Margot Robbie 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 Margot Robbie-whose latest project "Wuthering Heights" releases in theaters tomorrow. 

Margot Robbie's Filmography Ranked:

16.The Legend of Tarzan (D)

15.About Time (D)

14.Asteroid City (C-)

13.A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (C-)

12.Amsterdam (B-)

11.Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (B-)

10.Suicide Squad (B-)

9.Bombshell (B)

8.Focus (B)

7.The Wolf of Wall Street (B+)

6.Babylon (B+)

5.Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (B+)

4.The Suicide Squad (A)

3.I, Tonya (A)

2.Barbie (A)

1.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... (A)

Top Dog: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... (2019)

I'm pretty confident that Quentin Tarantino will never direct another movie thanks to his absurd insistence on only making 10 movies (he's technically already put out 10, but he moved the goalposts since he views Kill Bill as one movie). If that proves to be the case, at least he went out with a bang with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... There's an easygoing hangout buddy movie vibe driving this sprawling 60's-set LA story here that is just infectious and the incredible collection of performances he gets from this loaded cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Robbie, Margaret Qualley and then 19-year-old Mikey Madison being the top standouts) is impressive even by Tarantino's lofty standards. I'm very curious to see what David Fincher does with the pseudo-sequel The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which appears to be releasing sometime this year after Netflix surprise dropped the first teaser during the Super Bowl.

Bottom Feeder: The Legend of Tarzan (2015)

As I was leaving a showing of The Moment last night (review coming tomorrow), I started to think about whether or not Alexander Skarsgard has ever turned in a bad performance. About 90 seconds later, I remembered The Legend of Tarzan and this exercise came to a swift end. In fairness to Skarsgard, it wasn't really his fault that he stunk as Tarzan. The material was so boring and ridiculous that neither he nor his co-stars (Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Honsou, Jim Broadbent) really stood a chance. Anyways, this is easily among the worst studio movies of the 2010's in my eyes and I'd never even consider watching it again unless I was dealing with a weapons-grade case of insomnia.  

Most Underrated: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

While I'm not quite as high on Birds of Prey now as I was when it came out six years ago this month, I still think it's a great movie that is probably the single most underrated superhero movie of this decade. It does a terrific job of creating a vibe that mimics the colorful, chaotic personality of Harley Quinn, the fight choreography is super creative, and Robbie's delightfully hyperactive, freewheeling performance is her most inspired take on Quinn thus far.

Most Overrated: About Time (2013)

One of the movie takes I've gotten the most shit for over the years is calling About Time a borderline predatory love story given how it uses its time travel conceit to set up its main romance. I still wholeheartedly stand by this take. Beyond the main character being a pathetic, manipulative shitbag, Richard Curtis' signature schmaltzy romantic dramedy writing is on full display here and it's just as insufferable as it was in Love Actually. The only reason that I don't think About Time is quite as shit as Love Actually is Rachel McAdams-who remains charming as hell despite the colossal failures of everything around her radiant presence.