Can You Name These Amy Adams Movies?
- by Ben Sherlock
- – on
- in Movies and TV
Amy Adams has only been a major movie star for about a decade, but in that time, she’s certainly made a name for herself. She’s won two Golden Globes, been nominated for five Academy Awards and six BAFTAS, and her movies have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars at the worldwide box office. She’s an unstoppable force of superstardom, paralleled only perhaps by Jennifer Lawrence for the title of biggest female movie star in the world. Amy Adams is essentially the next Meryl Streep, with whom she starred in a Nora Ephron comedy-drama about a cookbook. Film critics have consistently praised Adams for her groundbreaking portrayals of “emotionally guarded, fiercely intelligent” women, while The Wall Street Journal has described her performances as “tough, tender, smart, and funny,” as well as “ethereal and delightful,” and concluded, “What an actress, and what range!” Adams has been featured as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine and also featured on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. She has tremendous range, too. She’s been in comedies, dramas, superhero movies, family movies, adult movies (not porn – adult-oriented movies) – she’s one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood. But how well do you know her diverse range of roles? Can you name these Amy Adams movies?
Name the movie
While she is typically known for her roles that garner Academy Award nominations, Amy Adams occasionally dips into different territories, like comedy or family movies or, in this case, big superhero blockbusters. Adams didn’t get to play a superpowered individual herself, although she certainly deserves that glory, but she did get cast as the love interest of one. This movie was a grim and gritty reboot of a classically colorful and fun DC comic book character. Which movie is it?
Name the movie
Amy Adams was sort of typecast in comedy for a while as the unlikely love interest; the one who the protagonist realizes he should be with after pining after the other female lead for the whole movie and getting nowhere. She played the part really well in Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's satire cum homage of NASCAR and the American South. She falls for Ferrell's race car driver character Ricky Bobby and eventually ends up with him, as they always do in Hollywood comedies. What movie is it?
Name the TV show
Technically not a movie, okay, but it is an Amy Adams role. When she was first started out and struggling to get her big break in the film industry, Adams got by with a couple of appearances on a certain TV show. It's one of those workplace mockumentary series that have become really popular since Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant broke new ground with their seminal British comedy. That show actually formed the basis for this one; this one is a remake of it, and a pretty good one at that. Which show is it?
Name the movie
This movie is based on the true story of the Abscam political scandal, which was previously attempted to be adapted for the screen by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi under the title Moon Over Miami. This version, starring Amy Adams alongside Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro, and directed by the great David O. Russell, was a huge box office hit and made a big splash with the critics when it was released a couple of years ago, but Adams’ performance in particular praised. What movie is it?
Name the movie
Amy Adams starred in this biopic directed by Tim Burton about a famous painter with a very distinctive artistic style who got ripped off. The screenplay was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the masterminds behind FX’s The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, while Christoph Waltz proves a match for Adams in a supporting role. This movie was snubbed when the Oscar nominations came around, but the critics called it “a timelessly relevant piece of social commentary.” What movie is it?
Name the movie
This comedy crime caper movie was Amy Adams’ big break in Hollywood. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks! Unfortunately, after that, she didn’t work again for another three years, but then she got another big break, but that’s another story. In this one, the story of a con man who, using multiple disguises, manages to elude the law while living a champagne lifestyle for years. It was a $350 million hit. Which movie is it?
Name the movie
This little science fiction movie about a more quiet and somber alien invasion than we’re used to came out of nowhere recently to make a huge splash, bringing in more than expected at the box office and going on to be named as one of the year’s masterpieces by the AFI. It was also granted a grand total of eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Amy Adams plays a language expert. What movie is it?
Name the movie
Later this year, Paul Thomas Anderson will be giving us Phantom Thread, his latest epic drama movie, this one starring Daniel Day Lewis as a fashion designer in his final film role before he retires. Anderson’s last masterpiece was this pastiche of Scientology and other cults set around the time of the end of the Second World War, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, with Amy Adams playing Hoffman’s cult leader wife. It was acclaimed, but a financial disappointment. What movie is it?
Name the movie
Amy Adams played the female lead in this happy, upbeat, smash hit musical comedy based on a classic children's franchise pioneered by master puppeteer Jim Henson. Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Five Year Engagement wrote the film adaptation of the franchise, and they seemed like an unlikely duo to do it, but they pulled it off and then some with a lovable family movie that won big at the box office and also won the hearts of bitter, curmudgeonly film critics. Which Henson franchise was it?
Name the movie
A strong case could be made that Amy Adams is the Meryl Streep of this generation. She is popular and versatile and endlessly talented and beloved by the Academy, which are all attributes of one Ms. Streep. The two of them have actually appeared alongside one another in a movie, a comedy drama that was the last film to be directed by the legendary Nora Ephron before Ephron's tragic passing. It's about how a chef and a food blogger are linked by a cook book. Only heavyweight talents like Adams and Streep could make that premise watchable. So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
On first glance, this Disney princess movie would look like a colossal embarrassment for any adults involved. It's an affectionate spoof of the Disney princess genre, as an animated princess in the kind, crime-free, happy animated world of Disney movies finds herself transported into our real, live action world, where people are a lot meaner. But it is now considered a classic, as Adams brought a sweet and earnest charm to this movie. Families really took to it, adults included. By pointing out our cynicism, it breaks it down. Extraordinary. What movie is it?
Name the movie
This is a pretty much by the numbers romantic comedy starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. It was based on a Bollywood movie and it received generally negative reviews, although there is one lovely little tidbit from behind the scenes that adds a sweetness to the movie: Goode only agreed to do the movie because where it was shooting allowed him to fly home to London to see his family on weekends. Isn’t that sweet? So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
Strangely, history makes for great comedy, especially when you have a movie that shows a bunch of different historical figures from different historical figures all interacting with one another. It leads to the culture clash of all culture clashes. In one such comedy movie, Amy Adams plays the spunky, bubbly pilot Amelia Earheart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic who got mysteriously lost at sea and is the subject of many conspiracy theories. So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
This isn’t the only movie that David O. Russell has made with Amy Adams, but it is arguably the best. It’s a biographical sports drama about boxing starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale alongside an acclaimed Amy Adams. It was nominated for a bunch of Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, while it did win the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Bale) and Best Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo). As a drama, it’s a masterpiece. What movie is it?
Name the movie
This movie was a box office bomb at its time of release. It’s the movie of the comedy rock duo made up of Jack Black and Kyle Gass. It’s a hilarious musical movie about the origins of the band in the 1990s, although it’s a fictional story and not the true origin story of the two of them getting together to make funny and awesome music. The film is jam packed with cameo appearances from stars like Amy Poehler, Ronnie James Dio, Ben Stiller...and Amy Adams. Which movie is it?
Name the movie
This romantic sort of science fiction movie made a big splash with the critics and the awards overlords and even the audiences as it’s basically a love story about a guy and his Siri. Except it’s a more advanced version of a Siri system as the story is set in the near future. Amy Adams, funnily enough, plays a character called Amy, and she has some of the most profound lines in the entire movie. So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
In this twisted and deliciously dark thriller, Amy Adams plays a woman who receives a manuscript for a novel in the mail. See, her ex-husband (played by Jake Gyllenhaal, the master of playing watchable weirdos) is an author and it's his latest book and the movie is titled after it and it seems to detail what he's going to do to her and the kids. It's really creepy stuff, but also a deeply engaging story. Empire magazine called it an "artfully composed and emotionally clever noir." So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
This delightful little low budget indie feature was the masterpiece that have Amy Adams her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It was directed by Phil Morrison and she stars alongside Scott Wilson (better known as Hershel from The Walking Dead). It's one of those kinds of movies with all the festival awards it won on the poster with little feathers around them. Without this movie, we probably wouldn’t know who Amy Adams is today. So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
Starring alongside the great Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, and Meryl Streep, Amy Adams caught people’s attention worldwide with this period drama movie that was written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play of the same name (albeit adapted without the subtitle). All four lead actors were nominated for Oscars for their performances in the movie. The screenplay was also nominated. No winners, though, sadly. Still, it was very acclaimed. What movie is it?
Name the movie
This little baseball drama movie about an aging talent scout was the first movie to star Clint Eastwood that he didn’t also direct for two decades. It cost $60 million to make, somehow, and it didn’t make that back. Also, the script is very limited and offers very little for those executing it to work with. Critics described the movie as “predictable and somewhat dramatically underwhelming.” However, Amy Adams’ performance was praised for elevating a small, clichéd role above what it could’ve been. What movie is it?
Name the movie
The talent behind this movie is immense. It stars A-listers Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts alongside the massive talents of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Ned Beatty (thanks to these guys, the budget skyrocketed to $75 million). The movie was directed by the legendary Mike Nichols from a script adapted by The West Wing mastermind Aaron Sorkin from the book subtitled The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. It’s about a Congressman and a CIA operative. So, what movie is it?
Name the movie
This movie took forever to get made, because the seminal Jack Kerouac novel that it’s adapted from has always been considered to be unadaptable. The New York Times called the book “the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as ‘beat,’ and whose principal avatar he is.” The film adaptation was not quite as well received as the novel, with critics saying the movie “doesn’t capture the energy and inspiration of Jack Kerouac’s novel.” What movie is it?
Name the movie
In this kids’ movie about a family pet with superpowers, Amy Adams provides her voice for a character called Sweet Polly Purebred. The movie struggled at the box office alongside big blockbusters like The Bourne Ultimatum and The Simpsons Movie, but its cast does boast some A-list talent. In addition to Amy Adams, it has Peter Dinklage, Patrick Warburton, Jim Belushi (meh), Mad Men’s John Slattery, Samantha Bee, Jason Lee from My Name is Earl, Brad Garrett, and John DiMaggio. What movie is it?
Name the movie
This romantic comedy stars Amy Adams alongside the brilliant Frances McDormand, the star of many great Coen brothers movies like Fargo, Blood Simple, and Burn After Reading. It only made about $16 million at the box office, which isn’t that much of a splash, but the critics enjoyed it, with The New York Times calling it “an example of how a little nothing of a story can be inflated into a little something of a movie with perfect casting, dexterous tonal manipulation, and an astute eye and ear for detail.” What movie is it?
Name the movie
In this romantic comedy movie, Amy Adams plays the third most important role after the lead couple of Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. Amy Adams plays the role of Amy Ellis in one of her earliest roles, when the pickings were slim. Sadly, she had to take a role in this bland, trite, cliché riddled romcom that the critics despised. It only has a score of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was a mild success at the box office. What movie is it?