Thursday, September 20, 2018

The Best and Worst of Olivia Wilde

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Life Itself” star Olivia Wilde.

Films starring Olivia Wilde that I've seen:
The Girl Next Door
Alpha Dog
Year One
Tron: Legacy
Cowboys & Aliens
The Change-Up 
In Time
People Like Us
The Words
Butter
Deadfall
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Rush
Her

Best Performance: Butter (2012)
Wilde really needs to do more comedies. As a revenge-seeking stripper who gets caught up in the middle of a butter-carving rivalry between a 10-year old girl (Yara Shahidi) and an ultracompetitive socialite (Jennifer Garner), she constantly steals scenes with her manic presence and beautifully-delivered snarky one-liners.

Worst Performance: Tron: Legacy (2010)
Even on a bad day, Wilde tends to be a pretty inoffensive screen presence. Tron: Legacy is the lone, painful exception to that rule. Her performance as cyber warrior Quora is so devoid of charisma that she could've easily been replaced with an actual computer program.

Best Film: Rush (2013)
Hot take: Rush is my favorite directorial effort from Ron Howard. Its fascinating depiction of the development and subsequent intensification of a rivalry between two elite athletes along with the tremendous performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl got me really invested in a story about a sport (Formula One racing) that I couldn't care less about.

Worst Film: Year One (2009)
It's a real shame that this was the last movie Harold Ramis (Caddyshack, Groundhog Day) made before he died. Despite boasting a terrific cast led by Jack Black and Michael Cera, this prehistoric adventure comedy ends up being a meandering mess that whiffed on about 90% of its jokes.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Smallfoot” star Common. 

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