Emma Stone’s 5 best and 5 worst movies, according to critics

• Emma Stone has a filmography filled with critical and commercial hits.
• Like any working actor, Stone also has her share of duds.
• Here are the best and worst Emma Stone movies, according to critics.

Emma Stone, 36, is regarded as one of the best actors of her generation. She’s been nominated for four Oscars and won two in the best actress category (“La La Land” in 2017 and “”Poor Things” in 2024).

Her range is seemingly unlimited, tugging at hearts in the rom-com “Crazy, Stupid, Love” (2011), playing tennis legend Billie Jean King in “Battle of the Sexes” (2017), and even getting a taste of the superhero genre starring opposite Andrew Garfield in “The Amazing Spider-Man” (2012) and its sequel.

Stone’s latest movie, “Bugonia,” marks her fourth feature film collaborating with director Yorgos Lanthimos. In it, Stone plays a CEO who is abducted by two conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien. Like her previous work with Lanthimos, “Bugonia” is being praised by critics and holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of publication.

But Stone hasn’t always been a critical darling. Here’s a breakdown of the best and worst movies in Stone’s career, according to the critic rankings on Rotten Tomatoes.

Emma Stone’s best movies

5. Emma Stone teamed with Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin to battle the undead in 2009’s “Zombieland.”

Critics Score: 89%

This spoof on the zombie genre stars Stone as a survivor of the zombie apocalypse who teams with three others on a cross-country trip to find a sanctuary zone.

3. (tie) Stone played the troubled daughter of Michael Keaton in 2014’s “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).”

Critics Score: 91%

In Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ambitious dark dramedy, Stone plays Sam, a recovering addict and the daughter of actor Riggan (Keaton). The two try to re-establish their broken relationship when Sam works as an assistant on Riggan’s Broadway show.

3. (tie) Stone and Ryan Gosling navigate Hollywood in the 2016 musical “La La Land.”

Critics Score: 91%

An aspiring actress (Stone) and a struggling jazz pianist (Gosling) fall in love while pursuing their dreams in Damien Chazelle’s breathtaking musical. Stone would go on to win her first best actress Oscar for the role.

2. Stone earned another Oscar playing a free spirit in 2023’s “Poor Things.”

Critics Score: 92%

In this outlandish Yorgos Lanthimos tale set in Victorian London, Stone plays Bella Baxter, a woman who died by suicide who is brought back to life thanks to a scientist (Willem Dafoe) who replaces her brain with that of an infant. Bella then takes on life in childlike wonder.

1. Stone and Rachel Weisz battle to be the Queen’s confidante in 2018’s “The Favourite.”

Critics Score: 93%

Marking the first time Stone worked with Lanthimos, this dark comedy set in 1700s England features Stone and Weisz as cousins who engage in absurd antics to outdo each other and become the favorite of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman).

Emma Stone’s worst movies

5. Stone played the femme fatale in the forgettable 2013 crime noir “Gangster Squad.”

Critics Score: 30%

Stone teamed with “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer for this gangster movie starring Gosling, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, and Sean Penn as infamous real-life mob boss Mickey Cohen. Critics and audiences were less than enthusiastic.

4. Stone probably wants to forget being in 2009’s “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” an awful Matthew McConaughey rom-com.

Critics Score: 27%

Early in Stone’s career, she signed on to this romantic comedy headed by McConaughey and Jennifer Garner with a plot based on Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol.” (Yes, you read that correctly.) Needless to say, the movie was hammered by critics.

3. Stone found herself at the center of controversy starring in 2015’s “Aloha.”

Critics Score: 20%

Not only is this movie writer-director Cameron Crowe’s lowest-rated score on Rotten Tomatoes, but Stone was also thrust into a whitewashing controversy for playing a character who is part Chinese, which she is not in real life.

2. Stone voiced one of the characters in the forgettable 2010 comedy “Marmaduke.”

Critics Score: 9%

This big-screen version of the legendary comic strip stars Owen Wilson voicing Marmaduke. Stone voiced Mazie, an energetic Australian Shepherd.

1. Stone is among the all-star cast in the panned 2013 film “Movie 43.”

Critics Score: 5%

Stone joined the likes of Richard Gere, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, and Elizabeth Banks to star in this anthology comedy made up of 14 short movies. Some critics regard it as one of the worst movies ever made.

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