‘A Complete Unknown’ Wins Best Picture at AARP’s 2025 Movies for Grownups Awards: Full Winners List

A Complete Unknown, the James Mangold film about Bob Dylan in the 1960s, won best picture/best movie for grownups at AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards, which were held on Saturday (Feb. 8) at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. The event had originally been scheduled for Jan. 11, but was postponed due to the wildfires that spread across multiple neighborhoods of the Los Angeles area beginning on Jan. 7.

Alan Cumming, the Tony- and Primetime Emmy Award-winning host of the competition show The Traitors, returned as host of the show, which is in its 24th year. The awards are set to be broadcast by Great Performances on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on PBS, its website and the PBS app.

AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards was established to encourage films and TV shows that resonate with older viewers. On its site, AARP adds that there is an age requirement for individual honors: “AARP honors 2024’s finest film and TV achievements by talents 50+.” (They go so far as to list ages in the winners list on their site.)

That 50+ requirement explains why Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) and Zoë Saldaña (Emilia Pérez), who are winning most awards for best supporting actor and actress, respectively, weren’t nominated here. Culkin is 42. Saldaña is 46. It also explains why Timothée Chalamet wasn’t nominated for best actor for playing Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Chalamet is just 29 — a whippersnapper in AARP terms.

A Complete Unknown competed in the best picture category with Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Gladiator II and September 5. The Dylan biopic won a second award for best time capsule. It was the only double winner at the show.

The awards for best actor and best actress went to Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) and Demi Moore (The Substance), who seem to be the front-runners to win Academy Awards in those categories.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story won best documentary. The film, directed by Peter Ettedgui, tracks actor Christopher Reeve’s pivot from film star to activist for disability rights following a 1995 horse-riding accident. It triumphed in a tough category that had a greater than usual music emphasis. The other nominees were I Am: Celine Dion, directed by Irene Taylor, which focuses on the singer’s struggle with Stiff Person Syndrome; Luther Vandross: Never Too Much — directed by Dawn Porter, which traces the late R&B star’s life and career; Piece by Piece, directed by Morgan Neville, a journey through the life of Pharrell Williams, told through the lens of LEGO animation; and Will & Harper, directed by Josh Greenbaum, an intimate portrayal of friendship starring Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, friends of 30 years who go on a cross-country road trip.

Glenn Close was the Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Winner, their version of a lifetime achievement award.

Here’s the complete list of nominees for the 2025 Movies for Grownups Awards, with winners marked.

FILM AWARDS

Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups

WINNER: A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Gladiator II

September 5

Best Actress

Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)

Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)

WINNER: Demi Moore (The Substance)

June Squibb (Thelma)

Best Actor

WINNER: Adrian Brody (The Brutalist)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Jude Law (The Order)

Best Supporting Actress

WINNER: Joan Chen (Didi)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)

Lesley Manville (Queer)

Connie Nielsen (Gladiator II)

Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)

Best Supporting Actor

Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing)

Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

WINNER: Peter Sarsgaard (September 5)

Stanley Tucci (Conclave)

Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Director

Pedro Almodóvar (The Room Next Door)

WINNER: Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)

Ridley Scott (Gladiator II)

Best Screenwriter

Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Livecchi (Emilia Pérez)

Jay Cocks and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)

WINNER: Winnie Holzman (Wicked)

Peter Straughan (Conclave)

Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts (Dune: Part Two)

Best Ensemble

A Complete Unknown

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

His Three Daughters

September 5

WINNER: Sing Sing

Best Intergenerational Film

Didi

Here

His Three Daughters

The Piano Lesson

WINNER: Thelma

Best Time Capsule

WINNER: A Complete Unknown

The Brutalist

Here

Maria

September 5

Best Documentary

I Am: Celine Dion

Luther: Never Too Much

Piece by Piece

WINNER: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Will & Harper

TV AWARDS

Best TV Series or Limited Series

The Crown

Hacks

Palm Royale

WINNER: Shōgun

Slow Horses

Best Actress (TV)

Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)

WINNER: Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country)

Jean Smart (Hacks)

Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building)

Sofia Vergara (Griselda)

Best Actor (TV)

Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)

Idris Elba (Hijack)

WINNER: Jon Hamm (Fargo)

Gary Oldman (Slow Horses)

Hiroyuki Sanada (Shōgun)