The Best and Worst of Adam Driver

“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 “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” star Adam Driver.

Films starring Adam Driver that I've seen:
Inside Llewyn Davis
What If?
This is Where I Leave You
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Midnight Special
Logan Lucky
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
BlacKkKlansman 
The Dead Don't Die
Marriage Story

Best Performance: Marriage Story (2019)
We're in the middle of the awards slate right now and since there's several contending titles I've yet to see (1917, Uncut Gems, Little Women, Just Mercy, Bombshell), I can't say for sure who/what would earn my hypothetical votes at the moment. That being said, I'd be shocked if Driver didn't end being my pick for Best Actor. His performance as the head of an off-Broadway theater company going through a messy divorce from his actress wife (the equally brilliant Scarlett Johansson) is a mesmerizing tour de force that flawlessly captures the heartbreak, anger and eventual healing that a lot of people who go through this separation process experience.

Worst Performance: Midnight Special (2016)
As an NSA communications analyst leading the hunt for an 8-year old (Jaeden Martell) with extraordinary powers that has been kidnapped from a vicious cult by his father (Michael Shannon) and his best friend (Joel Edgerton), Driver fits in perfectly with the staggeringly lifeless environment Midnight Special spends two hours cultivating.

Best Film: Marriage Story (2019)
Boy oh boy did Marriage Story put me through an emotional ringer. The acting, writing and directing are infused with such an overwhelmingly raw authenticity that it almost never feels like you're watching a fictionalized account of an ugly, drawn-out divorce. While the professional circumstances and financial situation of the protagonists were foreign, the way the film depicts how the process of ending a marriage can make couples lose sight of why they fell in love in the first place, go to great lengths to win favor with their kids, etc. paralleled situations that I've seen play out in reality so many times that I had to pause the movie on several occasions to collect myself because I was so god damn overwhelmed. As brutal as this was to watch, I'm thrilled that a movie that portrays a tragic yet increasingly common part of the human experience with such unflinching honesty exists.

Worst Film: This is Where I Leave You (2014)
How a film with a gifted, versatile acting ensemble that features Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, Driver, Kathryn Hahn and several other delightful screen presences manages to be so damn insufferable is This is Where I Leave You's most impressive accomplishment. This shamelessly manipulative melodrama that happens to feature a few jokes may fail miserably to pull on the heartstrings, but it made for a terrific eye-rolling marathon!!!!

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