Posterized: Emily Blunt
Friday, October 28, 2016 at 5:27PM 
Is Emily Blunt an A List Movie Star or still perpetually "on the verge"? The box office returns for her current thriller Girl on the Train, promoted largely on her name and face alone, suggest the former but bestsellers do come with their own pull.
This perpetual question is aggravating to anyone who has fallen in love with Blunt over the years in any number of movies. Those who have appear to be legion because what's not to love? She can nail drama and she's funny in comedies. She's totally convincing as an action heroine and she's also adept at the movie musical. We've yet to see a genre she can't do.
Let's take a look at Blunt's movies thus far in this week's Posterized. How many have you seen and which are your favorites?
ACT 1 TALENTED NEW ACTRESS (2004-2007)
She was sensually afire in her theatrical debut with Summer of Love and sharply comic and beloved in the smash hit Devil Wears Prada but there wasn't much capitalization on either sucess immediately thereafter...
ACT 2. IS SHE OR ISN'T SHE A STAR? (2008-2013)
Hits, misses, awards films, low profile indies... rarely any of the same kind of thing in close proximity. Difficult to get a bead on what's going on because the career is all over the place. But at the close of the era has a smashing audience-beloved turn as Rita that wins her many new fans in Edge of Tomorrow.
ACT 3. FINALLY ASCENDED? (2014-???)
Things have been going well since Edge of Tomorrow with big roles in high profile projects. Can she keep it up?
HOW MANY HAVE YOU SEEN?
Given all that range her career still doesn't seem as big as it should be. Is it the project choices? Is it the frequent breaks? Was it the failure to immediately capitalize on her breakout role in The Devil Wears Prada 10 years back? Or is it the range itself? The diversity of her gift may have prevented her from being pigeonholed into one kind of role but that freedom comes with its own problem for stars. You're less marketable as a persona if you aren't Queen or King of one type of thing.
Reader Comments (30)
Five, with Edge of Tomorrow being her best role. I don't think she's a household name yet; she's squarely in the "oh what's her name is in this? I love her!" category of actors. Give it some time though, her trajectory is definitely pointing upwards.
One of my favorite actresses working. I find her range impressive in that not only can she hop from genre to genre but she isn't just holding her own, she's the standout in many of her films.
As for the question of "is she a star"? Well not every actor should or needs to be one. So I never hold that much weight.
I've seen 13 of these movies. Weak character and all, Sicario is probably my favorite performance by her.
A mere twelve of 25, but I do adore her. In all of them.
I think she suffers from Jude Law Syndrome (not to be confused with Ewan McGregor Syndrome, which is also chronic, but more debilitating).
Eleven. I liked her in all of those but her presence is not enough to encourage me to see a movie which does not interest me.
13 of 25. I love Emily Blunt. She killed it in "The Devil Wears Prada," "Edge of Tomorrow," and "Sicario." Plus, she deserved to be in Best Actress for "The Young Victoria" over Bullock and Mirren. Wasn't she like dreadful six that year? What if she had gotten in? Would her career be way different as an Oscar-nominee?
I've seen 12. I particularly like her in Your Sister's Sister and The 5-Year Engagement. I know they're not the titles we usually link to her, but she's so good in comedy.
Clearly on the verge. She might never become a star, but she's British so doesn't really need that.
The Mary Poppins remake is a mistake, by the way.
She's lovely and almost certainly a legend in the making (if she's doing so well now, imagine when she becomes a Dame)
But that first poster has kind of depressed me: Natalie Press was just as phenomenal in My Summer of Love but because she's less conventionally hot, the best she gets to do now is play a two-scene plot-crutch to Carey Mulligan in failed awards bait.
vaus -- i think i'm in the same place with her. I really do like her though but her film choices are ... hmmm...
I've seen 11.
My favourites are Sunshine Cleaning, Looper, and Edge of Tomorrow.
She is always fine to great, but I often find her co-stars in the higher profile films so irritating and self-satisfied that I don't ever re-watch the movie.
Paired with a good script and equally interesting fellow actors, she is a delight.
I adore Emily Blunt. It was her one-two punch with Edge of Tomorrow and Into The Woods that made me a big fan. She may have had some clunkers. But let's not kid ourselves, what actor hasn't? Even Rachel McAdams, who's not a movie star but enjoyed plenty of box office success, has been in some clunkers.
I feel that as her name is starting to grow in popularity and she keeps delivering in everything she does, she could start to become a bigger draw.
Only 6: Devil, Dan in Real Life, Sicario, Edge of Tomorrow, Looper and Charlie Willson's War.
And I don't remember her at CWW or DiRL. Was she one of the many, many siblings?
Really good as Lil Miss Sarcasm in "Devil", and apprpriately Ripley in horribly named "Edge of Tomorrow". (What exactly was wrong with the original name?)
Not a star, though. She and the hubby are character actors in leading bodies.
6, need to see more. But I do not think she is a real movie star yet. However the term A list is used pretty loosely with tabloids especially so I think she can be called that.
I'm surprised she was in Dan in Real ife? Saw that but dont remember her in it at all. 13/25.
17. Her specialty seems to be 'unlikeable' characters. Love her in Sicario which is a really challenging role as a dumbfounded lead. I suppose she's not a full-on superstar yet because of her icy persona (and unlikeable roles) which audiences might find hard to embrace despite her beauty and talent.
She elevates The Girl on the Train so much that it is actually worth watching for her performance alone since nothing else works.
Nine- I forgot she was in "The Wolfman"
I discovered her on My Summer of Love as she was just incredible as I've seen about more than half of her films. She is an incredible talent and also fucking hilarious. I await for her and Anne Hathaway to reunite and do a comedy. Not like fuckin' Bride Wars. That was fucking awful.
15. I think the thing with Blunt is that people know her and they like her when she's in stuff they want to see. I have no doubt SICARIO did as well as it did because of her. Likewise Girl on a Train. But she's not a "i don't care what it is, I'll see it" star, sadly.
Going by the comments here, It seems the critical reception have detracted people from watching her in The Girl On The Train. Which is a pity, since she gives the best performance of her career in my opinion. It's a fantastic turn and had it been in a better film it could have not only given her awards attention but elevated her star. She definitely deserve to be bigger.
Eleven. I love her. I´d say her most iconic character is Emily in The Devil Wears Prada and her best performance is Sicario.
I saw My Summer of Love and The Devil Wears Prada around the same time. It was enough for me to always see her name in a cast as a good thing, even if I never ended up seeing the film. My fingers were crossed hardest for her name on nomination morning for The Devil Wears Prada.
Also, her performance in The Girl on the Train is just fantastic.
Her best performance is Edge of Tomorrow, but her best scene (the one that nade me realuze how great she is) is that final confrontation with Del Toro in the end of Sicario.
6. I love her since The Devil Wears Prade. I thought she really held her own opposite Streep, and miles better than Hathaway. I like her in Sunshine Cleaning even if the film favors Amy Adams a bit. She's appealing and likeable in <Young Victoria</>, but was not given the best role in <The Jane Susten Book Club even if she still gave a committed performance.
I read somewhere that she's like Glenn Close -- beloved in most of their film performances but always forgotten come Oscar time. I am not a big fan of awards as an authentication of one's talent but it can't be denied that once one gets nominated/won, almost always they get better roles after that.
I wish she appears in a new musical movie that capitalizes on her comedic gifts. But what musical has that role for her?
I've seen 13. It's difficult to pin down "favorite of her generation" but I think Blunt is my favorite actor of her generation. She's got the sharpness & lightning speed quick wit on screen that Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, and Carey Mulligan have not managed to display. While in the vulnerability department she's as good as any of them. So yeah, Emily Blunt's unique to me.
I love Emily Blunt. I think she's one of those actresses taken for granted and not appreciated enough. Very lyrical and expressive actress. She sings her lines; every word is measured and accentuated, yet still comes off very natural. Watching The Girl on The Train, I couldn't help but think she would have been a bigger star in the 70's. It's a very 70's performance!
13 / 25
best: The Devil Wears Prada, Sicario, Looper and The Edge of Tomorrow
worst: The Girl in the Train, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Wolfman
wtf: Dan in Real Life
I have to catch up: My Summer of Love
I like La Blunt, I really do. Always think of Meryl Streep's "the delicious...Emily Blunt" (during her '06 Golden Globes speech) when I think of Blunt. (That and "darling Annie Hathaway," which was equally delightful.) She's an above-title character actor is how I'd describe her.
Oh, I've seen about every other one of her movies, and MSOL, TDWP, SC, Looper, EOT, ITW, and Sicario are my favorite performances of hers. (She should've been Oscar-nominated for Prada and Sicario.)
Mareko -- "above the title character actor". I like that almost as much as "the delicious Emily Blunt"
I wish she were in better films too, but she probably has to fight for the same roles with the Adams, Chastains, Hathaways and Portmans of the industry who are all multi nominees at this point, more famous and generally better regarded than her.
Actually saw a few of her films. I only remember Devil but looking at the list I saw Adjustment Bureau, Gulliver’s and 5-years.