7 Things: Actresses That I Like – #5 Rachel McAdams

Let me start by stating that I don’t always like Rachel McAdam’s choices of roles. The fact that I’m going to have to sit through The Vow – though, she alone does not carry the blame for this one – and will probably one day find myself actually watching The Notebook gives me hives. Though, I admit, another movie that I was loathe to watch – The Time Traveler’s Wife – did turn out to be a pleasant surprise. So, you never know. I may watch The Notebook and be like, “This is the best movie I have ever seen.”

But probably not.

Anyway, it all began back in 2006. I had the TV on one day in the background with the sound muted, which is how I like my background TV – aggressively silent – and Red Eye was on. It was the scene where Rachel McAdams character was finding out who Cillian Murphy’s character was and the nefarious plot that he was sent to carry out, and I literally could not pull my eyes from the screen. I didn’t need sound, I didn’t need dialogue. I just needed to watch her face to know her character was scared and internally panicking, and yet also internally determined at the same time.

I was struck by the rawness of her emotion. I think that’s difficult to do on-screen.

After that, I sought out everything that I had missed, minus The Notebook – Apologies. I’m just not quite ready to take that on. – and determined that I do, in fact, find Rachel McAdams’ acting noteworthy.

Her performance as Colee in The Lucky Ones is quite a departure from the rest of her body of work, and it was impressive. She stepped right out of herself and into a character. Unfortunately, that character mimicked an ex-friend of mine to the point of distraction. I swear it was like she had met this woman and studied everything from her accent to her walk. So, I can’t rank it amongst my favorite performances.

I have to go back to Red Eye, I think, in which Rachel showed some serious range, but her performances in Family Stone and Morning Glory brought those movies to life.