Cameron Diaz’s career ranges from serious dramas to light fluffy comedies about masks. She’s been an angel, a hallucination, and a bad teacher. Here are ten of her best films.
At the end of this year, Diaz play the iconic role of Ms. Hannigan in Annie. The movie musical remake will also star Jamie Foxx andRose Byrne (Bridesmaids) with Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) as the title role. Check out the trailer below.
The 41-year-old actress has had a wonderful career so far. Since her first role in The Mask, Diaz has starred in over 40 films. She has been nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes. She has been part of Academy Award winning films. As her career continues to go forward, it is interesting to look at her past movies and see the progress that she has made.
Diaz is not only known for her movies; her personal life has been apart of the news. After The National Enquirer reported that she cheated on Justin Timberlake, she sued them for libel and won the case. She also had a long-term relationship with Alex Rodriguez between Summer 2010 and fall 2011.
Here are the 10 best Cameron Diaz films. If your favorite isn’t on the list, comment below on why it should be.
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10. My Sister’s Keeper, 2009
This film is based on the Jodi Picoult novel of the same name. It tells the story of Anna (Abigail Breslin) and her sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva). Kate has cancer and Anna was brought into the world to be a genetic match for Kate because Kate has leukemia. To her mother, Sara (Diaz) and father’s (Jason Patric) surprise, Anna goes to a lawyer, Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin), to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.
The film got relatively negative reviews. However, all of the critics said that the film succeeded in being the perfect tearjerker. Diaz’s Sara won over the critics through her portrayal of a heartbroken and lost mother.
Even though the film was based on Picoult’s novel. She disagreed with the ending of the film. The ending of the novel and film were completely different, leading to creative differences. Picoult told USA Today that the new ending changed her message of the book.
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9. Being John Malkovich, 2006
Being John Malkovich is a unique movie. The science fiction film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay. It has a certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 93% of critics liking it.
In the film, Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) finds a portal to John Malkovich’s (John Malkovich) brain. When you go into the portal, you can live his life. When he tells his wife Lotte (Diaz), they begin taking turns going into Malkovich’s mind. When they both fall in love with his wife Maxine Lund (Catherine Keener), they must deal with the consequences of living in someone else’s mind.
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8. Bad Teacher, 2011
This film is exactly what you think it is about. Bad Teacher is about a bad teacher. It stars Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel and Lucy Punch. Even though the film was successful in the box office, it received mixed reviews from critics. They felt that, even though Diaz had a great performance, the script was too weak.
Bad Teacher follows Elizabeth Halsey, a teacher who doesn’t really care. When a cute teacher, Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), begins teaching at the school, Elizabeth decides to get a breast enhancement to get his attention. A fellow teacher Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch) also pursues him. At the same time, gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel), has a crush on Elizabeth. To get money for the surgery, Elizabeth decides to start teaching the students so she can get the bonus for good test scores.
Bad Teacher is now being developed into a television show on CBS. It will star Ari Graynor (Whip It), Sara Gibert and Kristen Davis.
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7. Gangs of New York, 2002
This Martin Scorsese film starred big names such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis. The movie is based on the Herbert Asbury novel.
The film tells the story of Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) and his search for his father’s killer. The man who killed his father is Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting (Day-Lewis) and his is the ruthless leader of the gang. Amsterdam hides his identity from everyone, including Jenny Everdeane (Diaz), the woman he is in love with. The film deals with the gangs within a dangerous district in New York. The film takes place in 1863, during the civil war.
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6. Vanilla Sky, 2001
Vanilla Sky tells the story of playboy David Ames (Tom Cruise), a popular publisher who hasn’t settled down. He has a relationship with Julie Gianni (Diaz) but it isn’t serious. He falls in love with his best friend’s girlfriend Sofia (Penelope Cruz). After David tries to break up with Julie, she crashes the car, killing herself and injuring him, leaving him horribly disfigured. After the accident, David is unsure what is reality and what is a hallucination.
The science fiction film was disliked by critics but was a cult classic. While critics give it a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, viewers gave it a 73% rating.
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5. Charlie’s Angels, 2000
Charlie’s Angels is a remake of the television series from the 1970s. The original Angels were Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith. Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu played the three Angels in the film. The plotline of the movie and show follows three women working to solve cases. They get their cases from a voice on a speaker, Charlie and his assistant Bosley.
The film has general positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a fresh rating. The film was successful at the box office as well. It was so successful that a sequel was released called Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
The Destiny’s Child song “Independent Women Part I” first appeared in the film. The song even calls out Diaz, Barrymore and Liu for being independent women.
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4. There’s Something About Mary, 1998
There’s nothing funny than obsession, right? There’s Something About Mary follows a nerd Ted (Ben Stiller) in his years after high school. Ted believes that he is in love with Mary (Diaz) because of their relationship in high school. So, now that he is an adult, he hires Pat, a private investigator (Matt Dillon), to find Mary. But, Pat falls in love with Mary as well.
The film got stellar reviews. It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and has an 83% approval rate from critics.
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3. Shrek, 2001
While I don’t generally find Mike Myers funny, Shrek was pretty great. Mike Myers stars as Shrek, an Ogre, whose swap is rushed with fairytale characters. To get the characters off his land, he must got find Princess Fiona (Diaz) and bring her to Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). With Shrek is Donkey (Eddie Murphy) who Shrek is annoyed by but still considers him a good friend.
Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It also has multiple sequels and spinoffs. There is Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, Shrek Forever After,Shrek the Halls and Scared Shrekless. There is a spin-off film called Puss in Boots, which stars Antonio Banderas.
The first and second received stellar reviews but the rest of the films had really poor results in the box office and were negatively rated by critics.
Shrek is one of 15 fictional characters on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Others include Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny.
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2. My Best Friend’s Wedding, 1997
Perhaps the best date movie of all time, My Best Friend’s Wedding has a stellar cast. It has Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Diaz and Rupert Everett as the leads.
My Best Friend’s Wedding follows Julianne Potter (Roberts) as she finds out that her best friend Michael O’Neal (Mulroney) is getting married to Kimmy Wallace (Diaz). Although Michael had a crush on Julianne, she never really returned the feelings until she found out that he was getting married. So, instead of going to the wedding as his friend, Julianne pretends to be engaged to her gay best friend George (Everett) and get Michael back. She doesn’t expect the bride to be as nice as she is.
The film is one of Julie Robert’s most well-known and popular films. It helped establish her as one of America’s sweethearts.
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1. The Mask, 1994
The Mask was Diaz’s first role. When she was in the film, she was only 21 years old. The Mask also starred Jim Carrey. It received mediocre reviews. It has a 56/100 on Metacritic.
This comedy tells the story of Stanley Ipkiss (Carrey), a bank teller. While he was normally a shy guy who had trouble with women, one discovery helped to change his life. He finds a mask in a river. Putting it on, he realizes that it is a magic mask that changes his attitude at night. Diaz plays Tina, a beautiful woman that Stanley has a crush on.
The mask that Stanley finds is called the Loki mask. It is named after the Loki, the Greek god of mischief. Replicas of the mask can run from $35-$60 on eBay.