20 Best & Worst Movies From 2017 Oscar Nominees
2. Ryan Gosling
Best: Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
Throughout his career, Gosling will appear in more awards-worthy films than Crazy, Stupid, Love, but he will probably never get a chance to have as much fun with a performance. He plays a modern day, hyper-masculine player with aplomb, riffing a more gentle Patrick Bateman predator, but retaining a solidly likeable edge and a twinkle in his eye.
He's captivating - particularly when trying to "teach" Steve Carrell to be a man like him - and it's just as spell-binding to watch him tamed by Emma Stone here as it is to watch him lose her in La La Land.
Worst: Only God Forgives (2013)
Only God Forgives is what happens when people start believing their own hype. After establishing a wonderfully successful silent hero mythology for Gosling in Drive, Nicolas Winding-Refn tried to dial it up with a mostly mute follow-up in Only God Forgives. Sadly, the material is woeful - provocatively so, in fact - and it all feels like a joke by Refn that nobody but he was ever meant to get.
Watching more verbose performances by Gosling in hindsight, it's ludicrous that the Dane thought it was wise to completely clip his wings and shut him up.