Since 2018, Scarlett Johansson has consistently been the highest-paid actress in the world. Thanks to her many appearances in some of the biggest franchises and most impressive roles of all time, her films have grossed almost $15 billion. She might not have won an Academy Award yet, but that hasn’t stopped her from being nominated twice, and winning both a Tony and a BAFTA award.
Since the start of her career in the mid-90s right up until her most recent film appearances, we’ve used IMDb to compare the five best Johansson film roles, to what are considered the five worst.
BEST: JoJo Rabbit (7.9)
Taika Waititi’s career has been a source of attention for film lovers for a while now, but it was his 2019 comedy JoJo Rabbit that has really helped to throw him into the spotlight. The film parodies Hitler and the Hitler Youth with precision and care, avoiding the creation of too much darkness without covering up the atrocities of the Nazis. Scarlett Johansson takes on the important role of JoJo’s mother, who is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic.
WORST: Eight Legged Freaks (5.4)
While Johansson is often known for a variety of serious and impressive roles, every now and again (especially in the earlier years of her career) she didn’t shy away from some films that could be considered a little embarrassing these days. Eight Legged Freaks is one of those. She plays Ashley Parker in this poor attempt at comedy horror.
BEST: Marriage Story (8.0)
Another of Johansson’s most recent works saw her work alongside Adam Driver in the critically acclaimed Marriage Story, a tale of a couple making their way through a divorce. Driver and Johansson were both nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars respectively, suggesting that the two carried the film forward in the most impressive way possible. Even more impressive when you remember she was also performing in JoJo Rabbit in the same year.
WORST: Rough Night (5.2)
One of Johansson’s other more bizarre roles was the 2017 black comedy Rough Night. Directed by Lucia Aniello with Johansson at the front of a mostly female cast, the attempt at an interesting story and humor was there, but it didn’t pay off.
From a $20 million budget, the film made a relatively respectable $47 million, but the critical response panned just about every element of the film, despite its strong cast.
BEST: The Avengers (8.0)
The first Avengers film was Marvel’s first $1 billion release, and brought together its most impressive cast list so far: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson took the lead roles. It was only the second time Johansson had played Black Widow, but she received a lot of praise for her performance and took home one of the biggest paycheques in the cast.
WORST: The Spirit (4.8)
Despite her most well-known portrayal of a superhero obviously comes from her work in the MCU, Johansson had some experience with superheroes thanks to her appearance in The Spirit alongside MCU co-star Samuel L. Jackson. Despite its neo-noir approach creating something rather unique, the story and writing were criticized across the board.
BEST: Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War (8.4)
We’ve grouped the two-part centerpiece of the MCU’s Third Phase together as they both take home an impressive 8.4 average on IMDb (at the time of writing) and have almost the exact same cast. If Marvel thought their box office return and cast list were impressive the first time they looked at the Avengers, then the exceptional ensemble cast and almost $3 billion box office return would have blown their minds this time around.
WORST: Home Alone 3 (4.5)
Despite the first two Home Alone films often being considered some of the best comedies of all time, the franchise went downhill fast when the third and fourth films were created.
Something that likely passed a lot of audiences by was the fact that a young Scarlett Johansson played the role of Molly Pruitt.
BEST: The Prestige (8.5)
Christopher Nolan is known for his incredible ability to mix big-budget cinematic magic with an ability to tell tense, twist-filled stories every time. His 2006 (right in the middle of his time working on the Dark Knight trilogy) masterpiece The Prestige was loved by audiences and critics alike. Johansson played Olivia Wenscombe, the assistant of Hugh Jackman’s Robert Angier, while the likes of Christian Bale, Michael Caine and David Bowie (playing a fictionalized Nicola Tesla) were also involved.
WORST: My Brother The Pig (4.0)
Going from the impressive genius of The Prestige all the way down to a film simply titled My Brother The Pig seems like it’s going to be a step-down, but we’ll see. Well, with its very low 4.0 IMDb rating, it’s pretty clear that this isn’t exactly Johansson’s career highlight. Despite that, she took on one of the lead roles in this pig-centric attempt at fantasy comedy.