20 Best & Worst Movies From 2019 Oscar Nominees

12. Melissa McCarthy

Best: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

McCarthy is usually at her best when spitting bile or being entirely crass (see The Heat and Bridesmaids), but her more dramatic performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? - which still incorporates her flare for making reprehensible characters somehow likeable - reminds us all that she's capable of a lot more than she often does for work.

She's great as the mean, unpleasant Lee Israel and her chemistry with Richard E Grant is a joy. The end result is a wonderful, funny-sad companion to Withnail & I that is one of the most essential movies of the last year.

Worst: Cook Off! (2017)

This was a close-run thing, because, unfortunately, McCarthy has been in a lot of films where the entire shtick has been that everything is funny because she's a bit overweight. That's where Tammy, The Boss, Life Of The Party and Identity Thief get their comedy kicks from and it's lazy and reductive.

Even with The Happytime Murders ranking as one of 2018's worst films, the inauspicious accolade of her worst ever film goes to Cook Off!