The Best and Worst of John Gallagher Jr.

“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 “Underwater” star John Gallagher Jr.

Films starring John Gallagher Jr. that I've seen:
Whatever Works
Jonah Hex
Short Term 12
10 Cloverfield Lane
The Belko Experiment
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Peppermint
The Best of Enemies 

Best Performance: Short Term 12 (2013)
As terrific as he was in 10 Cloverfield Lane and the vastly underrated The Miseducation of Cameron Post, my introduction to Gallagher Jr. as a performer (I have no recollection of him appearing in Jonah Hex) remains his finest work. His remarkable effort as Mason, the co-head of a temporary foster home for "troubled" teenagers, helps the film's message of being unafraid to open up about your trauma and doing whatever you can to help out people that are dealing with deep-rooted emotional pain hit with tremendous potency.    

Worst Performance: Peppermint (2018)
While Jennifer Garner brings a suitable amount of coldness to the lead role, middling vigilante movie Peppermint wasn't exactly a top-tier acting showcase. Even a terrific character actor like Gallagher Jr. succumbs to the generic nature of the script with a completely phoned-in performance as one of the cops that's assigned to investigate the string of revenge-driven murders Garner's character commits.

Best Film: Short Term 12 (2013)
Looking back on Short Term 12, it's hard not to be wowed by the amount of future stars that we're involved with it. There's a pair of Oscar winners (Brie Larson, Rami Malek), key members of acclaimed television projects (Lakeith Stanfield, Stephanie Beatriz), a writer/director whose about to make a Marvel movie (Destin Daniel Cretton) and a couple of actors (Kaitlyn Dever, Gallagher Jr.) that have quietly solidified themselves as some of the most reliably strong performers in the industry. The upward career trajectories of all these individuals isn't a shock as Short Term 12 was a damn near flawless drama. Courtesy of Cretton's grounded direction/storytelling and the awards-caliber performances of everyone involved, Short Term 12 tackles a variety of difficult subject matters (suicide, sexual abuse, grief, depression) with honesty, grace and compassion.  

Worst Film: Jonah Hex (2010)
A western/superhero hybrid about a disfigured bounty hunter that has the ability to temporarily resurrect the dead should've been badass as hell. Instead, Jonah Hex proved to be an uneven clusterfuck of epic proportions with a committed performance from Josh Brolin as the title character being the only thing that prevented it from going further down the shit highway. Given the immense potential of its premise, hopefully Warner Brothers/DC will give Jonah Hex another crack at the big screen someday.


Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Bad Boys for Life” star Martin Lawrence.