Every Dakota Johnson Performance, Ranked

Dakota Johnson may have lied about loving limes, but there's nothing that rings false in these performances. (Okay, most of these performances.)

Photo-illustration: Hartley Mellick/BuzzFeed; Images: Everett Collection (Yannis Drakoulidis/©Netflix, Amazon Studios, Universal Pictures, Nick Wall/©Netflix, Jack English/©Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Dakota Johnson has had a big summer, starring in Netflix's Persuasion and Apple TV+'s Cha Cha Real Smooth. It's a welcome breakout moment for an actor whose viral meme fodder (lying about loving limes, holding customers hostage at Blue Bottle, "that's not the truth, Ellen") has occasionally overshadowed her actual acting portfolio.

This is no fault of Johnson's, and is arguably more telling of the nature of the movie industry. If there's a word to describe Johnson's filmography up to this point, it would sadly be "underutilized." Like way too many talented women in Hollywood, she's been offered a slew of one-dimensional characters whose primary function is being the object of desire for a fully fleshed out male counterpart.

Fortunately, Johnson has been able to make limeade out of limes, so to speak. Even in some of her most unsuccessful projects, bogged down by clunky dialogue, poorly drawn characters, or even outside controversy, she's still able to emerge as something of an audience surrogate — a character who can subtly (or sometimes not-so-subtly, in the case of the fourth-wall breaking Persuasion) communicate with a smirk or a glance that she knows what you know. And while she may not be the flashiest thespian around, she's proven to have a real knack for naturalism, bringing an effortless humanity to (nearly) everything she touches.

In her best roles, Johnson typically plays someone charming yet slightly enigmatic who is experiencing an internal conflict. She has a phenomenal ability to slowly reveal her character's complex interiority, while maintaining the affability that initially draws you in. Her career has been on an upward swing since Fifty Shades, and the fact that she is slated to appear in a film directed by Tig Notaro later this year (another performer skilled at punctuating dialogue with silences) suggests that the best might be yet to come. 

32. Crazy in Alabama (1999)

Columbia Pictures

Johnson's first onscreen role was a case of adorable nepotism: a nonspeaking part in Crazy in Alabama, the starring vehicle for her mom, Melanie Griffith. It's pretty hard to actually say anything about Johnson's performance here, as she's little more than a background character. Plus, Johnson was only 10 at the time, and it would be more than a decade before she would appear in a movie again. As for the movie itself, Crazy in Alabama is a pretty forgettable and bizarre period piece that can only be praised for a quality performance from Griffith and the fact that its commentary on race in America, while certainly misguided and muddled, is not completely offensive. —Blake Harper

Watch it on Tubi.

31. For Ellen (2012)

Tribeca Film

Yet another movie where Johnson does not actually speak. In fact, if you weren't given a proper heads up going in, chances are you probably wouldn't even realize she was in it. For Ellen follows Joby (Paul Dano), a deadbeat dad who is fighting for custody of a daughter who may be better off without him in her life. Johnson is in the movie for approximately two minutes as a girl at a bar who hooks up with Joby during one of his binges. The only real significance it has in terms of her career is that it establishes the frustrating pattern of Johnson being reduced to little more than the object of a dude's affection instead of getting to actually play a fully-fleshed out character. —B.H.

Watch it on Prime Video via Freevee.

30. Closed Set (2014)

Mitchell Amundsen / Vimeo

When we said "give DJ a 'Leading Lady role,'" an extended car chase scene followed by three whole words ("fuck the paparazzi") was not what we had in mind. —Colin Gorenstein

Watch it on Vimeo. 

29. Chloe & Theo (2015)

Arctica Films

Chloe and Theo, a highly problematic PSA starring Theo Ikummaq as himself and Johnson as a girl who just rubbed a bunch of dirt on her face, takes place in a simultaneously romanticized and villainized New York City. The logline? An Inuit man is sent to the “South” by his elders to warn the southern elders about climate change, and teams up with Chloe (Johnson), a homeless girl with a ragtag gang of rough-around-the-edges pals who try to get the United Nations to pay attention to his pleas. The result? 112 messy minutes of cringe with an occasional side of offense. There’s no world where Johnson’s frantic and chaotic portrayal of Chloe works, even if it took place in a movie not bungled at every turn. I’d also like to take this moment to remind everyone that this came out the same year as Fifty Shades of Grey, and that dear old DJ’s nepotism baby status means she probably didn’t take any roles out of financial necessity. … So whatever moved her to say yes to playing a charming, chipper homeless gal being ~quirky~ on the streets of NYC is beyond me. This was not your finest moment, Dakota. —Danica Creahan

Watch it on Prime Video via Freevee.

28. Goats (2012)

© Red Crown Productions / Eva Daniels Productions

Goats features an absolutely loaded cast that includes Vera Farmiga, Keri Russell, Minnie Driver, and, you guessed it, Dakota Johnson. Tragically, this roster of beloved thespians is wasted on one of the most generic and unimaginative coming-of-age scripts ever written. Everyone is saddled with cliché-stuffed dialogue and non-existent character development, but nobody has it rougher than Johnson, who plays Minnie, a local girl who works in the school library and catches the attention of Ellis Whitman (Graham Phillips), our extremely boring protagonist. Of the many times Johnson has been stuck playing a love interest with no interiority, this one has to be the worst. From Minnie proving she is "interesting" by loving The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird to one of the truly weirdest plot twists of all time, absolutely everything about her only matters in her relation to Ellis. —B.H.

Watch it on Prime Video via Freevee.

27. Beastly (2011)

CBS Films/Everett Collection

How do you retell Beauty and the Beast in the modern day? I don't know, but your best bet might be doing the exact opposite of every choice made in Beastly, which turns the classic fairytale into an entirely unremarkable high school movie. Johnson plays Sloan, one of the high school students. It's hard to describe Sloan as a character because she has no real discernible personality to speak of. At the end of the day, Beastly is a deeply stupid movie, and its only real cultural significance is that it features perhaps the final film performance by an Olsen twin (though I haven't given up hope that MK & Ash make a cinematic comeback). —B.H.

Rent it on Prime Video.

26. Wounds (2019)

Michele K. Short / © United Artists Releasing/ Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection

Johnson and (unfortunately) Armie Hammer star in this nauseatingly mediocre horror movie which I guess is about a cursed phone? But really, what’s more cursed than hearing Johnson, scared through her teeth, tell Hammer he’s “acting guilty as shit”? Wounds will likely leave your trust in everybody involved in this movie, Johnson included, a bit wounded. After Will (Hammer) finds an abandoned phone at the New Orleans bar he works at, he and his live-in, on-the-rocks girlfriend, Carrie (Johnson), wind up possessed/hypnotized/driven mad(?) by the messages they’re receiving. Possessed is a term that tragically wouldn’t work for Carrie, though, who is much less a character than she is a catatonic shell, even before whatever evil force from the phone gets to her. —D.C.

Watch it on Hulu.

25. The Office (2013)

NBC

Series finales are notorious for being stuffed with celebrity cameos, but in most cases, the guest stars are usually given something to do. That, sadly, is not the case for Johnson's blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in the final episode of The Office as Dakota, the new accountant who is brought in after Kevin is fired for not knowing how to do basic addition and subtraction. She pops up briefly in two scenes, asking Oscar about Kevin's imaginary budget-balancing number "Keleven" and then saying hi to Creed, who has taken on a new identity, at Dwight and Angela's wedding. It's hard to say whether Johnson is good or bad here, as she really has nothing to work with. In a deleted scene, Dakota has a tiny arc as a possible love interest for Clark, but even that's not much. Johnson summed up her pointless existence in The Office universe best when she told Vanity Fair, "I felt like I was crashing someone’s birthday party when they actually didn’t really mean to invite me." —B.H.

Watch it on Peacock.

24. Vale (2015)

Estrella Damm UK / Youtube

Vale....also, sadly, what I said when the credits rolled on this 12-minute short from Alejandro Amenábar (of The Others fame, strangely) and simultaneously learned that what I had just watched was actually an advertisement for Estrella Damm beer. Despite being a total feast for the eyes, your assessment of this short is bound to be "vale" at best if you go in expecting a Dakota Johnson vehicle. It is not. Johnson yet again plays something of a plot device, a foreigner in Spain named Rachel who bats her eyelashes and asks heartthrob-genius Victor (Quim Gutiérrez) the pivotal question (What does "vale" mean?) that helps us get to our story's ultimate thesis...as much as we can say there is one. (The world opens up to those who say "okay" to opportunities? You never know when There's Something About Mary trivia will come in handy?) That said, I am obsessed with the extended sequence in which Rachel shares that she "loves the Gorillaz." —C.G.

Watch it on Youtube.

23. Need for Speed (2014)

Melinda Sue Gordon / ©Walt Disney Pictures/ Courtesy Everett Collection

Just before Johnson made it big with Fifty Shades, she had her first real shot at a blockbuster with the Need for Speed film adaptation. Johnson plays Anita, the ex-girlfriend of Tobey (Aaron Paul) who is now engaged to his bitter rival Dino (Dominic Cooper). Unfortunately, watching Need for Speed is as exciting as witnessing a very mild fender bender, with a dull plot and two-dimensional characters spouting terribly written dialogue. And some of the worst lines in the movie are handed to Johnson, who looks visibly bored in basically every scene she is in. Thankfully, this proved to be a forgotten stepping stone in Johnson's path to movie stardom. —B.H.

Watch it on Tubi.

22. Cymbeline (2014)

Prod DB © Seacia Pavao / Benaroya Pictures / Keep Your Head Productions / Alamy Stock Photo

I am nothing if not a sucker for Shakespeare film adaptations, and looking at the cast list, it seems like this should be a home run. But even with Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo (who delivers an all-time performance in the all-time best Shakespeare film), and Johnson onboard, Cymbeline is a dull mess of a movie. Johnson plays Imogen, daughter of the King who, like many Shakespearean characters, ends up gender swapping while in search of a lost love. There's really nothing to say about her performance here, as she is equally as unmemorable as the rest of the star-studded lineup of actors. It's hard to say what exactly went wrong, but it really feels like nobody's heart was in this movie, including Johnson's. —B.H.

Watch it on Prime Video via Cinemax.

21. 21 Jump Street (2012)

Scott Garfield / © Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

In one of the shortest and yet still somehow “funniest” roles she’s ever landed, Johnson plays the undercover-cop-turned-cheerleader, Fugazy, in the surprisingly solid reboot of 21 Jump Street. With very few lines and pitiful character development, Johnson still manages to make Fugazy memorable, despite the actor’s relative no name-edness at the time of the movie’s release. Will forever be crushed that we didn’t get more of Fugazy in 22 Jump Street, especially after she closes out her stint in the franchise with a smooch from Channing Tatum. Still holding out hope she’ll reappear in the new female-led Jump Street spin-off. —D.C.

Watch it on Prime Video via Freevee

20. Fifty Shades Freed (2018)

© Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Throw out everything you unfortunately know about the first two Fifty Shades films, because the final chapter of this fraught franchise doesn’t care about medium kinky sex, old rich predators, or its once meek protagonist. Fifty Shades Freed frees its characters from the cable ties of a reasonable plot and goes full action flick. Sadly, as we already know from our ranking of her performance in Need For Speed and the still-too-long short film Closed Set, Dakota Johnson is not an action star. The film opens on a wedding we get to see shockingly little of before whisking our cursed couple away on an incredibly uncharacteristic honeymoon montage. Cut to (basically) the pair visiting their new mansion by the sea, where Christian’s hired his brother’s far too flirty ex-girlfriend to be their architect for some reason. This move gives us the extremely irrelevant but nonetheless hilarious gift of Johnson trying to play Anastasia off as intimidating, which lands worse than Christian’s helicopter in Fifty Shades Darker did. We then get a very intense car chase in which Ana — whom we’ve never even seen drive before — races away from an unknown assailant like a pro with a little help from an Audi sponsorship. I won’t spoil the not-at-all shocking ending, but you should know that Rita Ora (who is in all three movies for some reason) and DJ share even less chemistry than our central couple, which, unlike Rita’s overlooked character, is really saying something. The entire thing, though arguably much more fun to experience than the deadweight middle movie of the franchise, has a lot more in common with Taken 2 than it does with its sultry source material (Twilight). And Dakota is right there, nipple clamps in hand, somehow dragging the movie down even further…anyway, CelebJets exposé on Christian Grey’s CO2 emissions when? —D.C. 

Watch it on Tubi.

19. Fifty Shades Darker (2017)

Doane Gregory/ © Universal Pictures/ Courtesy Everett Collection

Whatever X factor I argued that dear old DJ brought to the first Fifty Shades film is long gone in its severely less sexy successor — perhaps washed away somewhere in the multitude of drawn-out shower scenes? Fifty Shades Darker opens on a flashback into Christian Grey’s overdone excuse for being so weird toward women: his childhood. We then get a 148-minute exploration of the kinky billionaire’s psyche, interspersed with tensionless sex and a proposal so early and anticlimactic it made the back half of the movie feel like a long business meeting (and not the mood lighting-bathed one from the first Fifty Shades). When emotions other than fascination over Mr. Grey’s money and problematic habits run high, Johnson just completely checks out. We know from some of the other inclusions on this list that she can shed a tear like a pro (I’m lookin’ at you, Our Friend), but not, apparently, over Christian’s intimacy issues. Whatever humor DJ was trying to bring to Anastasia Steele was left at the door of the publishing company she’s so effortlessly rising the ranks of (totally on her own with no outside help whatsoever, I should add). Maybe, by the time Fifty Shades Darker began production, Johnson had gotten around to watching the first one and realized that even turning Anastasia Steele into a somewhat three dimensional character couldn't save this franchise. —D.C.

Watch it on Tubi.

18. Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

Chuck Zlotnick/ © Focus Features/ Courtesy Everett Collection

Understandably, the Twilight fanfic-turned-blockbuster movie franchise that helped launch Johnson into the limelight (along with her very famous parents, of course) does not rank very high on this list. I don’t think it’s a hot take to say that the hottest thing about the first Fifty Shades film is the soundtrack, and that pretty much all the acting feels like an absurdly high budget premonition of what’s to come a few years down the line in the After movies…IYKYK. But I’d like to make the case that, especially in this first Fifty Shades, Dakota is definitely bringing something to this role. Starring as the clumsy damsel in danger of becoming an English teacher Anastasia Steele, Fifty Shades of Grey follows the fresh college grad after, by flu-fueled chance, she meets the wealthy and arguably threatening businessman Christian Grey (played by Jamie Dornan trying his absolute hardest). Christian’s the whole package, except there’s a twist — he’s into BDSM. The pair begin a stilted love affair bogged down by legal jargon and a complete lack of functional chemistry. The near-saving grace? The subtle personality Johnson brings to the role. Ignore all the flashy floggers and red leather, and you’ll find that Anastasia is sort of funny! Her deadpan play on the big playroom reveal early on in the film — “Like your Xbox and stuff?” — cuts the tension well. Some of her drunken lines actually land. It’s an extremely low bar, but the fact that Johnson brings the slightest life to this shameless self-insert of a protagonist should be acknowledged. Plus, I bet it was hard work keeping a straight face through every take of “I don't make love. I fuck…hard.” —D.C.

Watch it on Tubi.

17. Black Mass (2015)

Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection

In this mostly forgettable Whitey Bulger biopic, Johnson is yet again stuck playing the part of a woman who is completely defined by her relationship to a guy. As Lindsey, the longtime partner of Whitey (Johnny Depp), she is reduced to silently reacting to Depp's melodramatic, mediocre monologues. There is one refreshing moment where Johnson gets to flex her acting muscles, and that is when Lindsey is trying to convince Whitey to take their son off of life support. The scene shows that Johnson can do a great job when given the right material to work with, as she perfectly portrays the heartbreak of a mother who is facing the unthinkable in just two minutes. —B.H.

Rent it on Prime Video.

16. How to Be Single (2016)

Barry Wetcher/ © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

As a practically lifelong fan of unapologetically shallow rom-coms, I can vividly recall hustling to the theater my junior year of high school, friends in tow, to attend a Valentine’s Day viewing of How to Be Single. Fortunately, the fanfare of the whole event sheltered me from truly absorbing Johnson’s disappointing performance in this aggressively mediocre movie. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so lucky the second time around. Unless under some sort of influence, How to Be Single is not a mid 2010s film I recommend revisiting. Following graduation, Alice (miscast as Johnson) decides she needs a break from her long-term boyfriend, Josh. In typical breakup-era fashion, Alice heads to NYC to start her new life as a...paralegal? It doesn’t matter, like all jobs in the rom-com world, it’s fake. It is there that Alice meets her coworker and instant BFF Robin (a nearing her peak Rebel Wilson), who helps Alice learn how to do this “relationship rumspringa” right — aka how to score free drinks and have meaningless sex with strangers. There are some far more enjoyable B-plots starring the lovely Leslie Mann and Alison Brie, but they definitely don't do enough to save this misguided movie. Oh, also Coach from New Girl makes a very strange appearance! 

Ultimately, How to Be Single features Johnson in a role that’s essentially just an amalgamation of her weaknesses as an actor. Alice completely lacks interiority, and what few moments of reflection she does have are shared via cheesy voiceover with the viewer (perhaps Persuasion casting directors should have screened this one). Despite the plot being driven by its bland protagonist's desire for independence, Alice is consistently defined by the male characters that wind up dominating the entire movie. And the worst offense of all, throughout this romantic comedy, Dakota never gets a chance to be funny, something we have faith she CAN be, despite Hollywood’s clear resistance! —D.C.

Rent it on Prime Video.

15. The Nowhere Inn (2020)

IFC Films

In this meta mockumentary, Johnson plays a fictionalized version of herself who is in a relationship with St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark). Playing the love interest is nothing new to Johnson, but at least she gets to have some fun and show off a bit of her sneaky comedic range. Maybe the funniest scene in the entire movie is when Annie proposes to Dakota that they break up in a couple of months because she is "too happy" being with her and needs to experience heartbreak to make her next record. Dakota's anger and confusion as Annie suggests possible breakup scenarios (including involving Dakota's parents) is hilarious but also a bit heartbreaking, as she realizes she's just been a prop in St. Vincent's art. —B.H.

Watch it on Hulu.

14. The Social Network (2010)

Sony Pictures Releasing

Full transparency: This was probably the most controversial Johnson performance when we were discussing the rankings. On the one hand, this is pretty clearly Johnson's breakout role, and she proves more than capable of handling Sorkin's notoriously difficult style of dialogue. On the other hand, Amy is basically just a plot device to help Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) learn about The FaceBook. And while the scene is vintage Sorkin rapid-fire back-and-forth, Johnson is stuck as a classic Sorkin archetype: woman who is impressed while being talked down to by a fast-talking man. In the end, while I understand the complaints and will acknowledge this is far from Johnson's best performance, it did give a first taste of her talent as an actor, and that counts for something. —B.H.

Watch it on YouTube.

13. Date and Switch (2014)

Lions Gate / Courtesy Everett Collection

Johnson functions as the audience surrogate in Date and Switch, another mostly forgettable film which finds two high school friends, Matty (Hunter Cope) and Michael (Nicholas Braun), struggling to navigate the dating scene (and their friendship) after Matty comes out as gay. Without Johnson's Em (Matty's ex) and her wise-cracking remarks, it would be easy to think the film shared the same worldview as its ignorant protagonist Michael. However, when Michael outs Matty to his parents, Em is there in the next scene to chew him out for his reprehensible behavior. She can't help but clown him for his more well-meaning gestures along the way to understand gay culture, too. ("You should get him a cake, and you should have it say, 'You're gay and you're fabulous.'"). It's a net positive that the film is able to communicate its self-awareness to us in these moments; however, Johnson's character suffers a bit for it, quickly flattening her into nothing but a cheap narrative device. On top of that, Em flirts with the unfortunate "MPDG" label when she disturbingly finds herself under the spell of Michael's naive puppy dog charms. Not a great outcome for a character intellectually running circles around all of the men in this movie, but the heart wants what the heart wants? —C.G.

Watch it on Pluto TV.

12. Persuasion (2022)

Nick Wall / © Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

Johnson has had a frustrating lack of leading roles in her career, and the latest Jane Austen adaptation looked like the perfect opportunity to finally prove her chops as a star. But alas, Persuasion is not very good. It's not the all-out disaster a lot of people claimed it was to get internet clout, but the fourth-wall breaking modernization was too clever by half and didn't capture Austen's unique and enduring voice in her posthumous novel. Dakota does solid work as the free-spirited but heartbroken Anne, but the movie's lack of a coherent identity leaves something to be desired when it comes to her performance. Hopefully, future projects give Johnson the chance to show what she can really do with top billing because Persuasion was a bit of a misfire. —B.H.

Watch it on Netflix.

11. In a Relationship (2015)

Weird Heroes/Vimeo

Johnson's second time acting opposite Cousin Greg came in this short film from Sam Boyd (the blueprint for his 2018 feature film of the same). It makes for an incredibly disorienting double-feature with Fifty Shades (which would premiere the following year): Here, the roles are reversed with Johnson as the alpha, dragging Nicholas Braun's aloof, puppy dog Matt along in a passionless (and I don't just mean BDSM-less) relationship. It's a fun, lightly comedic blip in Johnson's filmography, but unfortunately still finds her playing the familiar archetype of "enigmatic, uncrackable love interest." I'm now desperate for an alternative cut of Fifty Shades with wellness checkins from a licensed sex therapist. —C.G.

Watch it on Vimeo. 

10. The High Note (2020)

Glen Wilson / © Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection

Disclaimer: I did not have high expectations for The High Note starring our dear Dakota and the incredibly talented Tracee Ellis Ross, and maybe that’s why I wound up loving it so damn much. This movie is a good time, especially if you feel like suspending some disbelief and want to buy into the idea that a personal assistant would be able to score a shabby chic rooftop apartment overlooking Los Angeles. Dakota plays Maggie, the ever-patient personal assistant to R&B icon Grace Davis (Ross) and secret wannabe producer. When Grace's team starts suggesting she’s past her prime and should start releasing remixes of old music, Maggie sees an opening to step into a producer role, but unlike Grace’s silky smooth vocals, Maggie’s plan doesn’t go so smoothly *insert record scratch here*. There’s also, of course, a man (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who Maggie starts producing for, among other things, on the side. It’s a solidly predictable plot, but both Johnson and Ross are giving superb performances for what they’re working with, and unlike some other titles on this list, DJ gets to be a little funny! —D.C.

Watch it on Prime Video via Freevee.

9. Ben and Kate (2012-13)

Jennifer Clasen / © Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection

Ben and Kate was a classic Odd Couple show, with the easy-going man child Ben (Nat Faxon) moving in with his driven but uptight sister Kate (Johnson) to help her raise her daughter. Too often, Johnson is saddled with the wet blanket role in the series, but she does get some laughs out of Kate's earnestly awkward attempts to lighten up like her brother. The show was canceled after just one season due to poor ratings, which is a bit of a shame because most hangout sitcoms tend to find their footing after working out the kinks during the first season. However, this just turned out to be a minor speed bump for Johnson's career, as she was on her way to becoming a star on the big screen. —B.H.

Rent it on Prime Video. 

8. The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

Universal Pictures

If there's another role directors like to slot Johnson into, it's the "layover" girl. Or: the girl who pops up for a fling or one-night-stand on a man's way to his actual destination. In the case of The Five-Year Engagement, we know based on the title that Tom (Jason Segel) and Violet (Emily Blunt) will ultimately end up together, so when the workplace flirt Audrey (Johnson) enters the picture in the eleventh hour of this film, we understand her role almost immediately to be just that: a layover during a rough patch in Tom and Violet's relationship. That's not to say this performance isn't extraordinarily enjoyable to watch though. Audrey is unquestionably her best comedic role to date (Let! DJ! be! funny!) and creates a perfect foil to Violet, to whom Tom clearly has a deep, intellectual connection. I'm not sure exactly when "Netflix and chill" was officially coined, but I have to imagine Johnson's arc here — which includes the iconic line delivery of "Yeah...I love a mellow evening" followed by a jump cut to the two having loud, animalistic sex — had some part in its evolution. —C.G.

Watch it on Peacock.

7. The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Nigel Bluck / © Roadside Attractions / Courtesy Everett Collection

For a movie so shrouded in controversy, The Peanut Butter Falcon is pretty much as pleasant as they come. Set against a backdrop so picturesque it makes Where the Crawdads Sing look even worse, the Mark Twain-style tale follows Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down Syndrome mandated by the state to live in an old folks’ home. With the help of a few friends, Zak makes his escape, and sets out on a journey to meet his hero, The Saltwater Falcon, who will teach him how to be a professional wrestler. Along the way, he meets the typically troubled Tyler (an ill-timed Shia LaBeouf), on the run from some vaguely bad but also arguably irrelevant men. The pair share a pretty instantaneous and powerful bond that makes the rest of this sometimes sickly sweet story worth sticking around for. Enter Eleanor (Johnson), who I was convinced at first was the reason I would love this movie. And I wasn’t entirely wrong; Johnson does have a whole lot going for her in this performance. Sadly, one of those things isn’t lines. For how strong her presence is in The Peanut Butter Falcon, Dakota must utter under 100 words throughout the whole thing. While she and Shia share a chemistry that would make Christian Grey weep, Eleanor is definitely playing second fiddle (an instrument frequently found on this film’s stellar soundtrack) to her male counterparts. Eleanor is the reasonable, logical lady who usually takes care of Zak back at the retirement home. After he goes missing, she obviously goes looking for him, and finds the dangerously dynamic duo with no intentions of coming back home. So, despite her best efforts, she winds up on the pair’s questionable raft, floating toward a wrestling school (and true love). What she lacks in lines, Johnson makes up for in quiet character development that takes Eleanor from a plot device to a person. She might not get a ton of speaking time, but she’s saying a lot with this performance. —D.C.

Watch it on Tubi.

6. Our Friend (2019)

Gravitas Ventures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Getting warmer! In theory, Our Friend, the real-life story of Nicole Teague, a mother with terminal ovarian cancer, is the perfect vehicle for Johnson to show off her skills. And in some ways, it is: She wins us over with her magnetic charm and even-keeled, maternal energy. You completely believe the relationship she has with her partner Matt (Casey Affleck) and best friend-turned-live-in-caregiver Dane (Jason Segel). And ultimately, you feel deeply for her as her mental faculties begin to wane in her final days. The only problem is that the film fails to show us some of Nicole's uglier moments detailed in the original Esquire article in favor of Beautiful Women Dying of Cancer Cinema. This is nothing to fault Johnson for. We also shouldn't fault Johnson for the film's choice to hit us over the head with countless allusions to how loved she was by her friends (something Johnson is more than capable of showing through her nuanced performance) or for the fact that the film positions Johnson as a supporting character to Segel's titular friend Dane, who ends up running away with the movie. (In one Wild-esque sequence, he does so quite literally.) An overly sanitized, confusingly directed film, but a solid performance from our DJ!  —C.G.

Watch it on Prime Video.

5. Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Photo Credit: Kimberley French / 20th Century Fox Licensing/Merchandising / Everett Collection

Armed with a less-than-convincing but nonetheless charming southern accent and one of the best hair looks of her career, Johnson’s performance as Emily Summerspring in Bad Times at the El Royale is nothing short of triumphant. The film begins with four mysterious figures (Johnson alongside Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, and Jon Hamm) checking into the El Royale, a formerly glamorous and now somewhat defunct hotel built right on top of the California-Nevada border. There’s no spoiler-free way for me to continue with plot summary here, but essentially, some bad times occur. Emily is an amalgamation of all the things DJ does best. She’s a woman of few words with a complex inner world, a wicked attitude, and a secret. It’s an excellent performance within a genuinely fantastic film, something we now know, after slogging our way through the lower ranked half of this list, is somewhat of a rarity when evaluating the entirety of an actor’s career. —D.C. 

Rent it on Prime Video.

4. Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)

© Apple TV+ / Courtesy Everett Collection

Dakota Johnson has played a mother plenty of times, but her performance as Domino in the earnestly wide-eyed Cha Cha Real Smooth is different. I guess you could say, Domino isn’t like a regular mom, she’s a cool mom. She’s got tattoos and bangs and is fiercely hated by pretty much all the other local moms. The film itself feels perhaps too pure for this world. Cooper Raiff writes, directs, and stars as Andrew, a fresh-out-of-college party-starting protagonist who just really wants to quit his job at Meat Sticks. Enter this Manic Pixie Dream Mom (I say this with love) to autistic teen Lola (played by newcomer and maybe the best actor in this whole movie, Vanessa Burghardt), the new object of all of Andrew’s post-grad, angst-ridden desires. Cha Cha Real Smooth makes the littlest details feel life changing, and the toughest subjects feel accessible in a way that only a good coming-of-age film can, but it is admittedly quite often doing so at the cost of Domino’s character. The mysterious mom of not-so-many words gets only a handful of really great moments, and most of them are made up of summarizing the movie’s whole meaning. Despite DJ once again acting as more plot device than person, our girl is Acting™ in this movie. So much so that you actually believe the attraction between the utterly ethereal Domino and a gawky but genuine Andrew — which is no small feat. Ultimately, it’s a coming of age film in which everybody, adults included, seems to be having some serious growing pains, which can unfortunately result in some clunky lines like Domino’s half-hearted, “Giving your heart to somebody is the scariest, most dangerous, most…perplexing thing!” but will also make you shamelessly sob probably. —D.C.

Watch it on Apple TV+.

3. A Bigger Splash (2015)

Fox Searchlight / Everett Collection

Here's where we introduce another character Johnson is very good at playing: Dangerously Seductive Vacationer. In her first of two films directed by Luca Guadagnino (and also first of two films going toe to toe with Tilda Swinton), Johnson is Penelope, the smirky daughter who crashes rock star Marianne Lane's (Swinton) blissful Sicily vacation alongside music producer Harry (Ralph Fiennes), who she has recently discovered is her father. Penelope's oozing sensuality knows no bounds here, and everyone — even her supposed father? — we sense can be easily lured in by her freewheeling, poolside antics. This is hardly subtext either: After a weirdly sexual karaoke duet with her father, Lane feels a moral obligation to step in and understand what is going on. It is incredible to watch Penelope cut the very famous (and inconveniently voice-less) Lane down with a single look or nonchalant remark. All of this, of course, comes to a memorable boil in the film's final minutes with a somewhat troubling reveal that Penelope hasn't been entirely truthful about who she really is and...The Slap. —C.G.

Rent it on Prime Video.

2. Suspiria (2018)

Amazon Studios/ Courtesy Everett Collection

Inspired by the1977 Italian film of the same name, Suspiria tells the story of Susie (Johnson), a young dancer who travels to Berlin to join a mysterious dance company that may or may not have cultish tendencies. I would argue that this has been Johnson's most challenging role to date, as Susie is the heart of Luca Guadagnino's supernatural, psychological horror film. And Johnson proves that she has what it takes to carry a movie, as she masterfully balances Susie's intense drive for greatness and her exploration into the darker parts of her psyche as things begin to unravel at the Markos Dance Company. Plus, she manages to hold her own onscreen against the incomparable Tilda Swinton, which is no easy task for even the most seasoned actor. Hopefully, Johnson gets more roles like this in the future, as Suspiria shows the range in her that Hollywood seems mostly uninterested in exploring. —B.H.

Watch it on Prime Video.

1. The Lost Daughter (2021)

© Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

Johnson's best work to date is her supporting role as Nina in Maggie Gyllenaal's Elena Ferrante-adapted directorial debut. This role undoubtedly signifies an upward trend in Johnson's career and a clear mastery of playing unhappy mothers with hoop earrings. (See also: Cha Cha.) Johnson is perfectly cast here, a catalyst for the story's lead Leda (Olivia Colman) to examine her own harrowing journey as a mother of two daughters while vacationing on the Greek island. Johnson is just threatening enough for us to believe Will (Paul Mescal), the Irish beach bar worker, when he tells Leda that Nina and her family are "bad people." And, she's just threatening enough to make us feel a sense of danger looming throughout this slow-burning movie. Her deep sensitivity and trademark knowing glances, however, are also used to great effect here; at times, we get the sense that Nina is one step ahead of us and can see something — a shared experience, maybe — in Leda that we can't. This should have been Johnson's first Oscar-nominated performance; however, opposite the also terrific Jessie Buckley (who did earn her first Oscar nomination for this role), we can see how Johnson has been historically overlooked for her less flashy (but arguably, just as skilled) work in film. So, how can Johnson build on this success? Hopefully by landing a role that allows her to bring all of these strengths to a leading role where she can exist on her own terms — not merely to help another character see themselves in a new light. (Oh, and by doing some comedy, too! We love funny DJ!) —C.G.

Watch it on Netflix.