What is the best Jennifer Lawrence movie?

Oscar bait, dystopian blockbusters, dark arthouse choices, and raucous comedy — she has done it all. The spectrum of her filmography is wider than most realize. Which one wins?

1

Silver Linings Playbook

Lawrence won her first Academy Award for Best Actress playing Tiffany Maxwell, a young widow navigating grief and mental illness alongside Bradley Cooper.

2

Winter's Bone

Lawrence's breakthrough role as Ree Dolly, a tenacious Ozark teenager searching for her missing father to save her family's home.

3

The Hunger Games

Lawrence became a global icon as Katniss Everdeen, a young woman who volunteers for a televised death match in this culturally defining blockbuster.

4

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The strongest Hunger Games entry, darker and more politically charged, with Lawrence at the height of her blockbuster power.

5

American Hustle

Lawrence steals the film as Rosalyn Rosenfeld, the chaotic scheming wife of a con artist, earning a SAG Award and showcasing her comedic range.

6

Joy

Lawrence plays real-life inventor Joy Mangano who built a business empire against all odds, earning a Golden Globe in her third David O. Russell collaboration.

7

No Hard Feelings

A raucous R-rated comedy in which Lawrence plays a woman hired to date a socially awkward young man, proving her fearless comedic range.

8

Causeway

A quiet drama about a soldier recovering from traumatic brain injury, delivering one of Lawrence most restrained and emotionally precise performances.

9

Mother!

Darren Aronofsky polarizing psychological horror-allegory where Lawrence plays a woman whose home is increasingly invaded, delivering an unflinching performance.

10

X-Men: First Class

Lawrence plays a young Mystique torn between Charles Xavier optimism and Magneto radicalism, giving the shape-shifting villain emotional depth.

11

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Lawrence's Mystique is central to the time-travel sequel plot, with her choice determining humanity's fate in the most consequential arc for the character.

12

Don't Look Up

Adam McKay star-studded satire about society ignoring a comet threat, with Lawrence bringing grounded humanity to an absurdist ensemble.

13

Red Sparrow

Lawrence plays a Russian ballerina-turned-spy in this cold-blooded thriller, a demanding role that showed her willingness to take risks outside franchise comfort zones.