3 Must-See Scarlett Johansson Movies (And 3 To Skip)

While Scarlett Johansson has had an illustrious career, even our favorite Avenger can have some amazing movies and some questionable films.

Chances are, you are not one of the boomers or Gen X-ers who went out to see Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum fall in love against the backdrop of the 1969 Lunar Landing last weekend. Fly Me to the Moon is, by all accounts, an old-fashioned rom-com – the kind that features impossibly attractive celebrities uttering impossible phrases in impossible situations. The kind that no one sees anymore. To my taste, rom-coms should be a bit more ironic, a bit edgier – think Easy A, Warm Bodies, and Emma (the Anya Taylor-Joy edition). That said, Fly Me to the Moon is by no means a bad movie, and calls to mind some of Johansson’s best work. So, let’s look back on her three best movies, shall we? And while we’re at it, we’ll try to forget her three worst ones.

The 3 Best Scarlett Johansson Movies

Marriage Story (2019)

I remember seeing this at a screening and being blown away by Johansson’s command of the screen. I think that Adam Driver overshadows her in some scenes, but she’s still affecting and sympathetic in the role of a woman whose marriage is falling apart. That doesn’t mean she’s likable; however, that’s why her performance is noteworthy. She plays every angle of the character – both her charming side and her despicable side – with equal flair. She also looks beautiful when she’s crying. Meanwhile, when I walk out of a theater after seeing a sad movie, I look like I have malaria.

Black Widow (2021)

Is this, objectively, Marvel’s best superhero movie? Probably not. It only has a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes (which is like getting a B- on a paper, by Marvel standards). On the other hand, it’s a long overdue starring role for the sole female among the original MCU Avengers. With the help of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and her other pugnacious relatives, Johansson fights both crime and the patriarchy as the American-accented Natasha Russianov, leaping from ceilings and reminding us why she deserved this role in the first place. It’s Johansson’s movie and we’re all just half-watching it.

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

This movie made me cry more than Marriage Story. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been married, or maybe it’s because Johansson brings real pathos to this role as a German woman who secretly sabotages the Nazis during World War II. Her scenes with her son are amusing and heartwarming, even during dark times; and when her situation goes south, you feel it in her gut. She understands the assignment.

The 3 Worst Scarlett Johansson Movies

The Island (2005)

Here are four things that I remember about this movie: (1) Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor were either robots, clones, or humans that thought they were clones but actually weren’t. The fact that I don’t remember is testament to this movie’s … (2) Blandness. When I think of this movie, I think of white walls and white outfits. Like, sometimes white can be interesting, such as when it appears in an episode of Euphoria. But in this movie, it was … (3) Bland. Did I mention that this movie was bland? I think Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson made out at one point, which is cool – or did they open a joint bank account together? Both events would have been equally thrilling. (4) It was bland.

Ghost in the Shell (2017)

Scarlett Johansson played a Japanese woman in this movie. Scarlett Johansson. 

The Perfect Score (2004)

Did you know that Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans starred in a movie eight years before The Avengers? It was about a group of New Jersey teenagers who worked together to steal the answers for the SAT, and it was boring as f*ck. The only interesting aspect of the movie was that it officially kicked off the two actors’ career-long working relationship, which continued with The Nanny Diaries and culminated in, of course, The Avengers. Oh, and it co-starred Bryan Greenberg, who deserves a bigger career considering how cute and in-a-lot-of-movies he used to be. Like, this guy was once in a movie with Meryl Streep! (Prime, 2005.) We should be seeing him in Go Daddy commercials at the very least.