5. Kristen Bell
Kristen is the actress on this list that gives me the most vocal reactions to her choices. I often find myself screaming, WHY, KRISTEN, WHY?! at her. When your three defining features are your desperate attempts to be cast in The Hunger Games (but seriously, get off of Twitter and do some networking tweeting about it wont make it come true), your love of sloths, and your Neutrogena commercial, you may want to take a look at a few things. Kristen is still riding on the incredibly long coattails of Veronica Mars, which she deserves, as its a performance that nobody can really say enough good things about. The thing about her I love the most is also her biggest downfall: she is game for anything. This worked out for her nicely with Forgetting Sarah Marshall not so much with her other projects. Couples Retreat, When in Rome, and You Again all easily fall in the Forgettable Comedy category, and I was shocked at the misuse of her talent in Burlesque (but then again, the creators of Burlesque also thought Christina Aguilera was a good choice to anchor a film). And I was so excited at her return to television until I actually watched House of Lies and my heart dropped knowing she would be anchored to such a thankless role for so much of her year.
Is there hope for her yet?: Yes, but Ill believe it when I see it. One thing she inarguably has going for her is her fans. The people who love her REALLY love her, and will go out of their way to campaign for her roles in high-profile films. Even I had some hope Chris Nolan would see the light and write Harley Quinn into The Dark Knight Rises just for her, but after seeing the movie, I understand how misguided that would have been. Thus, even though she chooses less-than-stellar projects, people adore her and her sloth tears. Her IMDb page shows much hope on the horizon: six projects in production, most of which seem relatively promising, especially her scoring the lead in Disneys Frozen. Its a voice-acting gig, but hey, can she really go wrong with that?
My suggestion: If Kristen can keep being herself, but take a more controlled approach to her project selection, the world will see a lot more of her, and only in the best ways. She should also probably try to get herself killed off of House of Lies as soon as humanly possible.