Kristen Stewart Ranked

Welcome to the latest edition of "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out related accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Kristen Stewart-whose latest project "Happiest Season" debuts on Hulu on November 25th. 

Kristen Stewart's Filmography Ranked:

13.Snow White and the Huntsman (C) 

12.JT Leroy (C+)

11.Panic Room (C+)

10.Still Alice (B-)

9.Charlie's Angels (B)

8.Jumper (B)

7.Seberg (B)

6.Camp X-Ray (B)

5.Underwater (B)

4.Cafe Society (B)

3.Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (B)

2.Adventureland (B)

1.American Ultra (B+)

Top Dog: American Ultra (2015)

A stoner comedy meets legitimately sweet romance meets frantic, bloody action movie had the potential to be a historic mess, but thanks to a game cast and the surprisingly organic blending of its vastly different genre ingredients, American Ultra ends up being a unique, awesome ride that ranks among the 2010's best B movies. 

Lowlight: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

If mediocrity had a physical form, it might look like Snow White and the Huntsman. Tremendous visual effects and a reliably charismatic turn from Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman get canceled out by a pair of abysmal performances on polar opposite ends of the emotional acting spectrum (a mannequin-esque Stewart as Snow White, a shamelessly overacting Charlize Theron as the evil Queen Ravenna) and a script that never convincingly sells the darker version of this classic story.   

Most Underrated: Underwater (2020)

William Eubank's sci-fi horror flick finally saw the light of day in January nearly three years after it completed filming and it once again proved that a prolonged shelving doesn't always spell doom for a movie's quality. Through its brisk storytelling and claustrophobic, dimly-lit submarine/ocean floor settings, Underwater establishes itself as a tense, atmospheric thriller that never lets up over the course of its very efficient 95-minute runtime.   

Most Overrated: Still Alice (2014)

Still Alice is a classic case of great actors elevating middling material. Without the spirited efforts of Stewart, Alec Baldwin and particularly Julianne Moore-who received an Oscar for her work here- this would've been nothing more than a bland, soapy melodrama about a successful middle-aged woman succumbing to Alzheimer's and even with them, it's just a half decent "prestige" drama.   

Best Example of Her Slept-On Acting Ability: Seberg (2019)

Like many biopics, Seberg is a compelling yet blatantly underdeveloped dramazation of a fascinating story (American actress Jean Seberg's involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal and subsequent donations to groups like the NAACP and Black Panthers that made her a target in an illegal, covert FBI surveillance program known as COINTELPRO). That being said, a career-best turn from Stewart as Seberg makes the film's narrative shortcomings a lot easier to swallow. Stewart does a tremendous job of gradually detailing Seberg's tragic descent from respected, fearlessly confident global superstar to a paranoid, broken woman whose life and career are upended by the shady and downright evil actions of a government agency that went to extraordinary lengths to demonize anyone that was even somewhat prominently involved with the Civil Rights movement.  

Biggest Reinforcement of the Perception That She's A Bad Actor: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

The Twilight franchise has perpetuated a narrative that Stewart is a robotic screen presence with no acting ability. Her first lead role post-Twilight wasn't exactly a compelling argument against that popular take. It was easy to question whether or not she was even fully awake during filming as she turned in a stiff performance as the reimagined warrior version of Snow White that was a big part of why this "gritty" live action reboot of the iconic fairy tale fell flat. 

Popular Target of Right Wing Trolls That's Actually A Pretty Solid Movie: Charlie's Angels (2019)

The latest reboot of Charlie's Angels had the audacity to be more overtly feminist than the previous iterations, so naturally this made it open season for right wing clowns who view women trying to empower other women as a lethal threat to the sanctity of their worldview (if you're in a self-loathing mood, head over to IMDb and read some of the dozens of rage-fueled 1-star reviews). While I'm not going to pretend like Charlie's Angels is some kind of a revelatory entry into the cinematic space or that it doesn't have very notable problems (the attempts at humor are largely weak and the villains all kind of stink) that hold it back, its a perfectly competent action flick with a lot of energy, solid fight scenes and well-matched leads (Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska) that do a good job of selling this iteration's versions of the Angels as colleagues put together by chance whose relationships slowly blossoms into a strong friendship as the story unfolds.