The most overlooked movie performances

The topic pretty much says it all. I have been thinking about doing something like this for a while and I finally thought of a couple performances to talk about. If you have any performances you think are way "underrated" or overlooked, share them with me! These are all I could think of at the moment.
These aren't in any particular order, just fyi.


Hayden Christensen - Life as a House

If you have never seen Life as a House I strongly suggest renting it right now and watching. It is a fantastic movie overall and I have loved it for years. I consider Hayden Christensen's performance overlooked primarily because it got overshadowed with his mediocre and below par performances in the Star Wars prequels. This is by far the best role I have seen him in and I wish he would have gotten more recognition for it. His character Sam is tragic on his own, but the way Hayden brought it out was fantastic. He always got a thumbs up from me.


Kristen Stewart - Welcome to the Rileys

This is another movie that I recommend in general and not just because it was very good. I tell people to watch it to prove that in some capacity, Kristen Stewart can actually act. I watched this movie out of sheer curiosity and I wound up really liking it and a lot of it had to do with Stewart's performance. She was really a pleasure to watch and I wish that she would do this more often. It is a rare performance from her that was severely overshadowed by her work in Twilight which is a shame because she sucks absolute balls in Twilight. It brings you back to what she did as a kid in Panic Room. People were screaming that she didn't get recognition for On the Road this past year, but I still think if she was going to get seriously recognized for anything it should have been Welcome to the Rileys.


Chloe Moretz - Let Me In

I say this pretty lightly because Chloe did get a lot of props for her performance, but from a standpoint of award status and serious recognition... she got stiffed big time. Her performance as Abby was so incredible. I was blown away. A lot of it was her great chemistry with Kodi Smit-McPhee, who also did a great job. I think people overlooked it because it was a horror film and probably because the kids were so young at the time. However, with Quevenzhane Wallis earning an Oscar nomination at the age of 9 that might have changed the way the high-up Hollywood types look at kids in film. For Chloe's sake I sure hope so. She was overlooked for Hugo as well.


Freddie Highmore - Finding Neverland

Don't get me wrong, there were people who gave Freddie the praise he deserved for this movie. I don't think it was enough, though. His performance brought me to tears. Enough said. He was better than Johnny Depp in this movie.


Tobin Bell - the Saw franchise

This guy got severely overlooked due to the fact that he was in Saw movies. Tobin's performances in Saw II and Saw III were very good. The odd humanity he brought to this killer he was playing was very well done and it is a true shame that more people outside of the horror genre didn't recognize it. I can't say enough about this guy's acting chops. They really lucked out that Tobin was the man on the floor in the first Saw.


Logan Lerman - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This boy has come a long way from being the kid in The Butterfly Effect. Yes, he is also Percy Jackson but his performance as Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower was fantastic and I just fell in love with him. The movie itself got shafted, but if it were up to me I would have given Lerman a Golden Globe nomination or something. He really did his part.


Natalie Portman - Garden State

Natalie Portman has received tons of recognition and praise throughout her career so far. She finally won an Oscar for Black Swan and had been previously nominated. She has also been criticized for her involvement in such films as the Star Wars prequels, but so be it. However... Garden State is a role not many people think of that that is really unfortunate. It is one of her best performances and characters that I have seen. This should have been a Golden Globe or Oscar nomination, in my opinion. She deserved it.


Sandra Bullock - 28 Days

I have always liked this movie in general, but not many people think of it when the topic of Sandra Bullock comes up. Most think of The Blind Side, Speed, or Miss Congeniality. I have always thought of 28 Days. For what it is worth I thought she was great in this movie and it showed that she did have some good chops. It is a severely overlooked performance.


Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

I want to start by saying Michael Shannon is a great actor. His performance in Take Shelter took me places that I wasn't expecting and I loved every second of it. The fact that he wasn't nominated for an Oscar is absurd. He'll get there someday, I hope.


Enrico Colantoni - Galaxy Quest

I feel like Galaxy Quest is kind of a cult classic at this point and all the actors were great, but the role of Mathesar was so overlooked. He was great at creating a believable "alien" leader and set a good precedent for the other Thermian race. He was just fantastic.  


Brittany Murphy - Girl, Interrupted

So many performances were overshadowed by Angelina Jolie but specifically Brittany Murphy. Her character not only was crazy as hell, but Murphy made her so believable. It was like you imagined that is how this girl was and what she would be like. To this day I watch Girl, Interrupted and love Daisy. That is all because of Brittany Murphy.


Kirsten Dunst - Drop Dead Gorgeous

Talk about an underrated... everything! Not only is the movie great, but this was one of Dunst's most remembered performances for me. She had everything nailed. The Fargo accent was even perfect. She made her character completely believable, too. Yet another movie that I would recommend seeing if you have never seen it. It's absolutely hilarious and Kirsten Dunst is great. I wish more people knew about it.


The rest of these I don't really want to explain because you wind up saying the same things about each performance, so I will list some more without any explanation.

Kevin Zegers - Transamerica

Siobhan Fallon - Greedy

Denzel Washington - The Bone Collector

Jake Gyllenhaal - End of Watch

Michael Pena - End of Watch

Jared Gilman - Moonrise Kingdom

Joel Courtney - Super 8

Isabelle Fuhrman - Orphan

Lauren Ambrose - Can't Hardly Wait