This article contains references to domestic violence and suicide.
Whether you love her or hate her, Sydney Sweeney can’t be ignored. Even if her hotly anticipated cameo in The Devil Wears Prada 2 was cut, allegedly because it didn’t go with the flow of the movie, Sweeney is omnipresent on billboards, social media, Euphoria, and a slew of great movies in Hollywood.
Most recently seen in Paul Feig’s The Housemaid, alongside Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, Sweeney found her stride again, having delivered a string of box office flops prior to this. However, even if these movies did not prove profitable, some had great stories, and Sweeney was great on screen, even in smaller roles.
Eden Was One Of Sweeney’s Greater Performances
Eden was based on an alarmingly true story about a group of Europeans who, exasperated with the trappings of a bourgeois life, decide to move to a remote part of the Galápagos Islands. The group includes Dr. Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch, and Margret and Heinz Willmer, but things go awry when the self-proclaimed Baroness, Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn, turns up and brings her hedonistic way of life to Floreana Island.
Eden attempts to show the dark lengths people go to when they want to fulfill their interests, often turning violent. Sweeney gives a rather vulnerable, stripped-down performance as Margret, standing out amongst stars like Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, and Jude Law. While the movie attempted to tell a dramatic true story, Ron Howard’s direction was lacking, particularly in the second half.
Americana’s Western-Inspired Thrills Were Enjoyable
Tony Tost’s debut feature, Americana, featured Sydney Sweeney in an ensemble cast along with Paul Walter Hauser, Eric Dane, Halsey, and Zahn McClarnon. The actress played innocent waitress Penny Jo Poplin in a small South Dakota town, who stammered her way through life but dreamed of becoming a country singer. Penny Jo gets caught up in a risky heist of a Lakota Ghost shirt, a Native American artefact, leading to tense Western-style standoffs.
The movie has plenty of quirky characters like Cal, who identifies with being Native American even though he is not, and artifact dealer Roy, who has made a business of stealing these precious commodities. Americana was ambitious, bringing in elements of the Western while also touching upon the respect and preservation of indigenous objects and legacy, but it left something to be desired.
Anyone But You Was Sizzling With Chemistry Between Sydney Sweeney And Glenn Powell
After a much-hyped press tour, Anyone But You lived up to expectations as a perfectly sweet rom-com, loosely based on the Shakespearean play, Much Ado About Nothing. Bea is a law school student who has the perfect meet-cute and first date with Ben, a Goldman Sachs employee, but a series of misunderstandings the morning after leads to them going their separate ways.
However, fate reunites them when Ben turns out to be a guest at her sister’s wedding, and while they bicker on the plane to Australia, Ben and Bea devise a plan to pretend to fall in love with each other so that they can ward Bea’s parents off and make Ben’s ex jealous. Anyone But You has every guilty pleasure romantic trope, from enemies-to-lovers to fake dating, and the chemistry between the leading pair definitely led to a revival of the romcom in 2023.
Nocturne Is Supernatural Horror-Lite
Fans of Black Swan would see the inspiration in Nocturne, a Blumhouse supernatural horror thriller written and directed by Zu Quirke. Nocturne follows twin sisters Juliet (Sweeney) and Vivian (Madison Iseman), who are gifted pianists at an elite arts boarding school, but Vivian has always been a class apart from her sister. However, after the mysterious suicide of another student, Juliet discovers her notebook and starts using it to surpass her sister’s talents.
Nocturne only got a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics claiming that while it had a great premise, the movie could not get dark and deep enough to do justice to it. Sweeney, however, was remarkable as Juliet, a young woman who is intense, disturbed, and ready to go to any lengths to achieve her dream.
Big Time Adolescence Is An Atypical Coming Of Age Film
This 2019 film, directed by Jason Orley, focuses on Mo (Griffin Gluck), who idolizes his sister’s boyfriend Zeke (Pete Davidson), despite the latter being a pretty bad influence. Even when Zeke breaks up with Mo’s sister and starts dating Holly (Sydney Sweeney), Mo hangs on, getting introduced to a world of partying and drugs with Zeke and his friends.
Misunderstandings arise when Mo gets involved with Holly, but the plot focuses more on the close bond between the pair of friends, despite girl problems and so on. Big Time Adolescence is one of Sweeney’s earlier films, and she’s certainly not the highlight. However, she manages to humanize Holly instead of making her a prop in Zeke and M’s life, and the character’s word-weariness and self-awareness are notable among a sea of other such movies.
Immaculate Is Faith-Based Horror That Explores Female Bodily Autonomy
If there is one thing that Sydney Sweeney can do, it’s variety. In Immaculate, the actress stepped into the shoes of Sister Cecilia, a young woman who turned to God when she miraculously survived a swimming accident. Cecelia is invited to a convent in Italy that takes care of senior nuns, but quickly finds out that something very grim is going on with the nuns there. As Cecilia discovers that she is pregnant despite not having had intercourse, even more horrifying events start taking place, despite her being branded as the next Virgin Mary.
Without giving away what Immaculate is about, the movie touches upon men imposing their will on women’s bodies, which feels incredibly relevant today. There is a real feeling of dread as it dawns on Cecilia what she’s up against, with a final sequence that truly lives up to the horror tag.
Christy Was Sydney Sweeney’s Attempt At Prestige Cinema
Despite being typecast as a siren, Sydney Sweeney dove into the sports drama genre with Christy, directed by David Michôd and featuring the actress herself as a producer. Christy depicted the true, heroic story of Christy Martin, who rose to sports stardom in the 1990s, becoming one of the most beloved women boxers of all time. However, Christy was also a victim of domestic abuse and attempted murder by her husband and coach, James, which nearly ruined her life.
Christy was a film about overcoming adversity and staying authentic to one’s own identity, and Sweeney went through an intense physical transformation to play the part of the boxer. Unfortunately, the movie itself had one of the weakest box office opening weekends at only $1.3 million, but the audience score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes tells a different story about how it was received by viewers.
Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood
Another 2019 film where Sydney Sweeney has a rather small role, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood deserves a higher place on this list because of Quentin Tarantino’s masterclass in Hollywood mythmaking. The movie is a fictionalized account set against the background of a true story — the 1969 Manson Murders. The movie charts the vestiges of the Golden Era through a late-career stuntman and TV actor, while also showing characters like Sharon Tate, Manson, and his cult.
Sweeney plays Snake, one of Manson’s girls who is seen fleetingly through the movie, and only has a couple of lines. Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio are the leading trio and the main focus, but Tarantino manages to weave one of the most intriguing (and revisionist) tales of American cinema ever with Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.
The Housemaid Cemented Sydney Sweeney’s Comeback
After a slew of box office flops, Sydney Sweeney capitalized on her bad girl, siren image with the R-rated thriller, The Housemaid, opposite Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar. Based on the book by Freida McFadden, the movie depicts a young, struggling woman named Millie who manages to get a job as the housemaid of Winchester House. Things are not as they seem, as Nina Winchester starts playing diabolical mind games with Millie as soon as she steps into the house.
The Housemaid brought back the pulpy, campy world of the erotic thriller, with director Paul Feig leaning into it with gusto. Seyfried and Sweeney feel like the modern-day Davis and Crawford as they get into fierce tussles, with an explosive twist in the third act. A sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret, has been greenlit already.
Reality Is A Tense Exploration Of The Whistleblower
The role of a whistleblower has a hallowed status, but remains morally grey. This is the theme of 2023’s Reality, directed by first-time director Tina Satter, and starring Sydney Sweeney in the leading role of 25-year-old Reality Winner. Reality was an NSA translator who was accused of leaking reports about Russian interference in the 2016 US Elections. The movie used the transcripts verbatim from the search and investigation that FBI agents carried out in her Georgia home, even using rather creative techniques to depict the redacted parts of her interaction by using glitches on the screen.
The film received a 2023 Peabody Award and has a whopping 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Easily the most challenging of her roles, Sydney Sweeney shines here, proving beyond a doubt that her acting prowess is her biggest strength.
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