Cameron Diaz: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked

2. Vanilla Sky (2001)

Vanilla Sky, the remake of 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes, is a controversial movie. Not because it causes offense, or anything along those lines, but because it really split its critics down the middle. Some consider it a vibrant triumph for director/writer Cameron Crowe, others insist that it was a largely pointless endeavour and vastly inferior to the original. However, I'm not here to discuss the standard of the movie itself, but Cameron Diaz's performance within it which I considered to be quite astonishing, superb even, given that at the time I was used to watching her in much less intensely dramatic roles (Being John Malkovich aside). She won praise from critics for her keen ability to portray her character Julie Ganni's intense unpredictability and fierce sexuality and not without reason. The chemistry she shares with Cruise is palpable and if you're asking this writer, an absolute pleasure to behold. Sure, the film itself might be slightly on the pretentious side, but I can't for a second pin any of the blame on Diaz, who here gave it her all and honestly smashed it out of the park.