Australian-born Rebel Wilson broke onto the scene in North America with breakout roles in movies like Bridesmaids and A Few Best Men. She has since gone on to appear in a string of comedic movies, including What to Expect When You're Expecting, Bachelorette, and Pitch Perfect, and took on her first leading role in the rom-com parody film Isn't It Romantic.
While her small screen attempt in the sitcom Super Fun Night didn't quite pan out, getting cancelled by ABC after just one season, Wilson continues to make waves in movies. Her next project is a comedy film called Senior Year where her character awakes after a 20-year coma and returns to her old high school. That makes it a good time to look back at her top-rated movies, according to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (2014) – 47%
Wilson appeared in Night At The Museum: Secret of the Tomb as a character named Tilly, the night security guard at the British Museum that served at the center of the story. She had one of the best quotes in Night At The Museum: Secret of the Tomb when she says Larry's doppelganger looks "a lot like the lead singer of The Counting Crows." She was in good company with a cast that included Ben Stiller, the late Robin Williams, Rami Malek, Ben Kingsley, Owen Wilson, and Ricky Gervais. She held her own as one of only a handful of female characters in the movie.
As the third and final installment in the popular film franchise, the story focused on Larry, another security guard, who was tasked with returning the tablet of Ahkmenrah, which contained magical powers that allowed the exhibits to come to life at night, to London where it belonged.
How To Be Single (2016) – 47%
In this rom-com, Wilson was one of the main cast members alongside Dakota Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., Anders Holm, Leslie Mann, and Alison Brie. It's about Alice (Johnson), a woman who breaks up with her boyfriend and decides to move to New York in search of "the one."
Wilson plays Robin, Alice's friend and co-worker who, unlike Alice, loves to party and have one-night stands. Wilson fully embraces the party girl role in How To Be Single, helping catapult this film to box office success, despite the mixed reviews.
Pain & Gain (2013) – 50%
In this black comedy about a group of ex-convicts and bodybuilders known as the Sun Gym gang who were convicted of a variety of crimes back in the '90s, Wilson plays the role of Robin Peck, a character based on Cindy Eldridge. She is a nurse who has been treating Doorbal, played by Anthony Mackie, for impotence caused by steroid use.
Pain & Gain had a star-studded cast that also included Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, and Ken Jeong.
Bachelorette (2012) – 57%
Hot off the success of Bridesmaids, Wilson starred in this comedy, which was adapted from the play of the same name. She is the lead character, a woman who was bullied in high school and is now getting married. Her party is planned by her bitter best friend Regan (Kirsten Dunst), drug addict friend Gena (Lizzy Caplan), and party girl Katie (Isla Fisher). Naturally, however, things go awry leading to plenty of hilarious plotlines.
The movie only received a limited release, but it featured a number of other big names, including James Marsden, Adam Scott, Andrew Rannells, Horatio Sanz, and Ann Dowd.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016) – 58%
Based on the British TV series of the same name, Wilson merely had a cameo in this movie as a flight attendant. She is in good company with a long list of other celebrities who made cameos as well, ranging from Stella McCartney to Jon Hamm, Alexa Chung, and Gwendoline Christie.
The movie stars Jennifer Saunders, who also wrote the story, and the original cast from the series, including Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, the late June Whitfield, and Jane Horrocks. The story is about a drug addicted and alcoholic PR agent and her best friend (though some question whether Edina and Patsy are real friends on Absolutely Fabulous) who go on the run after it is expected that they killed the supermodel Kate Moss. The idea behind the movie is to have served as a finale for the show, which originally aired in the '90s with a revival in the early '00s.
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) – 65%
Sequel to the popular teen musical comedy Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2 continued its focus on the all-female a cappella group the Barden University Bellas and their obsession with winning the championships. Among the top-billed cast is Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis Knapp, and Hailee Steinfeld.
Wilson, also a main character, played Patricia "Fat Amy" Hobart, a senior Bella who is overly confident in her abilities, and not afraid to show it. Wilson reprised this role from the original movie.
Isn't It Romantic (2019) – 70%
Wilson's first lead role in a movie worked out swimmingly, as Isn't It Romantic ranks among her top-five best. Dubbed a meta romantic comedy, the movie proceeds to poke fun at every cliché in the rom-com genre. Her character Natalie finds herself trapped in a stereotypical rom-com, the very ones she despises.
She is joined by a cast that also includes Liam Hemsworth, Adam Devine, and Priyanka Chopra in the hilarious film that received mostly positive reviews, praised for its feel-good nature and satirical humor.
Jojo Rabbit (2019) – 80%
Marking her first major dramatic role, Wilson starred in this Academy Award-winning comedy-drama as Fraulein Rahm, an instructor at the League of German Girls in the Jungvolk camp. Jojo Rabbit starred newcomer Roman Griffin Davis as 10-year-old Hitler Youth member Johannes "Jojo" Betzler who discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has been hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic.
The Taika Waititi movie looks at the story of Adolf Hitler and the concept of war with a comedic lens, with Hitler serving as Jojo's imaginary friend. Wilson is responsible for one of the best quotes in Jojo Rabbit when she talks about having had 18 children for Germany.
Pitch Perfect (2012) – 81%
Both Pitch Perfect movies rank in the top five of Wilson's films, which is no surprise given how popular the movies are. The first film, like the second, also follows the all-girl a cappella group at Barden University and their attempts at winning Nationals.
In this film, Wilson as "Fat Amy" auditions to join the group and makes it in. She is responsible for many of the funniest scenes in the movie, though she's rivaled by other great characters played by Anna Camp, Skylar Astin, Adam DeVine, and Ben Platt. One of the best performances in Pitch Perfect is of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA," which is prompted after the girls are feeling down because Amy gets shot by a burrito bullet.
Bridesmaids (2011) – 90%
It comes as no surprise that the movie that marked Wilson's breakout role is the one that ranks the highest. Marking its place in pop culture history as one of the funniest female-led comedy movies, Bridesmaids is also the first movie produced by Judd Apatow to receive an Academy Award nomination.
The movie, written by Kristen Wiig, stars Wiig along with Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Rose Byrne, and Wendi McLendon-Covey as bridesmaids for their friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph). But what is supposed to be a seamless wedding turns out to be anything but. Wilson has a small but defining role as Brynn, Wiig's character's eccentric British roommate.