10 Best Emma Stone Movies | Countdown

The subject of today's list is an actress that has many accolades, including a Best Actress Oscar and has played an array of roles and done them well each and every time. She's got a real home on the range, if you know what I mean. And if you don't know what I mean, what I'm trying to say is that her range is so vast, she has more than enough certified fresh films to fill a top 10 list, many of them comedies, which isn't always easy. And on top of it all, she's just 35 years old. So take that father time. And since all the B-roll has already given it away, I really should have thought that one through. I'm talking about Emma Stone. She's great and she's getting better. How is that possible? It just is. So here are the top 10 Emma Stone movies ranked by Tomato Meter right now on Rotten Tomatoes Countdown. Starting with number 10, Croods A New Age. Kicking things off is this 2020 animated flick, which is a sequel to the Croods released seven years earlier. Emma Stone was among the star studded voice cast that returned for the second one, along with Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds. Emma plays the oldest daughter of a cave people like family who leads the way when it comes to trying new things. And she has the scars to prove it. Whoa, what's that mark on your wrist? Oh, it's just a scar. Scar? Yeah, from a thorned crab. No big deal. Whoa, and that? Razor worm. Well, what about that one? Scorpion badger. Swamp snake, sky snake, volcano, end of the world. My little sister, my little sister, my little sister, she bites a lot. And my dad doesn't even know about this one. Whoa, peanut toe. In the second offering, the Crood family finds themselves in an idyllic new paradise to live, except for one little evolutionarily more advanced family in their way. And you try saying that word on your first try. It took me like three, evolutionarily. The animation for Croods A New Age was finished up back when COVID first started. And it came out in November of 2020, but it still managed a decent box office haul and a Golden Globe nomination. And if I had to put my money on it, I'd say a lot of it was thanks to Emma Stone's voice performance. Number nine, Crazy Stupid Love. This 2011 film stars Steve Carell as Cal, the family man who suddenly finds himself single and over 40. So he looks to Ryan Gosling's Jacob, who's a hit with the ladies, to help him find his way. And while Jacob does help Cal learn how to navigate the fickle world of dating, it turns out that Jacob is unknowingly dating Cal's daughter, played by Emma Stone. Needless to say, that makes for a fun scene when it all comes to a head. Nana. Hi, guys. Hi, sweetheart. Hi. What's going on? I don't know. Some game, he won't let me take this dumb blindfold off. Cal? Is that him? What are you doing here? Wait, you guys know each other? What's going on? What are you doing here? Hey, Nana. Hi, Robbie. Hey, Nana. Hi, cutie. Jacob, it's so nice to meet you. I've heard so many wonderful things about you from Nana. I'm sorry, what's a Nana? I'm a Nana. You know, I couldn't say Hannah when I was little. How do you know my dad? God, I love that scene so much. Stone held her own among a loaded cast that also included Julianne Moore and Marissa Tomei. So much so, that Stone actually won People's Choice and Teen Choice Awards for her performance, both comedically and otherwise. And critics loved Crazy Stupid Love for its unabashed sweetness and terrifically talented cast. Meanwhile, the rest of us love it for the dirty dancing style lift that Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone do. I mean, it is so smooth. This 2017 sports film is loosely based on the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King, who's played by Emma Stone, and Bobby Riggs, played by Steve Carell. Their second time working together after Crazy Stupid Love, so it's kind of funny that this movie is up next. Some critics called it the best performance of Stone's career up to that point, in part because it was against the norm of what young Hollywood actresses were doing at the time. And I mean, she totally transforms herself. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Custer's last stand. This is the lobber versus the lever. Keep talking, Bobby. The more nonsense you spell, the worse it's going to be when you lose. Well, I'm the ladies' number one. I'm the champ. Why would I lose? Because dinosaurs can't play tennis. Potential schedule conflicts briefly put Brie Larson in the role of Billie Jean instead, but Emma worked it out and ran with the role. She met with Billie Jean King to prep and also studied old interview footage to get King's accent and tennis style down. Emma also put on 15 pounds via some high-calorie protein shake, which kind of sounds really good all of a sudden. This teen rom-com from 2010 was inspired by the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The 1850s. I mean, talk about a throwback. It features Emma Stone in the lead role as a buttoned-up young lady named Olive, who decides to spice up her boring weekend story by telling her friend that she actually lost her V-card, even though she didn't. But that lie ends up spreading, courtesy of a character played by Amanda Bynes, and the school starts to view Olive in a whole new light, one that she actually embraces. Hey, Anson. Hey. I just realized the funniest thing. My name is an anagram for I love. What's an anagram? Look it up, big boy. What's your problem? You really want to know what my problem is? No. That was a rhetorical question. I don't want to know anything from you. We are not friends anymore. Oh. We are officially over. Oh, rats. Hey, I want my Juicy Sweatshirt back. It was way too loose around your chest anyway. Ooh, burn. With the help of veteran actors like Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, and Lisa Kudrow, Emma Stone was a hit with critics who called her, quote, irresistibly charming, which is so accurate. And that's made even more impressive by the fact that she actually ad-libbed some of the more memorable lines during filming, too, according to director Will Gluck. And sure enough, she got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Number six, Superbad. This 2007 comedy marked the film debut for Emma Stone, who plays a high school student named Jules. Now written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and loosely based on their own experiences, the film follows two high schoolers, played by Michael Cera and Jonah Hill, who are trying to have a very memorable night. And Jules is a love interest for the latter, trying her darndest to be cool about it all. You're like the coolest person that's ever talked to me. I thought we'd both be drunk. What does me being drunk have anything to do with it? You'd never get with me if you were sober. Look at you. Look at me. Seth, come on, you didn't blow it. I think maybe you did. Help me. Now, Emma Stone actually won the title of Exciting New Face at the now defunct Young Hollywood Awards for her role in this. And since that fact is kind of weak, I should probably also mention that Superbad, which was a box office success, is considered one of the best comedies of the 2000s. And it uses the F word 176 times across 113 minutes with an average of 1.6 F words per minute. And it's probably the reason Jonah Hill has a screen time record for curse words over Samuel L. Jackson, which I don't think Jackson's too happy about. OK, friends, so we're halfway there and I love a good recap. So just to get you up to speed, it was Crude's A New Age at 10. Crazy Stupid Love at 9. Battle of the Sexes at 8. Easy A at 7. And Superbad being super awesome at number 6. So what exactly is going to be in the top five? Well, I can tell you that certified fresh flicks like Cruella and The Amazing Spider Man aren't on there. So hopefully you're more intrigued. And here we go. Number five, Zombieland. Directed by Ruben Fleischer in his feature debut, this 2009 flick follows a group of survivors as they travel cross-country seeking safer ground after a virus turned most people into zombies. Now, along with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg leading the way, Emma Stone stars as Wichita, the older sister of Abigail Breslin's character, who is also her partner in con artist crime. I love you. You need some help? Nothing mentioned. We'll take your weapons, your car keys, your ammunition. And if you've got it, sugar, let's go. What the f***? Zombieland would become the top-grossing zombie movie in the United States until World War Z took the crown in 2013. But of course, that was good enough for a sequel, so Zombieland Double Tap, with Emma Stone and the others returning, got even more praise from critics and more dollars from moviegoers. Number four, La La Land. This 2016 musical dramedy was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and it stars Ryan Gosling as a struggling jazz pianist and Emma Stone as an inspiring actress in L.A. Now, it was actually a pretty perfect role for Emma, who herself became an aspiring actress in L.A. at the age of 15, so she was actually able to put a lot of her own knowledge into the performance. Plus, she said that she's loved musicals since seeing Les Miserables at the age of 8, and actually first met director Chazelle while she was making her Broadway debut in Cabaret in 2014. I guess he saw something. So Miles Teller and Emma Watson were originally slated to star in this film, but they both dropped out to pave the way for Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Good thing, because the result was La La Land grossing almost $450 million at the worldwide box office and being nominated for 14 Academy Awards while winning six, including Best Director for 32-year-old Chazelle, the youngest ever at the time, and Best Actress for Emma Stone. 3. Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance Michael Keaton stars in this 2014 film as a Hollywood actor known for a superhero role. Gotta love when things are meta like this. He's on the downslope of his career and trying to put on a Broadway play to stay relevant. Emma Stone plays his daughter Sam, with whom he's trying to reconnect, and she's actually a recovering drug addict working as his assistant. And, well, you know, the daughter-slash-assistant role means telling it like it is. This is my chance to finally do some work that actually means something. That means something to who? You had a career, Dad, before the third comic book movie. Before people started to forget who was inside that bird costume. You were doing a play based on a book that was written 60 years ago for a thousand rich, old, white people whose only real concern is going to be where they go to have their cake and coffee when it's over. Nobody gives a s*** but you. Birdman, which won Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Cinematography Oscars was shot to simulate the effect of taking place almost all in one continuous shot. It turns out that the longest takes were about 15 minutes and averaged in the 10-minute range. Emma said that it made it extra hard for actors when it came to timing, telling Jimmy Fallon that she actually ruined a six-minute take by rounding a corner a little too early. And I know what you're thinking, there's no way she could ruin anything, ever. Because she doesn't. Released in 2018, this dark comedy finds Emma Stone in 18th century Great Britain. And there she plays one of two cousins, the other is played by Rachel Weisz, who are vying to become the favorite of a frail queen, played by Olivia Colman. Who actually won the Best Actress Oscar for this. Abigail, if you forget to load the pellet, the gun fires, makes a sound, but releases no shot. It is a great jape, do you agree? Yes, maybe we will think of a use for it one day. Sometimes it is hard to remember whether you have loaded the pellet or not. I do fear confusion and accidents. I'm sure people will be careful. Now the favorite was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who apparently takes his casting very seriously. Emma Stone actually reached out to him to get an audition, and he had her work with a dialect coach so that she could work freely without the accent becoming a hindrance. I guess it worked. The critics dug this one, and they praised Lanthimos for quote, getting roundly stellar performances from his well-chosen stars. I mean, that is something to shoot for, being roundly stellar. Speaking of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, they are clearly a match made in heaven. Because this black comedy was directed by the former, and stars the latter, with both serving as producers. So Emma Stone leads the way, along with names like Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Rami Youssef, and Gerard Carmichael. It's based on the 1992 novel of the same name about a young Victorian woman, who is played by Emma Stone, who is resurrected by a scientist after committing suicide. But then she runs off with a corrupt lawyer to really find herself. These two are fighting, and ideas are banging around in Bella's head and heart like lights in a storm. Oh. You're always reading now, Bella. You're losing some of your adorable way of speaking. I'm a changingable feast, as are all of we. Apparently, according to Emerson, disagreed with by Harry. Come, come, just come. You are in my son. The film was just released this fall, and has already made waves. I mean, clearly, considering its placement on this list. Plus, it won the highest prize after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. And obviously, with such a high Certified Fresh Tomato Meter score, Poor Things is a hit with critics, who call it a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for the director and actor combo. And, okay, sorry. Now that is something to shoot for, being bizarre and brilliant. But obviously, I would love to be called roundly stellar as well. Well, friends, you are roundly stellar, and we did it. I don't know about you, but this list totally makes me want to watch movies with Emma Stone in them. I mean, she really knows how to pick roles. For more on all these movies that we discussed today, be sure to hit up RottenTomatoes.com. Thank you so much for checking out today's list. Until next time, I'm your host Naz Perez, and we'll see you back here for more Rotten Tomatoes Countdown.