Posterized: Reese Witherspoon
Saturday, December 20, 2014 at 3:36PM 
Pink is also her signature colorWe haven't done a Reese episode of Posterized yet?
I OBJECT!
America's one time sweetheart (we go through them rapidly) is currently courting hearts again, albeit in much thornier and more adult settings. She's uptight and deskbound, if not quite straight-laced, as Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball in Inherent Vice and wandering and raggedy as the grieving Cheryl Strayed on the Pacific Crest Trail in Wild. The latter is expected to bring her Nomination #2 for Best Actress (more on that category tomorrow) and the former reunites her with Joaquin Phoenix, who helped her to Oscar win #1 in Walk the Line.
Since her Oscar win, Reese has been doing her own sort of wandering... away from the A list. Not really -- you can't really rub that off you when you're as charismatic as she! But a wandering away from something. The films weren't grabbing people and Reese didn't seem as dazzingly invested. Apparently she'll be discussing her career's most quiet period tomorrow night on 60 Minutes claiming that post-Phillipe-divorce (2008)...
I spent a few years just trying to feel better ... you can't really be creative when you feel like your brain is scrambled eggs,
Hence this year's "Reeseurgence" which had a wee preamble with the indies Mud and The Devil's Knot last year. Wild went wide this weekend adding over 900 screens (I love it and hope you'll go see it) and it seems like a great time to glance back as Reese makes such a memory-filled trek onscreen...
HOW MANY HAVE YOU SEEN?
Reese's filmography in chronological poster form after the jump
The Child Star Years (1991-1993)
Man in the Moon (more dazzling debuts are difficult to find), A Far Off Place and Jack the Bear
Teen Stardom (1994-1998)
Friskier roles with a few classy supporting gigs (aka chances to work with major older actors like Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman)
Emergent Superstar (1999-2001)
From the Madame Tourvel Jr. role in Cruel Intentions through the shoulda-been-Oscar-nominated comic brilliance of Election through to her superstar success as Elle Woods, Reese was on fire.
Reese On Top (2002-2006)
With A list careers it's sometimes one slow heavily applauded, money showered walk to your coronation (Walk the Line) and the ocassional flops disappear quickly in the consciousness
Diminishing Returns (2006-2012)
Penelope, Rendition, Four Christmases, How Do You Know, Water for Elephants, This Means War... Four Christmases made big bank but was anyone happy with this string of releases (including Reese herself?)
The Reeseurgence (2013-2014)
Are you enjoying it?
How many have you seen and which that you missed would you love to catch up with?
Reader Comments (50)
I've seen most of these except for This Means War which I refuse to see as well as some of her recent films with the exception of Mud which I like and I'm eager to see Inherent Vice.
She's had a rather odd career, you have to admit. I have seen 14 of her films and easily the worst would be This Means War - What were any of them thinking? Seriously - they're all so much better than that! My favourite would easily be Election but I thought she was actually really good in American Psycho and I have a soft spot for both Sweet Home Alabama and Four Christmases - DON'T judge, its only because it strikes a chord with me and my christmas experience every year ha.
I always wondered why she was choosing odd period star vehiclesfor a while? Vanity Fair & The Importance of Being Earnest strike me as being really odd choices for Reese because she's the defnition of a modern movie star, not a period queen. Realy looking forward to Wild though, that's the sort of thing she should be doing!
PS have you done a Nicole one of these yet?
Woops - I clearly forgot to stop the italics. forgive the rave :D
I can't believe I've only seen 8!
Legally Blonde
Sweet Home Alabama
Legally Blonde 2
Vanity Fair
Just Like Heaven
This Means War
Mud
Devil's Knot
I'll add Wild, Inherent Vice and The Good Lie when they come out here (UK) though!
I'm surprised that I've seen 16! Favorite? Legally Blonde. Worst? Four Christmases with Vanity Fair right on its heels.
Probably seeing Wild tonight :)
Also, I love "The Reeseurgence". Clever.
Don't say I'm crazy, but How Do You Know is a freaking M A S T E R P I E C E
Favorites: Cruel Intentions, Pleasantville and Election... Sweet Home Alabama isn't so bad either.
Cal - I wouldn't go as far as masterpiece, but that film (and Reese's performance in it) are so underrated, and I've always been a defender of it.
morgan i don't believe i ever did Nicole -- mostly because she makes too many movies. it would take hours and hours to make the post ;) closest i got was Naomi recently ;)
12 which surprises me as she isn't someone I seek out, although I don't avoid her either (and I'll add Wild to that soon and maybe Inherent Vice--I haven't enjoyed an Anderson film since Boogie Nights).
Freeway is still my favorite with Election right on its heels but she was so wonderful in Legally Blonde.
I've seen 15 and I'll be watching Inherent Vice and Wild soon. Not bad considering I'm not a fan!
I guess it is considered anti-american to criticize her because once I ruined a date with this hot guy from San Francisco just by saying that Earnest and Vanity Fair were painful to watch.
I missed Rendition, which is very strange because I'm a Meryl completist and Jake is... Jake!
peggy sue -- WEIRD. me too. I mean I am a fan of all three of them and somehow i didnt bother.
I guess we had a Mery-being-political fatigue after The Manchurian Candidate and Lions for Lambs.
I liked her in Rendition. She is a strong willed woman (which I think comes through in every performance, sometimes to lesser results especially if she has to try and play vulnerable). But in Rendition, the story forced her character into a vulnerable place, she didn't have to play against her natural tendency to fight and her performance felt very honest as a result.
I seen 22 but none of her recent ones oddly. She is flat out brilliant in The Man in the Moon. I love her in Pleasantville (and the movie as well) Election and Legally Blonde. I also enjoyed her two forays into period clothing, Earnest much more than Vanity Fair.
As far as what I've missed or haven't had a chance to see yet I'll try to catch The Good Lie, Inherent Vice and Wild but some of the older stuff, S.F.W., Fear a few others, don't seem like major gaps in my viewing.
I've only seen 13. She made such an impression in her film A Man in the Moon and I began wanting to see her in anything after Election. But after Walk the Line I lost interest. She's splendid in Wild, though, and well-cast in Inherent Vice. And she must be happy as a producer of Gone Girl.
How many of these movies will stand the test of time? I will say at least two (which is a pretty good number) - Election and Legally Blonde. Tracy Flick and Elle Woods are immortal!
FREEWAY. Love love loved that crazy flick when it came out. I don't think I knew she'd done anything before it. She felt like a pure discovery.
I was watching "Wild" when you posted this. It's a sign! (And I liked the movie, and Reese and Laura, too!)
I've seen 16, including "Wild". "The Man on the Moon" is really really really good nostalgia coming of age stuff. And, she should have received many many awards for "Election" and "Legally Blonde".
I've never heard of "Rendition". Meryl, Reese, and Jakey Poo? I'm drawing a complete blank.
"Posterized" is one of my favorites!
I've seen 21. I'll be seeing Wild tomorrow and I'm sure I'll watch Inherent Vice when it's released around me.
I think she's a fine actress, who has delivered some truly phenomenal work, mostly in the earlier part of her career (with the exception of Walk the Line, her work post Legally Blonde isn't as inspiring).
My favorite overall film would be Pleasantville, but performance wise it's Election.
I love these posts. :)
I can't stand her. I've seen all those films and I never thought she could act. Plus, behind the camera, she's a horrible excuse of a human being, not even counting her shameful arrest.
I remember seeing "A Far Off Place" when I was about six and it having a big effect on me. It didn't seem too much like a kiddie movie, it was one of the first live action films I saw on a color TV, and I thought Reese with her dirty blonde hair and dirty face looked like my best friend at the time. Also I kept thinking about the nearly naked boy a lot for reasons that I didn't quite understand until I got older.
I've seen eight. Never really went to see those movies for her. Plus I'm firmly in Ryan Philippe's camp.
I've never been able to watch Pleasantville in its entirety (one of those movies I always caught bits of on TV just after coming home from school) which I should correct one of these nights.
@Henny, wow, for someone who can't stand her, you actually had the time to click on this very piece about her and write a comment. And you've seen all of her films? I'm a fan and I have not even seen each of the films above.
What are your favourites Nat?
@Lyndee I watch a lot of films. It's my goal in like to see every single film ever made. Unfortunately, it also contains her in them. I'm here to see if people also share my hatred of her. Looks like I'm wrong.
nice post
I don't hate her or her films,she is v good in some of them but i hate she wasted her talents and picked totally vapid,unmemorable films to appear in.
Fear is the worst movie in her filmography. Sure there is unintentional comedy. More so the unintentional comedy one experiences in a group setting. It has zero humor value when you watch it on your lonesome. I have seen seven of her movies. I also hate Freeway. My favorite is Cruel Intentions. I want to see The Man in the Moon since I've seen the trailer for it repeatedly on my mother's VHS copy of Shattered.
@3rtful You mean this VHS trailer? https://youtube.com/watch?v=pP0KTOgC7gk
Fear and Freeway are both classics, and she's great in them. I tend to see Reese's enduring superstardom as loyalty for what was truly an excellent run through the 90's and early 00's. Even for myself, I have a weird enduring trust in Reese. Oh this movie's bad? Meh, she'll release a good one when she feels like it.
She was never as big as the 90's trifetica of sweethearts Ryan,Roberts and Bullock
Bhuray -- my favorite performances of Reese are totally
01 ELECTION
02 WILD
03 LEGALLY BLONDE
04 WALK THE LINE
05 MAN IN THE MOON
I've seen 11. I've avoided most of the duds, though I should note that I genuinely enjoy Sweet Home Alabama and don't hate Just Like Heaven. She's made odd (okay bad) choices for sure, but it always annoys me when people act like her career began with Legally Blonde. I totally agree that she should've been nominated for Election, I put that right up there with them ignoring Nicole's work in To Die For (two genius, twisted comedic performances).
Cruel Intentions is such a hilarious borderline camp movie. It's sad it really never became a cult classic.
Other than that, I'm a bigger fan of Walk the Line than most. She and Joaquin have really good chemistry.
Rendition is a decent movie. I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival.
I've seen 13. Her best performance is in Wild, but my favorite films of hers are American Psycho, Pleasantville and Walk the Line.
I've seen 9. I was a huge fan of hers in the beginning (Man on the Moon, Election), loved her in Legally Blonde, disappointed that she coasted so easily to an Oscar for Walk the Line, and have barely seen anything of hers since then, but I do look forward to seeing Wild and am definitely ready to enjoy her in a movie again.
"Cruel Intentions is such a hilarious borderline camp movie. It's sad it really never became a cult classic."
It totally has! A ton of websites celebrated the 15th anniversary earlier this year. I don't think it's bad at all though... it's quite fantastic and has certainly influenced the new CW/ABC Family wave of sophisticated/bitchy teens.
Fear and Freeway are both classics
Never. Especially Fear.
@3rtful—It's no Gone With The Wind, but if you're a twelve year old girl who has absorbed a lot of mainstream culture, trust. Fear is the realest sh*t you could possibly see at that point in your life.
"She was never as big as the 90's trifetica of sweethearts Ryan,Roberts and Bullock"
- I agree. But you have to remember, Reese 1.0 (90s) didn't exactly chase after commercial success, she was actually late into the game in terms of doing things that have commercial value in them. As oppose to the above who clearly had box-office as their main goals from the get go.And acting-wise, anything that the three can do, Reese can do better.
I've seen 14. I especially like the ones where her character works more closely with her co-star: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Rupert Everett. She matches and balances them so nicely. I appreciate that she can also carry a movie by herself.
I have seen 16 of these, and I would consider myself a Reese fan and am definitely looking forward to more of the "Reesurgence" ;)
My top 5 performances of hers would have to be:
1) Election
2) Walk the Line
3) Legally Blonde
4) Cruel Intentions
5) The Man in the Moon
....with Vanity Fair and Sweet Home Alabama closely following behind.
I know Cruel Intentions is a little silly and soap opera-y, but I LOVE it. It contains SMG's best performance film wise, and Ryan Phillippe is pretty great as well. The outcome of his character at the end slays me every time and Reese's performance is a big part of why. She should have been Oscar nominated for Election for sure, and I am still puzzled as to why she missed out. I re-watched Legally Blonde not too long ago, and remembered why I loved the movie in the first place. She is so damn funny in it! I also think she did great in Vanity Fair which is a solid movie overall and Sweet Home Alabama is just a cute flick that I can't ever get sick of watching.
Oh, and I was wondering how she is in Inherent Vice. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Paul Thomas Anderson want her in the "Peggy" role in The Master before he cast Amy Adams? That would have been interesting to see. Does she fit into his world pretty well?
OMG, and I forgot to mention that Fear is definitely a total dud, and a waste of her and Mark Wahlberg (though he is mighty sexy in it). I caught it on TV when I was younger and I did not enjoy it. Saw it again on TV a couple of years later, and I didn't like it then as well.
Bhuray -- it's pretty simple explanation for why she missed out: Meryl Streep had a movie out that year. That was another year people called "weak" for Best Actress but of course it wasn't at all. They just couldnt stretch their definition of "best" to fit in one of the all time great comic performances of the 90s (reese in Election) or that lovely suntitled work Cecilia Roth was doing in All Abiout My Mother
"Pleasantville" will always have a special place in my heart because I was a kid and I saw it with my friend who was also gay but not attracted to each other and so we just accepted it and when Paul Walker showed up in the convertible and the old ladies in front of us said "oooh", we just *knew*.
As for Reese herself, I always think of the "Entertainment Weekly" interview she did in which the interviewer tells her that the director of "Legally Blonde" (Robert Luketic?) had told the magazine that he found working with Reese to be negative, saying she was completely humorless and difficult. The interview described Reese as pausing, and then saying that she was surprised by that criticism because she never felt the vibe from him at the point of filming, and also alluding to the fact that if she was being paid so much money that she should have been expected to be serious and critical about her work. I always respected her more so after that.
Also, I am strangely glad that you included "Little Nicky" because that's always a weird movie that somebody watches and goes HOLY CRAP! REESE WITHERSPOON WAS IN THIS?
21. The worst is by far THIS MEANS WAR, PLEASANTVILLE my favourite, FREEWAY the most surprising, ELECTION and then LEGALLY BLONDE, FREEWAY, MAN IN THE MOON, and WILD/WALK THE LINE her best performances.