Earlier this week Slate unveiled the time sucking Hollywood Career-o-Matic, an exhaustive interactive graph which maps and compares “the career of any major actor or director from the last 26 years”. It works by plotting Rotten Tomatoes ratings of a selected actor or director’s filmography and is particularly useful in comparing the trajectory of different careers over time. Spike Lee vs. Spike Jonze. Paul Thomas Anderson vs. Wes Anderson vs. Paul W.S. Anderson. Matt Damon vs. Ben Affleck. Whatever. In this case we chose to investigate the careers of Australia’s critical consensus “best actors and actresses”; Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce for the guys and Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts for the ladies.
Some things to note…
– Guy Pearce just might be the most underrated actor of all time. Of the aforementioned all but Pearce have received at least one Oscar nomination. With retrospect he should have at least earned a Best Actor nod for 2000’s Memento. Ironically both Rush and Crowe were nominated that year for Quills and Gladiator respectively. Crowe won.
– This is basically an aggregation of an aggregation so don’t take anything seriously.
– “Certified Fresh” equates to a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 75% or more.
– This is by no means a measure of talent. Good films contain bad acting and vice versa (see: Cate Blanchett’s Oscar nominated performance in critical stinker Elizabeth: The Golden Age).
– This is more a reflection of an actor’s nose for good roles and films which again, has nothing to do with talent.
– The ratings completely discount payday films, critically maligned blockbusters which an actor may have chosen for monetary reasons. The exception to this is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, duh!
– Rating “acting talent” based on this data is further skewed by critically acclaimed animations. Both Rush and Blanchett have voiced characters in critical behemoths Finding Nemo and Ponyo respectively.
– The below ratings also discount an actor’s screen time (see: Guy Pearce’s miniscule roles in critical darlings Hurt Locker and The Road).
OK. Let’s have some fun!
GEOFFREY RUSH
Critical Highs: Shine (1996), Shakespeare In Love (1998), Finding Nemo (2003), The King’s Speech (2010).
Critical Low: House On Haunted Hill (1999)
Average Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 65.4
Percentage of films “certified fresh”: 48.3%
Things of Note: Rush’s worst critical period came in 2006/7 with the release of four consecutive bottom dwellers. Three of them were sequels – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
RUSSELL CROWE
Critical Highs: Proof (1991), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Insider (1999)
Critical Low: Rough Magic (1997)
Average Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 63.6
Percentage of films “certified fresh”: 50%
Things of Note: Crowe’s best (L.A. Confidential) and worst (Rough Magic) films were released in the same year.
GUY PEARCE
Critical Highs: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), The Hurt Locker (2009), Animal Kingdom (2010), The King’s Speech (2010).
Critical Low: Factory Girl (2007)
Average Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 61.4
Percentage of films “certified fresh”: 42.9%
Things Of Note: Of all actors Pearce’s ratings differed most from his average meaning critics either loved or loathed the films he appeared in. He shares critical highpoints with both Crowe (L.A. Confidential) and Rush (The King’s Speech).
CATE BLANCHETT
Critical Highs: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Aviator (2004).
Critical Low: Charlotte Gray (2001)
Average Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66.5
Percentage of films “certified fresh”: 40%
Things Of Note: None of the films for which Blanchett has received an Oscar nomination: Elizabeth (1998), The Aviator (2004), Notes on a Scandal (2006), I’m Not There (2007) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), rate higher than the lowest rated Lord Of The Rings film.
NICOLE KIDMAN
Critical Highs: To Die For (1995), The Others (2001), The Hours (2002), Rabbit Hole (2010)
Critical Low: Just Go For It (2011)
Average Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 54.3
Percentage of films “certified fresh”: 24.2%
Things Of Note: Of all the actors we searched Kidman has both the lowest average film rating (54.3) and lowest certified fresh percentage (24.2%).
NAOMI WATTS
Critical Highs: Mulholland Drive (2001), 21 Grams (2003), King Kong (2005), Eastern Promises (2007)
Critical Low: The Ring Two (2005)
Average Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 61.4
Percentage of films “certified fresh”: 29.6%
Things Of Note: Watts’ second highest rated film is Matinee (1992) in which she plays “Shopping Cart” Starlet.
So what are the findings? Based on these reductive/flawed metrics…Cate Blanchett topped the ladies (and everyone) with an average film rating of 66.5. Watts came in at second with 61.4 while Kidman commanded the lowest of anyone at 54.3. Geoffrey Rush topped the men with 65.5 while Crowe came in at second with 63.6, just beating Pearce at 61.4. At 50% Russell Crowe had the highest “certified fresh” hit rate while Kidman has the lowest at 24.2%.
OK my eyes hurt and this abacus is rusting. Compare for yourself here.
Title Image by Andreas Rentz via Getty
