by Lance Cartelli - March 24, 2016
Lawrence plays a former ballerina-turned-Russian operative in this 2018 thriller based on the novel of the same title. She enters into and completes a training school, tasked with a mission to discover a mole, but upon her release still quickly gets made by a CIA operative (played by Joel Edgerton), who wants her to defect. Her past trauma and new way of life have her reluctant to trust anyone, though, which makes her journey increasingly emotionally complex as more people in her wake fall and she has to determine whether she can complete her mission and keep herself and her mother safe.
“There are a few thrills to be had, and following the best performance of her career last fall, it's certainly another fearless step forward for Jennifer Lawrence.†â€"Jordan Raup, The Film Stage
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Sandwiched between the releases of The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook is Jennifer Lawrence's worst-reviewed film. At the New York Film Critics Circle, Lawrence joked, "The critics have been very kind to me thus far in my career, but I guess I'm not receiving this for The House at the End of the Street, so you guys must have missed that one, right?" Even J.Law can joke about her flops.
"Exploiting Lawrence's newfound fame is the only hope this ill-conceived, poorly executed venture has of connecting with audiences before poisonous word of mouth sends potential buyers in search of a more attractive address." —Geoff Berkshire, Variety
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This period drama about newlyweds who run a timber business in the 1930s was universally panned by critics upon its release in 2014. It's also the worst-reviewed of the four films that paired the actress with Bradley Cooper. Although the film as a whole received low marks, critics did praise the work of Lawrence.
"Serena is one long eye-roll of calamities and corn." —Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
3 / 23
This sci-fi romance stars Chris Pratt as a mechanical engineer aboard a sleeper ship that is carrying thousands of people from Earth to a new planet. The journey was supposed to take more than 100 years, but after only a few decades, the ship collides with an asteroid, which wakes him up early. His loneliness then inspires him to wake up Lawrence's character, who is a writer, lying to her about how and why she awoke early and now won't live to see the new planet. The two bond and eventually fall in love (in such close quarters and with no one else around, that is pretty much inevitable), but of course his secret can't stay hidden forever, which adds personal tension to the danger they find themselves in when they learn something else is wrong with the ship.
"Passengers is as surprisingly traditional as it is undeniably effective." —James Dyer, Empire
4 / 23
Lawrence slips on her mutant makeup once again for this 2019 sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse, written and directed by Simon Kinberg. In this seventh and most recent X-Men film in the franchise, Jean Grey aka the titular, telepathic, and telekinetic Phoenix (Sophie Turner) is hit with a mysterious force while out in space, and upon her return home, she realizes her powers have become enhanced, but she cannot always control them. While the rest of her team wants to help her, there are, of course, those who want to exploit her powers, too, which means the story centers on a battle to save her and stop them.
"A frustratingly anticlimactic, familiar tale of misunderstood mutants." —Tim Grierson, ScreenDaily
5 / 23
This 2008 drama marked Lawrence's first major movie role, and critics took notice. In The Burning Plain, Lawrence plays Mariana, a dour teenager who accidentally kills her mother and lover after an affair gone wrong. The poorly reviewed film bombed at the box office, as it grossed just $5.5 million against a $20 million budget.
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Writer/director Adam McKay's Oscar-nominated 2021 film takes the climate crisis to the extreme when a young astronomy PhD candidate (played by Lawrence) discovers a comet large enough to destroy the Earth hurtling toward the Earth. She and her professor (played by DiCaprio) attempt to warn the world, but get tripped up in political red tape, media sugarcoating, the attractiveness of fame, and more. Well, he does; she is pretty steadfast and angry about the idea of extinction. The story follows the six-month timeline from discovery to the catastrophic crash to showcase the kind of greed, arrogance, and willful ignorance ultimately can doom us all. It's technically a dark comedy, but its message is actually quite sobering if you're paying attention.
"Like Vice before it, the film too often uses satire as a tool of castigation rather than as a means of truly attacking the status quo." —Derek Smith, Slant
7 / 23
This 2016 installment of the X-Men feature film franchise is a sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past in which Lawrence reprises her role of Raven, a shape-shifting mutant. The story takes place after the immortal god Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) awakens after thousands of years and begins recruiting mutants to take over the world. Naturally, Professor X (James McAvoy) won't allow this to happen, so he and Raven create their own team of young mutants to try to stop the destruction of humanity.
"X-Men Apocalypse moves along tidily, but you watch thinking that all this used to be a lot more fun." —Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times
8 / 23
Lawrence plays a former ballerina-turned-Russian operative in this 2018 thriller based on the novel of the same title. She enters into and completes a training school, tasked with a mission to discover a mole, but upon her release still quickly gets made by a CIA operative (played by Joel Edgerton), who wants her to defect. Her past trauma and new way of life have her reluctant to trust anyone, though, which makes her journey increasingly emotionally complex as more people in her wake fall and she has to determine whether she can complete her mission and keep herself and her mother safe.
"There are a few thrills to be had, and following the best performance of her career last fall, it's certainly another fearless step forward for Jennifer Lawrence." —Jordan Raup, The Film Stage
9 / 23
Lawrence's third film with director David O. Russell was also the lowest rated of the trio. This 2015 dramedy tells the story of Joy Mangano, the self-made millionaire who invented the Miracle Mop. Although Joy received poor reviews, Lawrence's performance was once again lauded by critics and earned her an Academy Award nomination for best actress.
"While [Lawrence] does robust, heartfelt work in the lead in his new film Joy, this is the most miscast she's been in a while, and it's such a strangely imagined film in the first place that it never really gets its bearings." —Drew McWeeny, HitFix
10 / 23
Raunchy, R-rated comedy was not a genre found in Lawrence's filmography until this 2023 feature from writer-director Gene Stupnitsky (best known for his work on TV shows including The Office and Jury Duty). Lawrence plays a down-on-her-luck 30-something facing bankruptcy and desperate for work when she accepts a job from a wealthy couple as an escort for their shy teenage son (Andrew Barth Feldman). Critics felt that Lawrence was not only game for a role involving plenty of physical comedy, but also superb at it. But they also felt that the film around her was disappointingly tame and not quite funny enough.
"Jennifer Lawrence proves, once again, that she can carry a film by the sheer force of her on-screen magnetism and performance agility." —Murtada Elfadl, A.V. Club
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Although her role as Norah didn't offer much in screentime, Lawrence made the most out of her performance in Jodie Foster's 2011 dramedy. Her character plays a pivotal part in reuniting Porter (Anton Yelchin) with his depressed father (Mel Gibson).
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The lowest-scoring film in the Hunger Games series was the first of two movies based on the novel Mockingjay. After surviving the Hunger Games twice, Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen agrees to become the symbol of the rebellion to help save Peeta's life. On a $125 million budget, Mockingjay - Part 1 grossed $755.4 million at the box office.
"It's a joyless, surpassingly dour enterprise, but one that fulfills its mission with Katniss's own eagle-eyed efficiency and unsentimental somberness." —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
13 / 23
A year after her award-winning performance in Winter's Bone, Lawrence helped rejuvenate the X-Men franchise, which was desperate for some youthful energy. In the prequel saga, Lawrence plays Mystique, but the actress had some reservations about the role. Lawrence admitted it would've made her job a lot easier if Rebecca Romijn—who played the blue mutant fatale in the original saga—"wasn't the most gorgeous person in the world."
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The fourth and final installment in the Hunger Games saga was the worst performing film in the series (financially), yet it still received favorable reviews from critics. Despite those lower-than-expected box office numbers, the second Mockingjay matched its three predecessors in grossing more than $100 million during its opening weekend, going on to collect $653 million during its theatrical run.
"Lawrence's superb performance grounds the film, as she oscillates between badass archer and increasingly disenfranchised political pawn." —Josh Kupecki, Austin Chronicle
15 / 23
Apple's 2022 drama stars Jennifer Lawrence as an American soldier who suffers a traumatic brain injury while serving in Afghanistan and struggles to readjust to life at home in New Orleans. The A24-produced debut feature from Lila Neugebauer also stars Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry as a mechanic with whom she forges a bond. Critics enjoyed the chemistry between the two stars and felt that their strong performances elevated the relatively unexceptional material.
"An otherwise plain film about an unlikely friendship between a returned soldier and a mechanic, Causeway is worth watching for Jennifer Lawrence's best performance in years." —Siddhant Adlakha, IGN
16 / 23
X-Men: First Class might have been released a year prior to The Hunger Games, but once Katniss Everdeen proclaimed "I volunteer as tribute," Lawrence's ascent to Hollywood superstardom was complete.
"Making a successful Hunger Games movie out of Suzanne Collins' novel required casting the best possible performer as Katniss, and in Jennifer Lawrence director Gary Ross and company have hit the bull's-eye, so to speak." —Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
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In this 2011 drama from Drake Doremus, Lawrence plays the supporting role of Samantha, who starts a relationship with her coworker. Instead of penning a traditional screenplay, the writers of Like Crazy created a 50-page outline of the film. The actors then improvised most of the dialogue.
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Lawrence's second turn as the shape-shifting mutant Mystique was met with high praise from critics. The time-traveling epic was the best reviewed and highest-grossing film in the entire X-Men saga.
Due to skin irritations from full-body makeup in First Class, Lawrence wore a bodysuit in Days of Future Past. The change cut Lawrence's make-up preparation time from eight hours to three. J.Law will next reprise the role of Mystique this summer in X-Men: Apocalypse.
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Darren Aronofsky's 2017 psychological relationship drama stars Lawrence as the titular, no-name wife referred to as "Mother" opposite Javier Bardem as "Him," a poet who lives with Mother in an isolated mansion in the countryside. Things get trippy (and scary for Lawrence's character) when they have unexpected guests, who her husband goes out of his way to accommodate, even when it puts her and their child in danger, offering an artistic depiction of how women are so often overlooked, ignored, and used without regard for who they are.
"Mother! is a mad fantasia of fire and water and insanity." —Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
20 / 23
The second installment in the Hunger Games saga is the most critically acclaimed film in the series as well as the highest-grossing entry (with $865 million). Lawrence reprises her role of Everdeen as tensions continue to rise in Panem.
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In her first collaboration with director David O. Russell, Lawrence won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell. At 22, Lawrence became the second-youngest woman to win a best actress Oscar.
The movie became a sneaky box-office hit in 2012. Silver Linings Playbook grossed more than eleven times its budget, earning $236.4 million at the box office.
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Lawrence followed up her Oscar-winning work with another Russell-directed feature. And it turned out to be one of Lawrence's best films to date. In American Hustle, she plays Rosalyn Rosenfeld, the unpredictable wife of Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale). Although she didn't have as much screentime as the big players, Lawrence still made an impression, earning the Golden Globe for best supporting actress in 2014.
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In her first starring role, Lawrence plays teenager Ree Dolly, who must find her missing father to save her family from eviction. The indie drama received four Academy Award nominations, including best actress for Lawrence.
After auditioning twice for the role in Los Angeles, Lawrence was told she didn't "look right for the part." So, naturally, J.Law took a red-eye flight to New York and "scared them" into giving her the part, per Vanity Fair.