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Every Emma Stone Movie Performance, Ranked

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Emma Stone has said her idol, and role model, equally an actress is Diane Keaton, and information technology makes full sense: At present that you're thinking about it, information technology'southward difficult non to connect them, correct? Like Keaton, Stone is instantly likable, dazzlingly funny — you lot can brand an argument she's a comedienne first and foremost — and relatable while never losing that star wattage. In the span of a decade, she went from making her debut (in Superbad) to being a dearest Hollywood fixture and an Oscar-winner to boot. But besides like Keaton, information technology's not hard to imagine her expanding on this, pushing herself while never losing that inherent affability. She's 1 of us while existence the best of us … which is an excellent definition of a picture star.

In this calendar week'south Cruella, which she plays Estella, a little thief who will become the supervillain we know and honey from the 101 Dalmatians films. It'southward the latest wrinkle from an actress who has been game for anything, whether it's playing straight comedy, wacky supporting roles, or femme fatales. Information technology's going to be extremely fun updating this list as the years go forward — after all, look where Keaton went. Who'south to say Stone tin can't go just as far … or farther?

Here are her 21 roles, ranked. We omitted bit parts — though we love her in Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping — and phonation roles (although she's awfully fun in The Croods). Information technology's been a pretty great career already.

Information technology's insane to think there was a time in homo existence that Bradley Cooper, Josh Gad, Christine Applegate, Jane Lynch, Jason Sudeikis, Will Arnett, Fred Armisen, Aziz Ansari, Demetri Martin, Keir Gilchrist and Emma Stone all played supporting characters in a picture show that starred Rainn Wilson, but, hey, 2008 was quite a year. Stone has a thankless, off-make role as a moping member of a teenage rock ring who drafts a old drummer in a Metallica-esque band (Wilson) to fill in then they can play their school prom. This thing is junky — and it's not Wilson'due south fault he has to do so much heavy lifting, in his underwear no less — and Rock escapes nobility intact, barely, from the wreckage.

Stone spent two years trying out the role of Woody Allen's mod muse, not unlike Scarlett Johansson the decade before, but her stint didn't come with whatsoever Match Point–style quantum: The ii movies she made with Allen were amid the director's most formulaic work. She struggles specially here as a "mystic" who performs illusions and inspires a cynical fellow wizard (Colin Firth), briefly, to append his disbelief. Certain actors do good from Allen'south hands-off approach, but Stone might not be one of them. She looks lost and flailing about of the time, forced to carry style too much of the narrative and the film's attempts at amuse. Stone isn't necessarily to blame — Magic in the Moonlight is a small-scale trifle, even for late-career Allen — just this but isn't a great fit.

If you don't remember Gangster Squad, information technology's the other nostalgic, old-school-Hollywood-themed picture show in which Stone plays an aspiring extra who moves to Los Angeles to get famous and falls in dearest with Ryan Gosling. Of her three collaborations with Gosling, this 1 is easily the worst. A limp attempt at recapturing the snarl and sex appeal of a bygone era'southward gangster pictures, the film mostly feels similar an excuse for big names to play dress upward in fedoras. Rock isn't terrible as Grace, the girlfriend of an infamous crime boss (Sean Penn) who starts to have feelings for the cop (Gosling) who'south helping to bring him down. But despite the timeless nature of her appeal in nigh roles — yous get the sense that she could have been a star in any era — she doesn't quite convince as a noir-ish love interest.

Stone only actually has one scene here, but it's a airheaded, fun ane: She gets to break up with Justin Timberlake and then get out the movie all together. Information technology's worth noting that her male person counterpart, the guy breaking up with Mila Kunis, is Andy Samberg. Stone is conspicuously here every bit comic relief, and it's telling that the pic (ostensibly a comedy) trusts her to comport that responsibleness on her ain. Stone and Samberg would have the opportunity to reconnect a few years later on with her cameo in Popstar, and even though that office is too slight to make this list, it's even funnier. ("Turn upwardly the beef!")

The better of Stone'south ii Woody Allen films, Irrational Human finds her playing a bright, impressionable higher student who's smitten with her brilliant, morose philosophy professor (Joaquin Phoenix), who starts developing feelings for her, as well. If Magic in the Moonlight was Stone'southward risk at a frothy Allen menses comedy, Irrational Man is more Crimes and Misdemeanors, analyzing morality, guilt, and the absence of God in the midst of a murder plot. Stone'southward role is crucial — she comes to empathise but how troubled and dangerous her teacher is, and must take action — but the actress doesn't bring plenty gravitas to this drama. Her effervescence gets reduced to blandness in Allen's movies, which ultimately feels more similar his issue than hers.

Our balmy defense force of Stone's notorious casting as Allison Ng, an Air Force captain whose father is half-Hawaiian and half-Chinese, is that office of the joke of the grapheme is that she loves bragging about her ethnically diverse background — even though she looks like, well, Emma Stone. But that joke, similar many in Aloha, isn't particularly good, and it likewise doesn't help that Stone plays Allison with a little too much earnest adorableness, never establishing much of a rapport with Bradley Cooper's spiritually adrift military machine contractor. (That'south a problem, considering they're supposed to autumn in beloved.) Stone has since apologized for her part in the whitewashed casting, satirizing herself during a 2015 SNL skit in which she auditions for Star Wars based on her ability to play Asian characters. It's a sign of how flawed Aloha is that its all-time moment comes when Stone dances with Beak Murray to Hall and Oates' "I Can't Go for That (No Tin can Practice)." She'd show off more trip the light fantastic moves in a meliorate picture a yr later.

A rambling, moody, mostly ho-hum middle-aged-white-guy-in-crisis movie almost a blocked writer (Jeff Daniels) with an imaginary superhero friend (Ryan Reynolds), Paper Man only comes to life when Stone is onscreen as a teenage girl who befriends this distressing-sack after losing her twin sister. Daniels is morose and whiny and Reynolds is hammy and over-the-height, which allows Stone to steal the movie, giving information technology its only modicum of zest and soul. She's too skillful to be the fantasy of some old white guys, and soon, she wouldn't have to exist.

This star-studded Kentucky Fried Motion-picture show homage — seriously, how did this movie get Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Chris Pratt, Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, and Richard Gere? — only has ii decent segments. Ane is a cruel but admirably strange joke on homeschooling starring Watts and Liev Schreiber, and the other is a gonzo scene in which Stone and Kieran Culkin exchange supercharged sexual banter in a grocery store over the intercom. It's every bit dumb every bit everything else in this movie, merely both Culkin and Rock play it perfectly. Check out the fashion Stone says, "He was a wizard, Neil!" We're withal laughing.

The Marc Webb–Andrew Garfield reboot of the Spider-Man series was pretty much dead on inflow — this might be the least-inspired comic-volume sequel since Fantastic Four: Rising of the Silvery Surfer — but the one thing that does work is the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Garfield and Stone were dating in existent life during the pic, and it's telling that the picture show substantially stops every time they get-go talking to each other: They're incredibly charming. Unfortunately, the comic-book gods must exist fed, and thus, the lousiness of the rest of the movie and the end of a franchise amour that, all told, Stone is probably pleased to be rid of.

Stone plays the actual ghost-girlfriend of the title — a character named Allison who visits Matthew McConaughey'south slick bachelor and shows him the error of his ways with the women in his by. She has crazy wigged-out hair and braces, only she's besides quick and goofy in a manner that McConaughey isn't: This was right before the McConaissance, back when he was nonetheless mailing in stuff like this. Information technology's a modest part, only Stone makes it count. When the pic is looking for a last joke beat at the end, it goes back to her, the one person who consistently provided them.

A petty more 10 years after killing her first starring vehicle (Easy A), Cruella demonstrates how far Stone has come. Playing the hereafter Cruella de Vil in an origin story nobody asked for, she's at the height of her motion picture-star powers every bit she rocks a British accent and struts through scenes every bit her glammed-out alter ego, happily wrapping the film effectually her finger. It'southward a showy operation, but because there remains something so cocky-effacing and charming virtually her, it's never overindulgent — y'all'll get a kick out of how much of a ball she's having. Unfortunately … this is an origin story nobody asked for, and the filmmakers have given her so picayune to work with that she has to exercise all the heavy lifting herself. This may be the first time that 1 of her films was besides small-scale to contain her.

One of the about underrated and endlessly rewatchable comedies of the last 15 years, The Business firm Bunny is and so stupid/funny/sweet that it's impossible to resist. That's especially true of Stone as Natalie, a delightfully nerdy fellow member of a loser sorority that'due south transformed past the dim-bulb beauty Shelley (Anna Faris), who's been kicked out of the Playboy Mansion. This geek-to-chic comedy was meant to be Faris' large breakthrough, but Stone holds her own as the nerdy straight woman to Shelley'southward ditzy, kindhearted stupidity. They're a terrifically funny pair as Stone perfected her adorkable persona just every bit major stardom beckoned.

Ane of the reasons you like Jonah Hill's Seth in this motion picture — even though he'due south disgusting, he says horrible things virtually women, and he can't fifty-fifty steal a keg properly — is because of the great taste he has in his idealized crush. Stone'due south Jules is smarter and kinder than everyone else in the movie. She has her shit together, withal she's just silly enough to discover Seth sort of charming, in spite of herself. This was her first motion picture function. Who wouldn't want to see more?

If this irritatingly cutesy rom-com had focused more on Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's story line, we would have liked it a lot more. The rest of the picture show strains to be profound well-nigh how screwy love can be, but she's a delight as Hannah, a goody-goody police force-schoolhouse grad who decides she's had it with her noncommittal boyfriend and takes a chance on Jacob, a seductive womanizer who's blessed to look like Ryan Gosling. Like several Rock roles, Crazy, Stupid, Honey. allows her to start off every bit slightly nerdy before she gets to show off her wilder side — which, naturally, is still kinda nerdy simply very endearing. Hannah may be uptight, but she's funny as hell, and Stone's wiseass attitude is on great display when she convinces him to take off his shirt, losing her mind afterward she finally checks out his abs. The highlight of the movie comes later in the aforementioned scene, when Stone and Gosling copy Muddy Dancing'due south most famous moment (with the assistance of a torso double). It's low-cal on its anxiety, merely also very sexy.

This is another supporting role, just she brings her no-nonsense, brash-but-then-fun persona to the side by side level every bit ane of the few survivors of the zombie holocaust, foraging throughout the bombed-out landscape with Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson. (And Bill Murray, of grade.) This is a pocket-size part, but she makes it a major i: She grabs the funky, off-kilter Zombieland and ramps it up into something soulful and warm. Information technology was exciting to watch a star beingness born — while the best you tin say virtually the ill-advised sequel is that, even though she was by then mode too famous to be doing something similar this, she even so seemed to requite information technology her goofy all.

Tate Taylor's surprise monster striking could take been cloying and white-savior-y — and at times it is — only Stone grounds it with her ability to play characters who are spiral-ups and awkward and gangly but also glamorous and more capable than just about everyone else around them. Impressively, she knows when to step aside and cede to her co-stars, giving Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, and Jessica Chastain the room they need to pb the movie … before reeling information technology dorsum in to keep the flick centered. Information technology'due south a quietly impressive performance, and the marker of a true star.

Rock couldn't have known at the time — Battle of the Sexes was shot earlier La La Land's awards entrada really got rolling — but this crowd-pleasing biopic is the perfect soft landing after that Oscar-winning game changer. Here, she plays Billie Jean King, the all-time player in women's lawn tennis in the early 1970s, who decides that she and her tour mates shouldn't exist paid so much less than their male counterparts. The film is a feminist parable that tin sometimes be too rah-rah — favoring sentiment over nuance — but Stone supplies the heart, showing us a woman fighting for equality but as well wrestling with her sexuality, getting involved with a beautiful barber (Andrea Riseborough) but keeping the relationship nether wraps for fear of angering fans and promoters. In future years, Battle of the Sexes may be the movie we point to where Stone pivoted away from her more adorable roles to something a little more than grown-upwardly and weary. Her King is intelligent and cutting, merely she'southward likewise a person who seems to be looking for something simply out of achieve, which gives the performance real poignancy. Stone and Riseborough'due south tentative romance is sensual in a relaxed way; it'south the motion picture's emotional centerpiece. And when Male monarch finally faces off with that showboating Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) in the finale, Stone guides her grapheme to an ending that'southward more than emotional and tempered than one might expect — even if you know how their match ended up in real life.

Stone received her first Oscar nomination for this Best Motion picture winner, playing Michael Keaton'southward prickly girl Sam, who's a recovering aficionado and a hell of a flirt. Birdman was a major changeup for Stone: She'd done other dramas, only she'd never seemed this dangerous. Shedding her cutie-pie image, Stone convincingly berates her graphic symbol's delusional father, and so practically steals the movie during a rooftop scene with Edward Norton's vain leading human being. In a film that, for better and for worse, is a celebration of flashy virtuosity, Stone is a stealth missile, blowing up every scene she'due south in.

As a rule, we tend not to get hung up on and then-chosen category fraud when it comes to which actor gets positioned as the lead for Oscar consideration. That said, as great every bit Olivia Colman is in The Favourite, technically speaking Emma Rock's grapheme, the conniving Abigail, is the real main character, driving the action forward and worming her manner into the Queen's heart (and bed). The edginess that Stone brought to her role in Birdman was sharpened for this film, resulting in a darkly comic turn that's also surprisingly touching. (As much every bit Abigail is using Queen Anne, she does have some sympathy for this ailing, lone woman.) Much has been made of the fact that Yorgos Lanthimos' spiky one-act is like an 18th-century All About Eve, which means Stone is in the Anne Baxter role, and it's delicious watching this poisonous schemer get exactly what she wants — and even so receive the comeuppance that she so richly deserves.

This teen riff on The Red Letter was Rock'south offset starring role, and she subsequently admitted that the stress of making it led to many sleepless nights. You lot'd never know from watching the breezy, sneakily emotional Easy A, which is the epitome of Stone's sweetness-and-spiky persona. She plays Olive, a precocious, misfit 17-year-old who lies most losing her virginity, which suddenly makes her unexpectedly popular. Even when the moving picture's inspiration starts to flag, Olive is such a likable, original teenager — smart merely sensitive, funny merely vulnerable — that she's similar a magnet pulling yous into the screen.

Many actors win their Oscar for a part that'southward not shut to their finest work. Happily, that'due south not the case with Emma Stone. She'south never been ameliorate than she was as Mia, a struggling young actress who's trying to find herself just every bit she falls for a suave jazz pianist (Gosling, again). La La Land has been debated, dissected, mocked, and scorned, but the film'south many critics oasis't really complained about Stone. That's because she'southward perfect: Hollywood is total of starlets, but none have just the correct combination of wide-eyed optimism, snarky wit, and gal-next-door sugariness that Stone brought to the performance. Which moment in this cornball, bittersweet musical won her the Best Actress Oscar? Was information technology when she and Gosling tap-trip the light fantastic toe in the Hollywood Hills, or when they swirl among the stars at the Griffith Observatory? Was information technology the teary speech where Mia admits that maybe she's non talented enough to brand it? All are indelible, but the answer has to be "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)," in which Mia gives the casting directors (and the audience) a 4-minute primer on her hopes, fears, and upbringing. Correct there, you lot see an extra who is finally tapping into the greatness that'due south always been inside her, merely dying to come out. That applies to Mia as much as information technology does Stone, who, with La La Land, turned her lovable, indomitable spirit into something timeless.

Grierson & Leitch write well-nigh the movies regularly and host a podcast on film . Follow them on Twitter or visit their site .

Every Emma Stone Movie, Ranked