7. Jennifer Garner
I can hardly think of an actress who seems like shes going through the motions more than Jennifer Garner. She almost literally burst onto the scene in Alias, and seemed destined to be a huge crossover success. She upped her cred with the nerd crowd as Elektra, and captured hearts with 13 Going on 30. But after that remember Catch and Release? Neither does anybody else. The Kingdom? Ghosts of Girlfriends Past? The Invention of Lying? Arthur? Jennifer seems to have a knack at choosing projects that everyone will forget in a few months (or remember for all the wrong reasons). Her upcoming release of The Odd Life of Timothy Green promises not to reverse that trend. The only memorable work she has put in since Sydney Bristow hung up her pink wig is actually one of my favorite supporting performances in recent memory: her achingly tough-yet-tender performance in Juno. Diablo Cody may have written the arc, but boy, did Jennifer bring it to life. It turns her tough girl image on its head by the end, when the hardest exterior gives way to reveal deeper desires. After that, I thought it was surely nowhere but up for her. I was wrong.
Is there hope for her yet?: I was ready to give up on Jennifer until I saw her hysterical performance in Butter, a film that she produced herself. This tells me two things: first, that she still has sides of her talent that we havent seen. This character is so out of left field from what we have seen her do before, but doesnt lose the charisma we know her to have. Second, it shows that she has finally taken her career into her own hands. Gone are the days of backing up Russell Brand and Ricky Gervais. She is, without question, the lead of this film, and even amidst outstanding supporting performances, she never loses her footing. She knew this would be a good role for her, so she made the project happen.
My suggestion: Aside from BUTTER, her IMDb page doesnt reveal much else in her immediate future, which is probably a good thing. She can carefully select (and hopefully produce) her own roles, and take a stronger hand in shaping what we know can be a fruitful career.