Movie Jail: The People vs. Anne Hathaway

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Ever wonder what happens to actors and filmmakers who stop making good films and start releasing bad ones? They land themselves in Movie Jail! JoBlo.com readers will act as the jury to hold celebrities accountable for the diminishing quality of films, while still taking into full account their entire career. While they won't actually spend any time behind bars, this is a fun way for you to voice your opinion as to whether a few bad movies discredits an entire career. So, read through the evidence on both sides and let us know in the comments whether this week's defendant deserves to go to MOVIE JAIL!

The Defendant: Anne Hathaway

The Charges: 

Anne Hathaway is hereby charged with failure to live up to an Academy Award by knowingly and willingly appearing in subpar films that fail to capitalize on her talent. She is also charged with baiting the Academy and misrepresenting herself as a talented actress by repeatedly appearing in bad movies that are released as quality films.

The Prosecution

EVIDENCE FOR THE PROSECUTION: THE PRINCESS DIARIES, ELLA ENCHANTED, HOODWINKED!, PASSENGERS, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, INTERSTELLAR, OCEAN'S EIGHT, SERENITY, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, THE HUSTLE

In her twenty year career as an actress, Anne Hathaway has gone from live action Disney princess to Hollywood darling thanks to her mix of classic good looks and well executed campaigning. It was not until 2005 that she broke her PRINCESS DIARIES mold by appearing in both the indie film HAVOC and the Oscar darling BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. The key similarity between the two films being that Hathaway appears topless in both. It bears noting that through her filmography, Ms. Hathaway has regularly appeared nude in films that also correspond with her awards nominations.

While we are not trying to downplay Ms. Hathaway's talents as an actress simply due to the fact that she has regularly exposed her, ahem, assets on screen, but it should be an indicator of her true ability as a performer if she has to resort to showing skin to prove her worth. If we review her films where she must reply on accents (THE HUSTLE), hair dye (SERENITY), special effects (ALICE IN WONDERLAND) or her charm (THE PRINCESS DIARIES), all of them fall flat.

The most telling failure of Ms. Hathaway and one that should be used to easily find her guilty on all charges is that she seemingly plays fictionalized versions of herself in OCEAN'S EIGHT and to a lesser extent THE HUSTLE. While OCEAN'S EIGHT was a box office success based on the ensemble cast, THE HUSTLE was a bomb because it showed that even Anne Hathaway cannot carry a film by herself.

The Defense

EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENSE: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, GET SMART, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, LOVE & OTHER DRUGS, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, LES MISERABLES, COLOSSAL

Why do people hate on Anne Hathaway so much? Spend just a little time on Google and you will see so much vitriol and hated aimed at the actress that it is almost mind-boggling. While seemingly down to Earth in interviews, Hathaway is always treated like that girl in high school who was obsessed with theater. Is Hathaway herself pretentious? Does it even matter? Looking at her resume, Hathaway broke away from the cookie cutter Disney films she was being groomed for and has instead taken in stride projects that accentuate her natural sexiness as well as her strength as a performer.

Would Christopher Nolan work with a shitty actress? I think not. Castin her both in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES as well as INTERSTELLAR, Nolan knew he had a top tier talent at his disposal. Hathaway has taken what could have been generic romantic comedies in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and LOVE & OTHER DRUGS and turned them into nuanced performances. She has also toyed with comedy in GET SMART and COLOSSAL which also make great use of her dramatic talents.

But what really shows the misrepresentation of who Anne Hathaway is comes from her Oscar nominations. Sure, she should have won for her powerhouse performance in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, but it was her brief but haunting role in LES MISERABLES that won her the Gold. Any actress that can take mere minutes of screen time and make it one of the most memorable performances of the year deserves the trophy. Anne Hathaway is entitled to some mistakes (ahem, SERENITY) since the quality of her roles earns her that freedom.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Anne Hathaway has grown from a teen actress to one of the most lauded performers of the 21st century. An outspoken advocate in real life, on screen she is able to play everything from a femme fatale to an astronaut and even the sexiest comic book character of all time. Anne Hathaway has a large contingent of haters who have lobbied for the world to turn on her but she continues to make films. While they may still be divisive, is that enough to condemn Anne Hathaway to Movie Jail? It is time for you, the jury, to decide.

*The cases for and against a defendant going to Movie Jail by the author are not necessarily his views and opinions but they are some of the beliefs that one would use to effectively make an argument for both sides. Not quite a devil's advocate but you get the point. Anyway, this is all in fun so don't take it too seriously. We have a separate jail for those people called "Troll Tower" and believe me you do NOT want to go there.

WHAT SAY YOU: GUILTY OR NOT?

Here is your change to make your voice heard. You are the Jury! Let us know in the comments below whether you find Spider-man INNOCENT or GUILTY and we will share the verdict in two weeks! Remember: this is all for fun. No celebrities have been harmed in the creation of this column.

LAST WEEK'S VERDICT: NOT GUILTY

Potentially swayed by the dismissed divorce proceedings between Sony Pictures and Disney, you the jury have decided that the Spider-man franchise is NOT GUILTY due to the importance of the character's legacy and the good outweighing the bad. While the future of Spider-man is all dependent on how Sony handles their expanding cinematic universe, Spider-man is hereby free on all charges until further notice.