Ranking The Academy Award For Best Actress Winners' Performances From The Past Decade

Jennifer Lawrence has built her career by playing various types of women and giving them a special Lawrence-ness that only she has to give. That being said, she is never better than when playing a skewed character, with humour to play around with.

Tiffany Maxwell was a young widow who liked dancing, she was wicked smart and had no problem telling others when they were lying. Her chemistry with Bradley Cooper is what makes the film so warm and enjoyable, as they both fizz at you on screen, saying things you would never usually say.

Unfortunately, Silver Linings is very predictable and follows many of the same tropes of other romantic-comedy-dramas. When Lawrence first came onto the big scene in Winter's Bone, she displayed a quiet and fearful nature, whereas, with Tiffany, she is abrasive and slightly goofy.

It isn't that Lawrence is bad in the film, it's that you know where you're ending up. Mixed with the fact that every interview you see with Lawrence, you realise that she is basically a less exaggerated version of Tiffany.

In retrospect, you can't help get the feeling that not only is it the least amount of stretching she's done for a role but also that you know she has done so much better.

Lawrence won the Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award for her role amidst middling competition. Whilst Naomi Watts and Jessica Chastain had and continue to be better elsewhere, Emmanuelle Riva was probably the most deserving that year. Meanwhile, actress Quvenzhané Wallis was just nine years old.

Verdict: Undeserved. Riva should have won.