The Best and Worst of Anne Hathaway

“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 “Serenity” star Anne Hathaway.

Films starring Anne Hathaway that I've seen:
Havoc
The Devil Wears Prada
Get Smart
Rachel Getting Married
Love & Other Drugs
Rio
One Day
The Dark Knight Rises
Don Jon
Interstellar
The Intern
Colossal 
Ocean's 8

Best Performance: Rachel Getting Married (2008)
The Devil Wears Prada established Hathaway as a bubbly, vibrant screen presence who could anchor the hell out of a romantic comedy. Rachel Getting Married proved that off-the-charts charm wasn't the only tool in her acting arsenal. Her nuanced turn as a self-absorbed recovering addict that alternates between being completely insufferable and genuinely sympathetic gives this uneven family drama a consistently compelling element that prevents it from completely falling apart.
  
Worst Performance: Havoc (2005)
A lot of high-profile actors have a little-seen dud as part of their early resume. Hathaway's is a direct-to-video crime drama called Havoc that was filmed shortly after The Princess Diaries was released. Her questionable performance as a rich, rap-loving LA teen that becomes enamored with joining a real street gang isn't raw or daring enough to help this misguided project obtain the sense of grittiness it desperately wants/needs.      

Best Film: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Since it suffered the unfortunate fate of following one of the most universally beloved movies of the last 25 years, The Dark Knight Rises is largely viewed as a monumental letdown. Personally, I think the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight saga is absurdly underrated. An abundance of huge action set pieces are badass, a legendary over-the top comic book villain (Tom Hardy's Bane) and the tense, cathartic final act made this the perfect swan song for an epic trilogy that changed the way superheroes movies are perceived forever.

Worst Film: One Day (2011)
It's been so long since I've seen or thought about One Day that it's hard for me to recall much about it. What I do remember is being bored as hell and thoroughly unconvinced that the two main characters (Hathaway, Jim Sturgess) were soulmates brought together by chance as this time-hopping flat romantic melodrama limped along for a little under two hours.

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