Shailene Woodley Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Shailene Woodley-whose latest project "Ferrari" is in theaters now.

Shailene Woodley's Filmography Ranked:

13.Allegiant (C)

12.Adrift (C+)

11.The Mauritanian (B-)

10.To Catch a Killer (B-)

9.Dumb Money (B)

8.The Fallout (B)

7.Snowden (B)

6.Insurgent (B)

5.White Bird in a Blizzard (B)

4.The Fault in Our Stars (B)

3.Divergent (B)

2.The Spectacular Now (A)

1.The Descendants (A)

Top Dog: The Descendants (2011)

Prior to The Holdovers, The Descendants was my favorite movie from Alexander Payne. It's the rare human drama about loss, grief, etc. that understands that moments of side-splitting situational comedy occur while navigating such a heavy situation, the performances from George Clooney and Woodley as an estranged father and daughter that are having a hard time keeping their family together during a trying time in their lives are stunning career highlights that should've earned them a truckload of gold statues and it captures the singular beauty of Hawaii better than almost any other movie I've seen.  

Bottom Feeder: Allegiant (2016)

Disjointed and pretty light on compelling drama, Allegiant is a fairly underwhelming conclusion to the Divergent franchise that has become kind of an unintentionally hilarious movie since they never made the final installment on account of how poorly it performed at the box office. 

Most Underrated: The Spectacular Now (2013)

This coming-of-age gem that came out in the very early days of A24's distribution operation (6 months in to be exact) is a sweet yet melancholic romantic drama about the blossoming of an unlikely relationship between a popular boy (Miles Teller) and loner girl (Shailene Woodley) during their senior year of high school. Every character and the decisions they make feels completely real, Teller and Woodley are an exceptionally well-matched pair that pour every ounce of their heart into their performances and the supporting cast full of familiar faces (Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bob Odenkirk, Kaitlyn Dever) are almost as terrific as the leads.     

Most Overrated: None 

I considered selecting The Fault in Our Stars for a minute, but the acting and its ability to make tearjerking YA melodrama about as earnest as it can possibly is far too strong for me to dub that movie overrated. At the end of the day, Woodley's filmography has too many unsung indies and mainstream titles with lukewarm-to-mildly positive reception in it for her to have anything that really fits the criteria here.