Massachusetts Has Three Movies Tied at the Top of Rotten Tomatoes, And You’ve Probably Seen All of Them

If you had to name the greatest movie ever filmed in Massachusetts, you'd probably say Good Will Hunting. Or maybe The Departed. Or Spotlight. Turns out, the answer is more complicated, and more interesting, than you'd think.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, which I rely on as the most accurate judge of a movie, three Massachusetts movies are tied at the top with a 97% critics score.

Jaws, filmed almost entirely on Martha's Vineyard in 1974, invented the summer blockbuster and still holds up as one of the most technically brilliant thrillers ever made. Steven Spielberg turned a malfunctioning mechanical shark into pure cinematic terror, and the fictional Amity Island became one of the most iconic settings in movie history.

Good Will Hunting put Boston on the cinematic map in 1997 and launched two of the biggest careers in Hollywood. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote it, starred in it, and filmed it in the neighborhoods where they grew up. Robin Williams won an Oscar. The rest is history.

Spotlight, the 2015 Best Picture winner, told the story of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the Catholic Church's abuse scandal. It's the most deeply Massachusetts film of the three: a Boston newspaper, a Boston institution, a Boston reckoning.

Just behind them at 96% is Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan's gut-punch of a drama filmed on Cape Ann, with Casey Affleck winning an Oscar for his portrayal of grief in a small Massachusetts fishing community.

Rounding out the top five: Ben Affleck's The Town at 94% and Martin Scorsese's The Departed at 91%, both set and filmed in Boston, both considered modern classics.

Not bad for one state!