A new movie starringMorgan Freemanhas blown many of his other movies out of the water on Rotten Tomatoes. Freeman is an iconic actor who got his start on television with his breakout role in the kids showThe Electric Company. However, he quickly took on more and more roles in features and has so far been nominated for Oscars for his performances in five of them, namely 1987’sStreet Smart, 1989’sDriving Miss Daisy, 1994’sThe Shawshank Redemption, 2004’sMillion Dollar Baby(for which he won), and 2009’sInvictus.
Morgan Freeman has also enjoyed commercial success, having starred in a variety of hit blockbuster movies includingtheDark Knighttrilogy,Bruce Almighty,Deep Impact, and theNow You See Mefranchise. Many of these movies have earned solid scores on Rotten Tomatoes, and in fact 22 of them have been officially Certified Fresh by the review aggregator platform. However, one new movie has emerged at the head of the pack.
It Is A Hit With Critics On Rotten Tomaotes
My Dead Friend Zoehas earned a solid score on Rotten Tomatoes. TheMorgan Freeman movie, which is the feature debut of director and co-writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, follows Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green),a veteran whose return to civilian life is haunted by visions of her friend Zoe(Natalie Morales), who died in combat. The ensemble cast of the movie, which debuted at SXSW in 2024 before its 2025 theatrical release, also includes Ed Harris, Gloria Reuben, Thom Tran, and Utkarsh Ambudkar.
Kyle Hausmann-Stokes co-wroteMy Dead Friend Zoewith award-winning author A. J. Bermudez.
Rotten Tomatoeshas now calculated an official score forMy Dead Friend Zoe. 65 different critics have weighed in and given the moviea near-perfect 95% score with an average rating of 7.7 out of 10. While the score could fluctuate as more reviews are added, at the time of writing, it is tied with 1989’sGloryas the ninth highest-rated movie starring Morgan Freeman on the platform.
One of these positive reactions came fromScreenRant’s own Patrice Witherspoon, whose 7 out of 10My Dead Friend Zoereviewcalled the movie"a great watch with family and friends.“Read a longer excerpt below:
When Merit attempts to open up about her trauma, the lighting reflects the PTSD through dimming and flashes. The direction and score during these sequences are great as well, as they give us just enough to boost our anxiety before pulling back at the right moment to pique our curiosity with a dash of empathy. It has just enough style to render it a memorable feature and the perfect amount of tenderness required to ground it. My Dead Friend Zoe is an indie gem equivalent to a warm embrace needed after a hard day.
It Ranks Even Higher Among His Narrative Features
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his iconic voice, many of the top-ratedMorgan Freemanmovies on Rotten Tomatoes are documentaries that he narrated, includingMarch of the Penguins 2: The Next Step(100%),Meeting the Beatles in India(100%), andBorn to Be Wild(98%). If every documentary appearance or voiceover role is excised, thenMy Dead Friend Zoerises even higher,tied for No. 3 as his best-reviewed narrative featurebehind the animated hitThe LEGO Movie(96%) and the Clint Eastwood WesternUnforgiven(96%).
