Joey Magidson
This weekend, The Fall Guy hits theaters, giving audiences their first look at Emily Blunt post-Oscar nomination. Last year, Oppenheimer earned her raves, alongside that first Academy Award nomination, in Best Supporting Actress. This got me thinking about Blunt, and lo and behold, another ranking piece was born!
In my review of The Fall Guy (here), I spoke of her performance alongside Ryan Gosling like so:
While Gosling gets the best material and the most screen time, Emily Blunt is great as well, having a blast being in a power position. Blunt and Gosling also have terrific chemistry
Below, you can see how Blunt’s top turns stack up for me. A lot of the list likely will be films and performances you expect, but I’m also a guy who’s going to go to bat for things like The Adjustment Bureau and Your Sister’s Sister. Those movies are not just underrated in and of themselves, they represent some top tier Blunt work. Where does The Fall Guy, as well as Oppenheimer, rank for her? Find out next…
Here now are what I consider to be the best performances so far from Emily Blunt. Take a look:
Honorable Mention: Into the Woods, Jungle Cruise, Looper, Sunshine Cleaning, and The Young Victoria
10. The Adjustment Bureau
9. Edge of Tomorrow
8. The Fall Guy
7. A Quiet Place Part II
6. The Five Year Engagement
5. Your Sister’s Sister
4. The Devil Wears Prada
3. Oppenheimer
2. Sicario
1. A Quiet Place
What is your favorite performance from Emily Blunt? Let us know!
You have Sicario at both 2 and 7. (I’d put it at 1.)
Check again, should be fixed, and it’s nearly number one for me!
Oh wow, it’s been a while since you’ve put out a ranking list that looks dramatically different from mine…
It’s interesting, looking back at her twenty-year film acting career, her entire “star persona” and early work seemed to point her in the direction of a Carey Mulligan or Emily Watson type of career; typecast as Classy Attractive British Lady who finds herself in mostly adult dramas that get a lot of awards.
But she… genuinely seems to prefer doing popcorn spectacles (as long as they’re not superheroes) and action movies? Oppenheimer (which became an accidental smash hit summer blockbuster) and The Girl on the Train (which… sucks) are the exceptions to a career marked mostly by movies like The Fall Guy and Edge of Tomorrow and Jungle Cruise and Mary Poppins Returns To Celebrate Capitalism For Some Reason.
Not criticizing her for that, of course. It’s just interesting to see someone who probably could have been nominated for multiple Oscars by now for several dozen respectable middlebrow dramas that premiere in New York and Los Angeles in the first week of December before expanding in the second week of January proactively decide on a more populist filmography instead.
She has definitely opted to pursue a certain type of career. Definitely a shame she’s not more of a prestige actress, but she’s got the goods.
Still haven’t seen the Fall Guy. It’s obviously all dependent on the year and other performances but the only nomination I’d give her is for Devil Wears Prada…but as you can see below that is not her best performance for me…she was probably 6th for me in the Sicario year and very close last year and the Your Sisters Sister year.
H/M – Edge of Tomorrow, Into The Woods, Sunshine Cleaning, Young Victoria
Solid list!
Love her!
10.Into The Woods
9.A Quiet Place II
8.Oppenheimer
7.Mary Poppins Returns
6.The Fall Guy
5.The Girl On The Train
4.The Devil Wears Prada
3.A Quiet Place
2.Sicario
1.Sunshine Cleaning
Well done!