“Cute as a button!” Peruse fansites and celebrity gossip blogs, and that’s a term that crops up again and again in relation to actress Rachel McAdams. It’s apt as far as it goes, and it goes pretty far —the adorable dimples, the bright eyes, the hopeful, illuminating smile. Part of McAdams’ individual allure is her personable, approachable, relatable attractiveness. If it were the 1950s and the term still had useful currency (who even knows their neighbors any more?), she could be a girl-next-door, appealing to both men and women, who imagine themselves either to be with her or to be her, depending on preference. But this widespread appeal has a downside: it can typecast the sort of roles that executives and marketing teams most readily believe the public will accept her in (wholesome, sweet-natured young women being more likely to be traditional marriage material than the stuff of sexual fantasies), and it can lead us to underestimate her talents as an actor. “Cute as a button” is rarely a descriptor ascribed to Meryl Streep.
But on the heels of my apologetic reassessment of Colin Farrell‘s thespian abilities from earlier in the week, I wanted to look at his “True Detective” co-star in more detail too. Now, I don’t have as big a hill to climb with McAdams: for many of the abovementioned reasons, I’ve always liked her and have always been pleased when her name pops up in casting lists or in opening credits —because it feels like we can rely on her to be at least solid. So it’s surprising that she’s rarely talked about more generally in terms of her acting chops.
McAdams’ biggest brush with mainstream awards success came with a 2006 BAFTA nomination for Rising Star (she lost to James McAvoy), and she was part of the ensemble who were SAG-nominated for “Midnight in Paris,” but the type of laurels she is up for tend to be of the MTV Movie or Teen Choice Awards variety. Given the range she has demonstrated to date, it does not seem especially fair that she doesn’t land too many of the prime awards-bait roles that might go to Amy Adams or Jessica Chastain (two other actresses whom I unreservedly love, so don’t take them as anything but arbitrary examples).
That all might change with “True Detective.” Because while it feels that the more the question “who will get the career renaissance off Season 2 that Matthew McConaughey got in Season 1?” is asked, the more it feels like the answer is most likely “no one,” it is McAdams’ performance that’s arguably the most surprising, at least for those not well acquainted with her lesser-known films. Purposely de-glammed, practical and implied from the off to be into some kinky bedroom shit, her guarded Antigone (!) Bezzarides is as far from the sweetheart of “The Notebook” as imaginable. Even Vince Vaughn, with whom she reunites on the show after “Wedding Crashers” and unusually cast in a serious role, is still playing to type in the sense that he’s a slick, wary shark who prides himself on reading the room and being one step ahead of everyone else —it’s the character he often plays, minus the easy charm and the jokes. McAdams’ role is that bit more differentiated from the generalized idea of her persona, as much as such a thing exists.
Hopefully, the proceeding series will grant her the genuine showcase she deserves (and fewer overexplained scenes with her apparently mythologically-challenged guru father). In the meantime, if you want proof that while McAdams can indeed be cute as a button, she can also be sharp as a tack, hard as nails, or tough as old boots, here are five performances that might be good places to start.