Featured Image Credit: HBO
Sydney Sweeney might be known for making headlines in The Housemaid and Euphoria, but before those came a forgotten crime thriller that is her highest rated film ever.
Sydney Sweeney has swiftly jumped from the divisive return of Euphoria Season 3, including her controversial scene dressed in baby clothing, to delivering her biggest box office success to date with The Housemaid.
Critics have certainly taken note as the 2025 movie landed a Certified Fresh score of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, while her small but memorable supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sits at an impressive 86%.
However, her highest-rated film is probably one you've never even heard of.
Advert
Back in 2023, the 28-year-old took on a role that could not have been further from the glossy, high-drama projects she is best known for.
The film is called Reality, a taut, stripped-back crime thriller based entirely on real events. It currently holds a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best-reviewed film of her career by some distance.
Directed by Tina Satter, who adapted it from her own award-winning stage play alongside co-writer James Paul Dallas, Reality follows the true story of whistleblower Reality Winner.
The story follows Winner as she is confronted at her home by FBI agents. What unfolds is a tense, real-time interrogation drawn directly from real transcripts that exposed information about Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
The crime thriller is only 82 minutes long, but it's enough to grip you from start to finish.
It premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2023, before debuting on HBO Max in the United States a few months later.
For a time, it quietly slipped under the radar, but three years on, it has massively resurfaced. A recent surge in popularity has pushed it onto HBO's Top 10 movies list in the US, where it reached as high as number six earlier this week.
Reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes have called it everything from 'Sweeney's tour de force' to 'one of the more underrated films of 2023.'
"It’s hard for most of us to get inside the heads of people like this, but Reality, and particularly Sweeney’s performance, illuminates this mind-set," one critic wrote on the platform.
Another added: "Sydney Sweeney shines as real life whistleblower Reality Winner in Reality, Tina Satter’s taut chamber piece adaptation of her award-winning play."
A third critic reviewed: "It takes a true story and presents it in an original and creative way, preserving a documentary tone. Thanks to strong performances and a meticulously crafted script, it manages to explore American political maneuvering."
Reality is available to stream on HBO, Amazon Prime and Channel 4 for UK viewers.
