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Underrated Scarllet Johansson Films/Performances

posted 2 years ago by looper007 (1158)
7 replies | jump to latest

We all know about her more popular or performances where she rightly gets praised for like MCU films, Her, Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, Under The Skin, Lost In Translation etc..

But let's talk about films or performances from Scarlett that don't get a lot of love. When you mention a role or performance, give a bit of detail why.

The Man Who Wasn't There- Her first Coen Brothers role, and one of her pre Lost in Translation works. She's great as a teenage vamp seducing Billy Bob Thorton's hairdresser, she's not in a lot but she's great. One of Coen Brother's most underrated films. She's also one of the best things about Hail Cesar.

An American Rhapsody- A lot of her pre LIT work is rarely talked about outside of Ghost World and The Horse Whisperer. But this is one of her better young performances. She's got great chemistry with Nastassja Kinski. I think die hard Scarlett fans have probably seen it.

The Perfect Score- One of her more fun roles, one of her first roles after big break out with Lost in Translation. Great to see her on screen with fellow future MCU talent Chris Evans.

The Prestige- This is a classic and I always forget that Scarlett was in a Christopher Nolan film, it always blows my mind. I'd like to see her in another Nolan film with a bigger role. But this is one of her more underrated performances, she's not given a ton to do but her performance is really good in this one.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona- She got overshadowed a bit by Penelope Cruz and Rebecca Hall, who got all the plaudits for this film (rightly so though). But Scarlett is great in it too, it's not as award worthy as Cruz's or Hall's performances but it's my favourite of her's from her Woody Allen work.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

She's almost always hot. I like it.

[–] pjl69 (2647) 2 years ago

Depends greatly on make up and costume design. In The Prestige she was ok, I guess.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

She was best in my fantasies about her.

[–] Information-Police (4895) 2 years ago

I saw The Man Who Wasn't There but it was one of only a handful of Coen films I didn't really get into. I need to give it another shot.

[–] looper007 (1158) 2 years ago

It's not a easy film to get into. It took me two or three rewatches before it clicked for me.

[–] BeaSouth (3495) 2 years ago

She was fantastic in The Horse Whisperer. Over the course of the movie she had to go from shock to grief to anger to acceptance regarding her character’s catastrophic injuries. Her arc required she play the petulant teenager vs. the maturing young woman as the story progressed. Playing a character with a huge evolution takes real skill

[–] greenvelvet (171) 6 months ago

I would say peak Scarjo movies were from 2003-2013. At time of release, the highlights were Lost in Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Match Point, Scoop, The Prestige, Justin Timberlake: What Goes Around… Comes Around (music video), The Other Boleyn Girl, Vicky Christina Barcelona, He’s Just Not That Into You, Iron Man 2, and Her. All of these are essential Scarjo viewing.

The lesser known but still great films from this period are The Perfect Score (fun teen heist movie with Chris Evans), A Love Song for Bobby Long (New Orleans drama with John Travolta), and The Nanny Diaries (comedy-drama with Chris Evans based on a true story). All of these are worth watching.

The Island is worth watching for eye candy only. It’s not really a peak movie because of the poor plot but has the same visual feeling as it’s a big budget sci-fi movie.

Ghost World is comic book adaption from slightly before this period when she was still in her awkward teenage stage and in a best friend role. It’s still enjoyable as it has an unusual plot and many memorable scenes. An American Rhapsody is in the same category with Scarjo as the lead in portraying the Hungarian-America screen writer as a teenager trying to make sense of her self. Manny & Lo has a younger Scarjo not as a lead but enjoyable considering her age. She plays the younger sister of a runaway pregnant teen.

Movies from roughly this period that should be avoided are My Brother the Pig (bad kids film), A Good Woman (boring), In Good Company (forgettable smaller role), The Black Dahlia (forgettable smaller role), and The Spirit (unwatchable).

It’s sad that she mostly does big budget action stuff these days.