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Following her breakout role in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 crime epic “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Margot Robbie almost instantly became a Hollywood fixture. Although she’d already been a working actor for several years at that point, appearing in the Australian soap opera “Neighbours” and the short-lived ABC period drama “Pan Am,” she made an indelible impression with a relatively short amount of screen time in Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated true-life drama.
Since then, Robbie has become a major showbiz power player as both an actor and a producer, winning awards and racking up massive box-office success. She’s also maintained impressive artistic integrity, mixing blockbusters like “Barbie” and “Suicide Squad” with smaller-scale dramas.
With Robbie’s latest effort, filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s take on literary classic “Wuthering Heights,” opening in theaters this week, here are my picks for Robbie’s best films to stream right now.
‘Barbie’
People who may not have heard of Robbie as an actress or celebrity are still likely to be familiar with this mega-hit, which dominated pop culture for seemingly all of 2023, even before it was released. Director and co-writer Greta Gerwig turns what could have been a glorified toy commercial into a sophisticated, self-aware, funny and sometimes moving fantasy about a fashion doll questioning her own place in the world.
As the title character, Robbie helps bring Gerwig’s vision to life, making her version of Barbie both bubbly and brooding, as she discovers that the real world is not nearly as bright or uncomplicated as the dreamland where the various Barbies and Kens live in largely blissful ignorance. Robbie has an amusingly fraught dynamic with Ryan Gosling as the clueless Ken, and together they make this blockbuster phenomenon into an enduring future classic.
Watch on HBO Max
‘I, Tonya’
Robbie deservedly received her first Oscar nomination for the title role in this unconventional biopic about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding. Director Craig Gillespie’s film embraces the competing narratives about Harding’s life and career, depicting events from multiple contradictory perspectives as he tells the story of Harding’s rise as a figure skater and downfall after her involvement in an attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.
Robbie gives Tonya a sense of vulnerability and determination, taking her beyond the tabloid caricature that dominated media coverage of the Kerrigan scandal. Robbie’s Tonya is brash and sometimes mean, and the movie doesn’t pretend that she’s a saint. But the self-referential style allows her to tell her side of a story that often erased her complicated background in favor of easy villainization.
‘Birds of Prey’
Robbie has played DC Comics antihero Harley Quinn in three movies, but this is the one that places her front and center and truly allows her to shine. Following her stint with the misfit team of criminals known as the Suicide Squad, Harley puts together her own team of misfits to take down the underworld kingpin Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). The action is kinetic and exciting, the costume and set design are colorful and creative, and the actors are clearly having a great time.
Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead highlight the supporting cast as Harley’s teammates, Black Canary and Huntress, and the movie hits its stride when the full group of female vigilantes comes together. Through it all, Robbie delivers her signature snarky asides and meta-commentary, giving “Birds of Prey” a cheeky, exuberant tone that sets it apart from other DC superhero movies.
Watch on HBO Max
‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’
Quentin Tarantino’s counterfactual reinterpretation of the Charles Manson murders focuses on washed-up actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his best friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), but it wouldn’t work without Robbie’s grounded, likable depiction of actress Sharon Tate, one of Manson’s real-life victims. Her status as Manson’s target has overshadowed her personality and talents, but Robbie brings those unique characteristics to the forefront, especially in an endearing scene of Sharon going to watch one of her own movies at a Los Angeles theater.
Rick and Cliff are both aging tough guys with a bit too much self-pity, and Robbie provides a brighter counterpoint as the sweet but sometimes melancholy Sharon. She may not get the big speeches or violent confrontations, but she’s the heart of a movie that seeks to redeem and reinvent an infamous Hollywood tragedy.
‘Focus’
In her first mainstream leading role, Robbie stars alongside Will Smith as a pair of con artists who may be conning each other. The actors have excellent chemistry as lifelong grifters with serious trust issues whose overwhelming desire overrides their wariness. Smith’s Nicky Spurgeon is a veteran thief who offers his mentorship to Robbie’s Jess Barrett after she impresses him with her own attempted swindle. It doesn’t take long for them to join forces both personally and professionally, even if neither of them can ever fully let their guard down.
Writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa keep the audience guessing with multiple twists and reveals, without ever undermining the emotional investment in the central relationship. Smith gives one of his best performances as a suave operator who experiences unexpected self-doubts, but Robbie often steals the spotlight in a showcase for her obvious superstar potential.
Watch on Netflix
‘Z for Zachariah’
One of Robbie’s most underappreciated films is a moody, contemplative sci-fi drama about a trio of survivors attempting to coexist following a nuclear apocalypse. Robbie plays young, self-sufficient farmer Ann Burden, who’s able to live on her family’s farm in a valley that’s apparently insulated from the fallout of the nuclear war. Her solitary, religious existence is disrupted by the arrival of two other survivors, methodical scientist John (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and wide-eyed wanderer Caleb (Chris Pine).
Robbie conveys Ann’s anguish and resilience with her quietly powerful performance, and the movie matches her with its understated forcefulness. It takes on deep themes about the conflict between science and religion, but it’s also a simple story about three people looking for meaning in a world that seems to have lost all beauty and purpose.
Watch on Tubi
‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
Playing the long-suffering wife to Leonardo DiCaprio’s sleazy stockbroker Jordan Belfort could be a thankless role, but Robbie makes the most of it in a movie that proved to be her introduction to wider audiences. Director Martin Scorsese places extra emphasis on Robbie in the role of Belfort’s second wife, Naomi Lapaglia, giving her a more memorable presence in the story and greater agency.
Robbie is sexy and seductive when Naomi and Jordan first get together, and she’s fierce and protective when Naomi leaves him and takes their children with her. It’s a familiar arc from various other true-crime dramas, and there’s only so much variation that Robbie can offer. She holds her own opposite one of DiCaprio’s most bombastic performances, providing a much-needed, clear-eyed female perspective in a movie that’s infused with toxic masculinity.
Watch on Netflix or Paramount Plus
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