The Best and Worst of Emma Roberts

“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 “The Hunt” star Emma Roberts.

Films starring Emma Roberts that I've seen:
Blow
The Winning Season
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Scream 4
The Art of Getting By
Celeste and Jesse Forever
We're the Millers
Empire State
Adult World
Nerve

Best Performance: Nerve (2016)
I'm still stunned that this modest, well-reviewed hit didn't launch Roberts to the next level of stardom. Her towering, confident presence and strong rapport she possesses with co-lead Dave Franco provided Nerve with the strong base it needed to become an engrossing thriller.

Worst Performance: Empire State (2013)
By playing an inconsequential side character that has less than 10 minutes of screen time, Roberts ends up being one of the best parts of this lousy, little-seen crime saga about a group of young men (Liam Hemsworth, Michael Angarano, Greg Vrostos, Jerry Ferrara) who orchestrate a massive robbery of cash from a sloppily-ran armored truck company by default. If the script had found a way to better utilize Roberts' real movie star magnetism in a film that was awfully light on engaging actors, Empire State might've been a little more bearable.

Best Film: We're the Millers (2013)
This raunchfest about a low level weed dealer (Jason Sudekis) having to hire a group of misfits he knows (Jennifer Aniston, Roberts, Will Poulter) to pose as his family in order to smuggle an RV full of product across the border from Mexico was one of the stronger comedies of the 2010's. The convincingly dysfunctional makeshift family dynamic along with the outrageous scenarios that arise during their journey make this an inspired, hilarious ride that is fun to rewatch.  

Worst Film: Empire State (2013)
A heist movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Hunger Games-era Liam Hemsworth choosing to bypass theaters doesn't inspire a lot of confidence about the quality of the project. Empire State spends about 99% of its runtime proving that Lionsgate made the right decision by banishing it to VOD purgatory. From top to bottom, this is a woefully inept film that is poorly paced, thinly written and features an abundance of obnoxious characters that I wanted to see get arrested or killed just so they would disappear from the god damn screen.  

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “A Quiet Place Part II” star Emily Blunt.