The Best and Worst of Alexandra Shipp

“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 “All the Bright Places” star Alexandra Shipp.

Films starring Alexandra Shipp that I've seen:
Straight Outta Compton
X-Men: Apocalypse 
Tragedy Girls
Love, Simon
Dude
Dark Phoenix
Shaft
Jexi

Best Performance: Jexi (2019)
Jexi was an efficient, very amusing comedy with a couple of nice subversive touches and Shipp's performance is a key reason why I found it to be such a pleasant watch. Driven by a winning mix of sarcasm and warmth, Shipp makes San Francisco bike shop owner Cate the ideal character for an R-rated comedy with a prominent romantic subplot.

Worst Performance: Tragedy Girls (2016)
What a difference a few years makes. Unlike the turn in Jexi that I just praised, Shipp is woefully unfunny and downright obnoxious as one half of a clout-seeking blogger turned serial killer duo in this thoroughly unpleasant slasher comedy.

Best Film: Straight Outta Compton (2015)
In an era where music/entertainment biopics are becoming even more of a cornerstone in theaters, Straight Outta Compton managed to set a new gold standard for the genre. Director F.Gary Gray and a stellar cast (Jason Mitchell, O'Shea Jackson. Jr, Corey Hawkins, Paul Giamatti) avoided the drabness that often plagues these type of films by filling the dramatization of N.W.A.'s story with plenty of energy, passion and emotion. Hopefully the slew of upcoming big screen biopics about the likes of Aretha Franklin, Elvis Pressley and George Michael will follow in the lively footsteps of inspired flicks like this, Rocketman and Get on Up instead of the flat, familiar mold of Bohemian Rhapsody and All Eyez on Me.  

Worst Film: Tragedy Girls (2016)
Tragedy Girls boasts a terrific horror comedy setup: A pair of high school seniors (Brianna Hildebrand, Shipp) who run a true crime blog start killing people with the hope of gaining more followers. Thanks to a witless, tonally-challenged script, main characters that are vile without even being remotely interesting and an alarming shortage of laughs, it fell well short of capitalizing on the potential of its premise.  

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