Shooting to stardom in the crime drama series Alias, Jennifer Anne Garner or “Jennifer Garner”, as she is known to millions of her fans across the globe has played numerous memorable characters spread across her remarkable 24-year career.
A career filled with critically acclaimed performances and a career every person dreams of having when they first set their sails for Hollywood.
To say she is a versatile actress would be a vast understatement of her talents as she has played everything from the ass kicking vigilante ‘Elektra’ in the Marvel movie ‘Daredevil’; to the 30 year old who is transported in time from her 13 year old self in ‘13 Going On 30’; to the doctor who treats patients suffering from AIDS with experimental medicines in the highly acclaimed ‘Dallas Buyers Club’.
Her acting career has earned her many laurels including a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her work in Alias, she also has 4 Primetime Emmy nominations for the same.
As if her acting career wasn’t stellar enough, she also works as an activist for early childhood education and is a Board Member of the foundation Save the Children.
Here are some movies of Jennifer Garner that every movie lover should check out.
Pearl Harbor
The first significant film of her career, Pearl Harbor took everybody by storm when it first released. Starring alongside Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and her future husband Ben Affleck, her role as Nurse Sandra won the hearts of millions of movie fans across the globe.
Directed by Michael Bay and loosely based on the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese and the Dolittle raid, the movie follows the story of two boyhood friends who go off fighting for their country during World War I, but fate puts them in an emotional turmoil with each other when both of them fall for the same woman. The movie received negative reviews from critics but still managed to gross around $ 450 million worldwide.
Although a supporting role, her performance was well received in a movie otherwise panned by critics.
13 Going On 30
Jennifer’s first role as lead actor, ‘13 Going on 30’ follows the story of a 13-year-old girl (played by Christa B. Allen) who is frustrated with her high school life and wants to get a boyfriend. She wishes to be fast-forwarded in the future to be an adult who has a settled life. Her dreams come true when one morning she is transformed into a 30-year-old woman played by Garner.
Although she is excited at first, she later realizes adult life is not without its problems and is certainly not at all as easy as she hoped.
The movie was widely praised along with Jennifer’s performance and for the self-empowering message, it delivers.
A must watch for all fantasy and rom com lovers.
Love, Simon
The movie follows the story of Simon, a 17-year-old boy who has a great life with a terrific family.
But he has one secret he has never told anyone, not to his supportive parents and not even to his close friends. He is gay.
Things turn up lovely for him when he falls for a boy in his school with whom he exchanges letters on the internet. The only twist is that he doesn’t know the boy’s identity. All he can do is speculate and fantasize about his future with him.
But matters complicate when one of his classmates accidentally discovers about it and exposes Simon’s letter in a fit of rage due to a quarrel between them.
The movie’s ending leaves everyone with a feel-good factor and teaches us how we can always rely on the people we love.
Starring alongside Josh Duhamel, Nick Robinson, and Katherine Langford, Jennifer delivers a strong performance as Simon’s mother duly noted by critics and fans alike.
Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past
A typical Hollywood rom-com, Jennifer stars opposite to Matthew McConaughey who plays the role of Connor Mead, a photographer, and a notorious womaniser.
Connor has no belief in the institution of marriage and leads his playboy lifestyle with a carefree attitude, a skill he learned from his dead uncle Wayne played by the great Michael Douglas.
Connor attends his little brother’s wedding, who he loves very much but is a bit disappointed in him as he has chosen to settle down.
Connor meets Jenny (Garner) in the wedding who he is meeting after quite a long time, Jenny is also the reason Connor chose photography as his profession as it was Jenny who ignited the passion for photography in him when she gifted him his first camera.
After Connor gives a drunk cynical speech at the rehearsal dinner, he is visited by the ghost of his late uncle and three other ghosts who were once linked with him romantically.
These ghosts lead Connor towards a journey of self-discovery where he learns about his mistakes and feels guilty. He realizes he is empty inside and needs to make amends with the love of his life, Jenny.
Dallas Buyers Club
A biographical drama movie, Dallas Buyers Club tells the story of Ron Woodroof (played by Matthew McConaughey) a cowboy who is diagnosed having AIDS.
Set in the mid-1980’s the movie tells the story of a time when AIDS was a subject of speculation and misinformation among the general public and how the people suffering from AIDS were looked down upon.
In the movie, Woodroof who is initially given 30 days to live refuses to accept his fate and chooses to undergo experimental drug treatment. He is tended by Dr. Eve Saks (played by Garner) who treats him with a drug called AZT which is speculated to prolong the life of people suffering from HIV.
People abuse Woodruff as they believe he is gay. He is tormented mentally, but he finds a support system in the form of a new family consisting of Eve and Rayon, a transgender person also suffering from HIV.
The movie was widely acclaimed and received six nominations in the 86th Academy Awards with McConaughey winning the award for Best Actor.
Juno
Juno is a coming of age independent film about the titular character Juno (played by Ellen Page) who has an unplanned pregnancy with her friend and admirer Paulie.
Juno is not at all prepared for the pregnancy and decides to undergo an abortion, but she later changes her mind and decides to give the baby up for adoption instead.
Juno finally settles on a couple named the Lorings, who from the outset look like the perfect choice for her child.
Juno distances herself from Paulie who clearly still has feelings for her and gets to know the Lorings closely. But things don’t go according to plan when Mark develops feelings for Juno and is not ready to be a father. He decides to break off his marriage and pursue other things in his career.
The movie has strong performances from Garner, Page, Bateman, J.K. Simmons, and Allison Janney. It won the Academy Award for best screenplay and also received three other nominations.
The Invention Of Lying
When you have Ricky Gervais in a movie, you know it is bound to be a funny one.
And funny is too light a word to describe this movie. Maybe try hilarious? Ludicrous? Nah, still falls short.
The Invention Of Lying written and directed by Gervais and Mark Robinson is the story of a man named Mark Bellison (played by Gervais) who lives in a fantasy world where nobody lies.
Yes, you read that right. Nobody lies, everybody tells the brutal and honest truth all the time.
In a hilarious scene, Mark’s love interest Anna played by Garner with whom he has gone on a first date with gets on a phone call with her parents and tells them she thinks Mark is fat, straight to his face.
The world is not kind to Mark until one day he discovers to his surprise, that in fact he can tell a lie and in turn becomes the first human being in the world with that ability.
The fun begins when Mark tries to manipulate people around him when he realizes they will believe everything he says to them.
The movie also stars Hollywood big hitters Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, Martin Starr, and Tina Fey and is actually one of the vastly underrated movies of Garner.
Do check it out, it won’t disappoint you.
Catch and Release
Directed by debutant Susannah Grant, Catch and Release is a 2006 romantic comedy-drama movie which tells the story of a woman who has recently lost her fiancé and is finding it difficult to cope with life.
The woman Grey Wheeler played by Garner later discovers things about her fiancé which she had no idea of.
The secrets are shocking to Wheeler who in addition to the mourning also has to cope up with the financial troubles she is presented with.
The movie teaches us how first appearances could be deceptive and people are not always who they seem to be.
Wonder Park
Wonder Park is an upcoming animated film of Jennifer Garner where she plays the role of a mother of a girl named Juno who spends her days building an amusement park with talking animals and fantastical rides.
Juno is affected deeply when her mother dies until she finds the real wonderland in the woods where it faces a crisis. Juno then has to team up with the creatures there to solve the crisis.
Dude, Where’s My Car?
Directed by Danny Leiner this 2000 American comedy movie starring Hollywood heart throb Ashton Kutcher and the American Pie star Seann William, follows the story of two friends Jesse (Kutcher) and Chester (William) who wake up one morning with a hangover and with Jesse’s car gone.
They have no idea where they left the car and also a vague recollection of the previous night. The two of them try to retrace their steps and thus the viewers are taken to a hilarious journey where the friends stumble from one hurdle to the other even including a stint with aliens in order to recover Jesse’s car.
Jennifer plays the role of one of the twin sisters the friends met in their mind-boggling journey which leaves the audience clutching their stomach with laughter.
Stealing Time
Stealing time is a 2001 film following the story of four friends who reunite after a long time after college and discover that they are all struggling in life.
The four of them then decide to steal a bank to end their problems. The movie is shot non linearly to keep it interesting to the viewers. Jennifer plays the role of Kelly Bradshaw and her role was well received by the critics despite the film performing poorly in the box office.
Catch Me If You Can
Based on the real-life story of con man Frank Abagnale Jr, this 2001 movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio and directed by the great Steven Spielberg was a huge hit both commercially and critically.
The story follows the story of Frank ever since he was a kid and how he grew up to become one of the greatest con men in history who was on the FBI radar for a long long time.
Jennifer has a brief role where she plays the role of a girl whom Frank has an encounter with for one night, but still, she manages to steal the hearts of her fans with her remarkable presence on the screen.
Daredevil
The marvel vigilante who is actually blind, ‘Daredevil’ tells the gripping tale of Matt Murdock, a Hell’s Kitchen resident who is a pro bono lawyer by the day and the vigilante Daredevil during the night.
The movie follows the story of Daredevil’s battle with Kingpin, the Napoleon of Crime in Hell’s kitchen and Bullseye, the assassin who never misses.
Jennifer plays the love interest of Matt and the side kick Elektra to Matt’s Daredevil. The movie was a commercial success although receiving a lukewarm response from critics.
The Kingdom
Set in Saudi Arabia and directed by Peter Berg, this 2007 action movie stars Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, and Chris Cooper. The movie takes references from real life incidents namely the Khobar complex bombings and the infamous 2003 bombings.
The movie is packed with action sequences while also maintaining the emotional aspect, generally focussing on the after effects of violence on people’s minds and how nobody ultimately wins in an artillery exchange. The movie received mixed reviews but the cast was well praised for their performance.
