Mary Elizabeth Winstead Ranked

Welcome to Ranked: Where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted relevant accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Mary Elizabeth Winstead-whose latest project "Kate" arrives on Netflix this Friday.  

Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Filmography Ranked:

17.A Good Day to Die Hard (C-)

16.Swiss Army Man (C)

15.The Thing (B-)

14.Gemini Man (B)

13.Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (B)

12.Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (B)

11.Final Destination 3 (B)

10.Death Proof (B)

9.Faults (B)

8.The Hollars (B+)

7.All About Nina (B+)

6.Kill the Messenger (A-)

5.Live Free or Die Hard (A-)

4.10 Cloverfield Lane (A-)

3.Smashed (A-)

2.Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (A-)

1.The Spectacular Now (A)

Top Dog: The Spectacular Now (2013)

The ever popular coming-of-age drama genre received one of its most unconventional and refreshingly realistic entries of the past decade just over 8 years ago with The Spectacular Now. Courtesy of some incredible acting from its pitch perfect ensemble cast (Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Lason Leigh, Winstead) and a subtly powerful script that relies on understated emotion and painful truths to tell its story of young love and trying to find a way to cope with the hereditary pain of addiction, James Ponsoldt was able to create a bittersweet film with a big heart and meditative soul. 

Lowlight: A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

As Bruce Willis has made his sad, steep decline to the lowest bowels of shoddy VOD moviemaking, the first seeds of his solemn late career downturn were planted when he appeared in A Good Day to Die Hard. An asleep at the wheel Willis looks thoroughly uninterested in doing anything besides collecting a check during his fifth (and hopefully final) go-round as John McClane, and the story, action and supporting characters are all too lifelessly generic to compensate for one of the most charismatic action stars of all time deciding to call it a career without actually retiring from the gig that he so clearly hates doing at this point in time. 

Most Underrated: Smashed (2012)

Winstead is a criminally underrated actor whose starred in a number of criminally underrated projects over her lengthy career in the business (All About Nina, Faults and the aforementioned The Spectacular Now are just a few of the movies of hers that I would give that label to). So what makes Smashed stand out from that crowded field? Simple: Winstead's fearless, profound performance as an alcoholic elementary school teacher who tries to get sober after being caught engaging in some deeply troubling behavior while intoxicated and the film's portrayal of alcoholism is more unflinchingly honest about the reckless, monstrous behavior it can bring out of people and the sheer depth of the damage it can cause the person and the people that are in their orbit than any other film I've seen about the subject.    

Most Overrated: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

While Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a perfectly fine video game-inspired action comedy full of actors that I genuinely love (Michael Cera, Winstead, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Chris Evans),  it's too quirky and indebted to video game culture for me to enjoy it to the same degree as its legions of very vocal hardcore fans do.

The DCU's 1st True Triumph: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

About 14 months after Aquaman started to finally turn the tide (no pun intended) for the embattled DC Films brand (otherwise known as the DCU), Birds of Prey came along and delivered the emphatic slice of excellence that they so desperately needed. Director Cathy Yan and writer Christina Hodson crafted a playful, chaotic sandbox for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn to frolic in and that frantic, vibrant blueprint allows for a deliriously brutal and deeply colorful R-rated action romp that mimics the personality of its heroine to effortlessly emerge. 

Worst Execution of A Genius Premise: Swiss Army Man (2016)

A film that features Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse should've been a delightfully unhinged absurdist comedy, but Swiss Army Man is ultimately too strange and sneakily creepy to milk very many laughs out of its gloriously goofy premise.