translation, although again he conjures some truly unique moments on screen -- including shots of Cruise running through a completely empty New York City -- and the chemistry between Cruise and Cruz is absolutely undeniable.

6. “Pearl Jam Twenty” (2011) 

Crowe returned to the music-oriented material that dominated much of his journalism career and ventured into documentary filmmaking in the last decade with this retrospective portrait of Pearl Jam’s debut album and the unconventional career that evolved for the band from that early, potentially overwhelming success. Bereft of too much drama -- which the band seemed to have relatively little of -- it feels less like a tell-all than a victory lap, but anyone who came up in the era of grunge will find plenty to entertain them.

5. “Singles” (1992) 

After “Say Anything…,” Crowe evidenced his willingness to grow up on screen both as a storyteller and via his characters with this drama about young Seattle professionals at the time when alternative music was exploding into the mainstream. Campbell Scott pay two lovers trying to work through their own anxieties and insecurities in order to be partners for one another, while grunge luminaries pepper the background of scenes to give the film prescient authority about a pivotal musical and cultural moment.

4. “Jerry Maguire” (1996) 

Crowe’s biggest box office success came with this Billy Wilder-influenced story about a failed sports agent who develops a debilitating conscience in an industry without one . The romance between Tom Cruise’s title character and his secretary Dorothy (Renee Zellweger, breaking through in a big way) is sometimes a little uneven, even bordering on disastrous, but the fact that the movie knows that it’s borderline disastrous -- and errs on the side of hope rather than convenient happiness -- is what makes this story such an inspiring and romantic crowd-pleaser. Crowe's entire career has always walked that fine line between genuine and saccharine and here that line is razor-thin.

3. “Say Anything...” (1989) 

Working with James J. Brooks (“ of Endearment”) in his corner, Crowe wrote and directed this great little movie about aspiring kickboxer Lloyd Dobler (Ione Skye) he falls in love with. Crowe absolutely perfectly captures the awkward and delightful little moments of discovery between two people learning how to love one another, while also expertly chronicling that tough moment between school and adulthood where every choice feels like a life-changing moment.

2. “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982) 

Directed by Amy Heckerling in her own feature debut, Crowe’s adaptation of his own captures the fun, silliness and pain of high school via a colorful cast of characters based on the real students he went to school with while undercover in San Diego for Rolling Stone. An uncommonly serious and sensitive depiction of pivotal adolescent moments, including first jobs, class struggles and sex, Crowe’s writing offers what has become a familiar outlook for him about his subjects (one of ultimate hope) without shying away from tougher topics like heartbreak and failure as the characters embark on adulthood. How many abortions have been depicted on screen in the years since, especially in what was ostensibly a wacky teen comedy? Exactly.

1. “Almost Famous” (2000) 

Crowe deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for this semi-autobiographical of the former reporter’s earliest days working for Rolling Stone magazine. Dealing with an unrequited crush on Penny Lane (Patrick Fugit) piercingly captures the optimism, dashed hopes, heartbreak and advancing maturity of a young man forced to grow up faster than he’s ready. Teaching us that “honest and unmerciful” is the best way to go through life, Crowe reminds audiences what it’s like to be young, and how to grow older with grace and sensitivity.