Under Appreciated or Mediocre #1--Maggie Grace

So this is me trying to experiment with the blog a little. Maybe get away from just reviews. Hopefully this will become an ongoing thing. The world of acting is a harsh and competitive one, and not everybody can make it to the top. Unfortunately some of these actors might not deserve to be trapped in obscurity. So I'm here to sort the actors who deserve a second chance from the actors that need to rethink their careers. I'll look at several films in their career and make a verdict of whether these actors are...Under Appreciated or Mediocre!

First up is a lady any "Lost" fan will recognize, Maggie Grace! Unfortunately if you are a fan of Lost than you know her best as the self centered elitist, Shannon Rutherford.

Can her acting go past the blonde airhead variety? Let's take a look!

"The Fog"--So this seems like an unfair movie to look at because this is a terrible film. There isn't anything that could have made it better. Grace is basically the main character alongside Tom Welling (Smallville) so she gets lots of screen time. So how does Maggie Grace fair in a horrible horror remake? She does alright, she isn't hamming it up and acting like the typical dumb girl in a scary movie, she is one of the better actors in the movie. She definitely isn't the Shannon character, so it's good to see that isn't all she can do.

"The Jane Austen Book Club"--So there aren't a lot of films where Grace gets top billing, so I had do a chick flick, which honestly wasn't that bad. It was a little cheesy but in the "it's a chick flick" kind of way. The film has a large cast so Grace isn't quite as prominent as she is in "The Fog", but she's a major character. I really liked her in this to, she's a thrill seeker who is also very clumsy, which leads to a couple funny scenes where she injures herself in the name of being "extreme." She is never over the top in this movie either, she acts like a normal human being, and does a good job at it.

That really is it in terms of her most notable roles, everything else is pretty minor. This is kind of unfortunate because she really seems like a good actress.

Final Verdict: Maggie Grace has not been in much. Her biggest role to date seems to be Shannon from "Lost". The awesome thing is though as annoying and rude as that character was, it seems like that was done on purpose, not just how Grace acts. With the other two movies I saw It's pretty clear that she has some range. In "The Fog" she's believable and in "Jane Austen Book Club" she is believable, two completely different movies and she made her characters not only likable but realistic in relation to the story. One of the best things I can say is that she knows how to not overact.

          Another actress I really like, Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, Quarantine), is OK, but when she tries to play up an emotion like fear or sadness it's borderline ridiculous. There weren't any times during Grace's performances where I didn't believe in her characters, or I thought they were melodramatic. It's good to know that she is continuing to work, maybe eventually she'll get even more lead roles, because she could really be a great actress some day. So Maggie Grace is definitely Under Appreciated.