Emma Stone Is a Two-Time Oscar Winner! To Celebrate, Here Are Five of Her Films To Revisit

Photo: Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Vogue, November 2016

After securing her second Oscar on Sunday night, some might be inclined to dub Emma Stone the Millennial Meryl Streep. Versatile and genre-nonconforming, Stone, like Streep, has a sort of goofy, yet sincere way about her that doesn’t just stop you where you stand and pull you in like an inescapable tractor beam. It invites you to kick off your shoes and stay awhile. Her on-screen personas endear you to her. You need to know more. You want to stay with this person for as long as possible. This is especially true in some of her most recent films, which have that wonderfully weird, almost alien, Yorgos Lanthimos quality to them, but to which Stone imbues humanity and warmth.

Her penchant for old-school slapstick tendencies in early roles like Natalie in The House Bunny and Jules in Superbad, combined with her gift for drawing out the humor in almost every character she’s ever played, has cemented her as one of the great comedic actresses. 

And yet, her true brilliance has always come from her ability to mold convincing people out of absurdity. As with her now Oscar-winning turn as Bella Baxter in Poor Things, she’ll have you giggling and gasping, yes. However, this is simple misdirection. By the end of the film, without you even realizing, her trick is revealed: She's created a living, feeling woman from whom the audience not only derives amusement, but for whom they care, and may even find themselves getting a little dewy-eyed over (Bella? Sure. Olive Penderghast? Without question). 

It’s been repeated this awards season that Stone was “fearless” as Bella Baxter. This is undeniable…and probably already apparent to anyone who's been watching Emma Stone since the beginning of her near 20-year career.

To celebrate the reigning champ of the Best Actress category, see which Emma Stone movies merit a rewatch.

Easy A - VOD

When discussing Emma Stone, we should start with the obvious: Easy A. If you're a certain mid-millennial, this film and this character are incredibly important.

Responsible for solidifying Emma Stone as one of the most popular and promising actresses of her generation, and for the epic usage of vlogs, Easy A follows Olive Penderghast, an early aughts comp for The Scarlet Letter's Hester Prynne, on her journey through fake sex, slutshaming, and "A"-adorned tops.

Emma Stone coupled with a quotable screenplay and outstanding comedic chemistry from a sublime supporting cast (Are Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson the best onscreen parents ever?), has made this a definitive high school movie.

Not to mention the work it did to ensure that every teen in America understood the power of Natasha Bedingfield, long before Anyone But You revived the absolute banger Unwritten.

Despite a few cringy moments that don't exactly stand the test of time, Easy A is a stone cold classic for 28- to 32-year-olds everywhere.

La La Land - VOD

This is where Crazy, Stupid Love gets a plug. Without it, and the rare "meh" of Stone's career, Gangster Squad, we wouldn't have a full understanding of the magnetism that Stone and Ryan Gosling have when paired on screen.

Aren't you happy you saw the two of them doing the Dirty Dancing lift before you watched them gloriously, and heartbreakingly, fall in and out of love in La La Land? If you haven't seen the scene in question, or the petting of Gosling's abs that precedes it, go watch Crazy, Stupid Love right now! Historical context is so important.

Anyway, La La Land is where Stone scored her first Academy Award. Stone was luminous as Mia, a young actress struggling to realize her dreams - a trait she shares with her jazz musician boyfriend, Sebastian (Gosling). And she's a solid "triple threat." The acting, the dancing, the singing. All of it is utterly charming.

Surrounding Stone and Gosling, and their indisputable chemistry, is a dreamy and sentimental look at Hollywood that often gets dinged for being a little too earnest, a little too overrated, and a little too dissimilar to the flashiness of the classic movie musicals from which it draws inspiration.

However, if you have even the slightest inclination toward show bizz or captivating romances starring actors with palpable spark, La La Land is yours for the watching.

The Favourite - Hulu

Who knew The Favourite would be the launch pad for a DeNiro/Scorsese-style partnership between the bizarre Yorgos Lanthimos and, up until this point, the very "commercial" Emma Stone? It was a match we couldn't foresee, but that we are now ravinous to consume again and again.

While her previous work in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) indicated Stone's interest and ability in dark and otherworldly comedy, watching her play within Lanthimos' signature eccentricity, felt like the perfect fit.

In the film, which is set in 18th-century England, Stone plays Abigail, a new maid who bumps heads with Rachel Weisz's Lady Sarah in an attempt to cozy up to an ailing Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman).

When you heard "18th-century England," did you black out for a second? If so, rest assured, this isn't your run-of-the-mill period piece. It's a sharp look at the ways in which women wield their power that many critics have referred to as "high-stakes Mean Girls."

Cruella - Disney+

On a scale from one to 10 (10 being “this was one hundred percent necessary”), how essential did you think it was to learn the origin story of an attempted puppy murderer? A one? Okay well, that’s what a lot of people said before seeing Cruella, and they were WRONG. The horrifying truth is that it didn’t just work, it’s perhaps the only decent film to come from Disney’s failed live-action remake experiment. 

Cruella is a garish, punk fantasy that revolves around Estella Miller’s early career in the fashion industry that would one day lead her to her glamorously wicked dognapping destiny as Cruella de Vil. 

With dual “going for it” performances from the world’s preeminent Emmas (Stone and Thompson) at its center, the film is intoxicating to watch. What makes this film even more fun is the makeup, hairstyling, and costumes, which all borrow from the smokey-eyed, leathery goodness of 1970s London.

Poor Things - Hulu

This weird and witty Frankenstein fable tells the story of a suicidal woman who is brought back to life, but who must now navigate the world anew with the brain of her own unborn child. 

In it, Emma Stone is hilarious, aspirational, and moving as Bella Baxter. The physicality she employs as a toddler trapped in a woman’s body is remarkable and perhaps the most impressive aspect of her entire performance. If you’ve ever lived with an infant, you’ll recognize the stumbling, duck-walking figure before you. 

Add whimsical production design, costumes that are sure to be the cinephile’s choice for Halloween 2024, and ridiculously silly performances for Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, and Rami Youssef to chew on and you’ve got a near-perfect film.