The Best and Worst of Anna Kendrick (2019)

“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 Day Shall Come” star Anna Kendrick.

Films starring Anna Kendrick that I've seen:
Up in the Air
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
50/50
End of Watch
Pitch Perfect
Cake
The Voices
Pitch Perfect 2
Get a Job
Mr. Right
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
The Hollars
The Accountant 
Table 19
Pitch Perfect 3
A Simple Favor

Best Performance: A Simple Favor (2018)
While a string of increasingly insane plot twists in the final act made A Simple Favor a pretty frustrating watch on the whole, Kendrick's performance goes a long way in preventing Paul Feig's darkly comedic mystery thriller from completely falling apart.  Kendrick brings an ideal combination of charm and unassuming menace to a bubbly, seemingly perfect single mother whose long-hidden dark secrets come to light once she strikes up an unexpected friendship with another mother (the similarly fantastic Blake Lively) at her kid's school.    

Worst Performance: The Accountant (2016)
Like every actor with this project outside of Ben Affleck, Kendrick is done in by an absurd, scattershot script that isn't sure whether to treat her character as collateral damage in a major criminal scheme or a love interest to Affleck's titular autistic math wizard/hitman.

Best Film: 50/50 (2011)
In a development that should shock absolutely no one who is familiar with my work, I'm going to be pumping out a whole lot of 2010's retrospective content once 2019 wraps up. Even though the brainstorming process has just kicked off, I can confirm that 50/50 will be featured on at least one of those lists. Not only does it handle battling cancer in a grounded way that never feels contrived or melodramatic, it's also funny as hell and is toplined by the most powerful performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's career to-date.

Worst Film: The Voices (2015)
Dark comedy can be a tricky genre to pull off and despite boasting a solid premise (an upbeat schizophrenic man slowly gives into his evil delusions after accidently killing his co-worker) and talented cast (Ryan Reynolds, Kendrick, Gemma Arterton, Jacki Weaver) that is up for tackling gleefully sadistic material, The Voices ends up falling completely on its face. The script's failure to establish a tone that adds even a bit of lightness to offset the heavy dose of morbidity results in The Voices being far more off-putting than it is funny.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Joker” star Joaquin Phoenix. 

The Best and Worst of Anna Kendrick

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" star Anna Kendrick.

Films starring Anna Kendrick that I've seen:
Up in the Air
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
50/50
End of Watch
Pitch Perfect
Cake
The Voices
Pitch Perfect 2
Mr. Right

Best Performance: Up in the Air (2009)
The role that brought Kendrick into the limelight and earned her an Academy Award nomination also happens to be her finest work to-date. Kendrick is sensational and almost eerily believable as a naive, young HR professional who is forced to accompany a seasoned veteran co-worker (George Clooney) on a serious of trips to fire unsuspecting people from their jobs. The magnetic presence and effortless charm Kendrick displayed here instantly established her as an actress to watch and was pivotal in her eventual rise to the A-list with the Pitch Perfect series and Into the Woods.

Worst Performance: Cake (2014)
Picking a worst performance for Kendrick is difficult. Even in the weaker films she's appeared in, her likability is so infectious that you can't really criticize her. Her thankless role in the Jennifer Aniston-led drama Cake marks the only time where her presence failed to elevate a film. Kendrick's character-who dies before the film starts and is only seen as a hallucination- merely serves as a plot device to help Aniston's character through the immense grief she's experienced for years and could've easily been removed without any serious narrative ramifications. 

Best Film: 50/50 (2011)
50/50 is one of, if not the single most underrated film of this decade. Making a film centered around cancer that manages to be laugh-out-loud funny and emotionally-resonant without resorting to cliche, over-the-top melodrama is no small feat. Aside from the film's stellar writing, the acting from Seth Rogen, Kendrick and Joseph Gordon-Levitt-who should've won an Oscar for his performance in the leading role- is absolutely sensational. 50/50 is a must-see for anyone that's been personally effected by cancer or is looking to see a film that approaches battling the disease in a unique, optimistic way.  

Worst Film: The Voices (2015)
Despite boasting an impressive cast led by Ryan Reynolds, Kendrick and Jacki Weaver and an interesting premise (a schizophrenic man whose internal voices manifest in the forms of his pet cat and dog goes on an unintended killing spree after accidentally killing a co-worker in a car accident), The Voices manages to be one of the weakest attempts at black comedy I've ever seen. The Voices commits the ultimate unforgivable black comedy sin by mistaking over-the-top morbidity for cleverness and it results in a film that is plenty twisted, but completely unfunny and unpleasant to sit through.

Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "Ghostbusters" star Kristen Wiig.