Thoughts on this group of English language actresses?

Emily Blunt: I actually find her to be pretty bland when it comes to most of her period pieces, and she is hilariously bad at playing drunken characters. Where I think she excels is strong, steely types like in Sicario and Edge of Tomorrow. Funnily enough, the more contemporary she is, the more exciting of an actress I find her.

Rose Byrne: An absolutely delightful actress who has kind of lost herself in the comedy rabbit hole, and while she can be great at it, I do miss when she was able to do both those and indie dramas.

Kirsten Dunst: An excellent generation-defining performer who nevertheless has the unfortunate distinction of having her first (and thus far, only) Oscar nomination be for what I consider her worst performance. It's like she took drunk lessons from Emily Blunt. She should have half a dozen nominations by now and none for that.

Anne Hathaway: I really don't like her Oscar nominations (especially the first one), but I think that since she won, she has become a much more interesting actress. Not necessarily one I would rate as a great one, though.

Scarlett Johansson: Aside from a nasty tendency to put her foot in her mouth, I think she's probably the most technically proficient actress on this list. Maybe not the best filmography but I always find her doing something interesting, and I think she's underrated by the general public primarily because of the stupid shit she says sometimes.

Keira Knightley: Keira has the exact same issue Blunt does: I find her very milquetoast in period pieces and more interesting in contemporary roles. I like her but she's not yet had "that" role for me the way most of these women have, and I'm wondering which auteur that isn't Joe Wright can give her something of worth to play around with.

Rachel McAdams: I think her performance in Mean Girls is overrated beyond belief, but McAdams is otherwise a pretty strong actress who can handle both comedy and drama. Game Night especially is her at her apex.

Natalie Portman: No.

Michelle Williams: Wildly inconsistent and I find that when she's bad, she's reeeeeally bad. But she's no Natalie Portman, so there's that.

ibbi - I guess so much of it is subjective or how you personally "group" actors together. I like all of the women you've mentioned, but I wouldn't "group" any of them in with this bunch, beyond maybe Maggie Gyllenhaal or Amanda Seyfried... I.e. Actresses that emerged as stars in the Aughts. (I suppose they're both more famous/successful than Byrne, but I was trying to think of women who had won a major European festival prize, too - for acting). 

Mulligan, though she's older, I'd tend to group with Emma Stone, Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lawrence, as her ascendancy was confirmed in the 2010s. 

Morton and Hawkins, though they're younger, I'd group with Winslet, Blanchett, Kidman, Moore... Again, it could just be my own way of thinking? Not sure. Morton especially I would have guessed would have been in more direct competition with these older actresses for roles, accolades, etc.?

Russell, Moss, and Maslany I think of as television actors - all of these other women are known primarily for film (again, give or take Byrne, who still has a Volpi Cup).

Witherspoon?

Goddamn, am I the only one who likes all these actresses?

Emily Blunt - I like her best when she is doing a lot with a little (Sicario, Edge of Tomorrow, A Quiet Place). She's usually pretty consistent, but never quite astounded or surprised me with her imagination in roles and I very much lean towards actors that go for bigger swings.

Rose Byrne - There's the bigger swing. She was already damn good in her dramatic work, then Get Him to the Greek revealed she was secretly one of the best comedic actors alive. Straight-up win worthy in Spy and if Hollywood was better she'd have more star vehicles than Ryan Reynolds.

Kirsten Dunst - Obviously great. Been great since she was a kid, still great now. Never really developed much of a star persona and didn't make an ideal fit as a movie star (though she's good in Bring It On and the Spider-Man movies) but thankfully carved herself a very nice spot in the industry.

Anne Hathaway - The hate train on her was weird. I guess she was too pretty, too famous, too eager? She's one of the most technically proficient and versatile on this list, able to fit in both Get Smart and Rachel Getting Married in the same year. A more natural movie star than most on here (makes sense, she started as a Disney princess) and still able to turn it on when something like The Intern or Ocean's 8 comes around.

Scarlett Johansson - It is a rarity to get someone who's that talented and that much of a bombshell and it was utterly bizarre how Hollywood seemed unsure of what to do with her for about a decade (from her massive splash in 2003 to her do-it-all 2013). I don't understand it. Anyway, she has some of the highest highs of any actress on this list and her lows are not terribly bad so much as they are just dull and usually come from her being saddled with a director who can't conceive of her being interesting beyond her sensuality. She probably should've been producing her own work like Margot Robbie is currently doing.

Keira Knightley - As a kid, it felt like I only ever saw her as being in Pirates or some stuffy British movie. After seeing said British movies I liked her a bit more, but I don't find her terribly interesting as an actress. Consistent, proficient, and the camera likes her, but not terribly inspired (except in A Dangerous Method where she's totally without vain and laughably so).

Rachel McAdams - Effortlessly charming and way more interesting as a performer than she's given credit for. I suppose that is in part because her filmography is not particularly good and she gets saddled with a lot of thankless parts in studio movies. Would love to see her do more stuff like Passion or Disobedience and just recently found her incredibly lovely in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Natalie Portman - A more ambitious and volatile talent. She can really go for it and I feel like early in her adult work it was hard not to see the effort in stuff like V for Vendetta or The Other Boleyn Girl (I lean on the side of really liking her work in Closer though). When a director is firing on all cylinders, they can get a ton out of her. When they're as interested in the acting side as George Lucas, it's gonna be rough.

Michelle Williams - I think she is often brilliant and highly suggestive in her acting, able to communicate a lot within a character in as much as what she isn't doing as what she is. In that way, she can go well beyond the page and use her performance thematically - I'm thinking very much of the sorrow at heart in Blue Valentine or Take This Waltz as well as the more manic-depressive energy of something like The Fabelmans. Kelly Reichardt is one of the most ideal collaborators she could possibly have.

Hate to be predictable, but where’s my favorite Oscar-winning, Emmy-nominated, and Tony-nominated redhead??

I'll just name my favorite moments from them with drips of opinions attached.

Emily Blunt: The Edge of Tomorrow and The Devil Wears Prada. Not a fan of her in Oppenheimer outside of one scene maybe which comes too late anyway.

Rose Byrne: Bridesmaids and Juliet, Naked. Also good in X-Men: First Class, overshadowed by others of course.

Kirsten Dunst: Interview with the Vampire and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I usually like her a lot but like Blunt, her recent work (that Jane Campion piece to be exact) left me disappointed.

Anne Hathaway: Rachel Getting Married and Brokeback Mountain maybe? I don't dislike her (nor her outside persona which was very cool to hate on a decade ago) at all; I just don't care for her in the most surprising times of her career: her Oscar-winning role or when she was Catwoman ffs

Scarlett Johansson: Under the Skin and Marriage Story. Like many people I'm sure, I've grown to respect her more as she got involved more serious projects. It's that damn Marvel suit... once they make a distance from it they're cool again in my book lol.

Keira Knightley: I will always like her for the Caribbean trilogy. Can't say I'm mad excited currently though. She's closer to Hathaway here than to somebody like Williams.

Rachel McAdams: Overrated in Spotlight (I prefer if she was nominated for Midnight in Paris) but is almost always appealing to watch. Even something lackluster like The Lucky Ones isn't a waste of time mainly because of her warm presence. She's a babe, pardon my misogyny.

Natalie Portman: Leon and, un, Vendetta? (NS Jackie). She "seemed" like the most confident, calculating and professional actress right up to that second Thor movie (see? Marvel is a curse in this household) in my eyes. I just never liked her that much. By far my favorite Portman thing rn is a WIRED autocomplete interview from four years ago, and that's 70% due to her on-screen partner.

Michelle Williams: Wendy and Lucy, Shutter Island, Blue Valentine... I won't defend each and every one of her nominated work but she is what they call "the real deal"...

Jessica Chastain: Easily -- easily! -- the best of this bunch. Dunst might squeak by on pure heights (Fargo and Melancholia), but she has also had a longer career to do so. Chastain's versatility is breathtaking and when she's on, she's on. Haven't been overly thrilled with a lot of her post-2015 output and only just now is she returning to more interesting projects instead of the blockbuster machine, but I really do like her Oscar-winning performance and I'm hopeful she can Triple Crown it at some point.

Reese Witherspoon: A very likable presence. Not the biggest fan of her Oscar win specifically (though I don't really begrudge it), but I love her performance in Wild and on any given day she'd be my pick of the nominees. I am impressed by her skill set as a producer and picking projects to push, though I haven't seen The Morning Show.

Jessica Chastain: The Help and to some extend The Tree of Life... I may sound short-sighted here, but it is how I've been feeling about it and gotta clear my throat. It's her very loud activism that has put me off of her work since Interstellar. Must actors shut their mouths or be vocal about how they think/feel on issues concerning (and not concerning - which seems more often!) them personally? Idk... but in her case, it ain't good imo. I've felt like she commented on every issue and jumped on every possible train (the Last Tango scandal among them)... I've seen her out of her films a little "too much" to the point that I know when I sit to watch Tammy Faye, I'm not going to see the character but the actress. The illusion is dead for me, for the time being at least... which is a shame, cause otherwise she was doing solid as far as I followed...

Witherspoon I've also grown to like more (and she's been around for ever lol). From Cruel Intentions (in which she's one of the three things that doesn't suck), Election and American Psycho... to Walk the Line (lovely) and Inherent Vice... she Fine... 

Now this girl... She goes in. lol

Fixed that ^ for you Legend