Her earlier work after "Once Upon a Time" were crap.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Jennifer Connelly
phoenixandrew — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 02:08 AM)
All of her earlier movies from "Phenomena"/"Creepers" (1985) to "Waking the Dead" (2000) were crap. It was only after she ap5b4peared in "Requiem for a Dream" (2000) that she started making good movies.
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Artaxias_I — 9 years ago(December 06, 2016 01:30 PM)
While I do enjoy Labyrinth and Etoile is hilarious and enjoyable (though it's not supposed to be funny), I do agree that she certainly went through an unfortunately long period of playing parts that did not show case her talent (though honestly her acting itself was not at the level that she would later come to achieve either) in movies that were rather forgettable (the Rocketeer really should have been better than it was, I still can't pinpoint where it went wrong it had a good director and a solid cast, the script probably is the culprit, the actors were actually signed on for a full trilogy but it did not do well enough to warrant two more films)
Utt2000erly forgettable: 7 Minutes in Heaven (I literally don't remember what this was about), Heart of Justice, Far Harbor (though she does actually have a really good monologue in that, which hints at her talent to come), Inventing the Abbotts (she was actually pretty good in this, but her part did not give her enough to do, and the movie was bland)
Memorable only for people's obsession with her body: Hot Spot (I barely remember what happens in this), Career Opportunities (I imagine this was the highpoint of Frank Whaley's life), Mullholland Falls (sucks so bad, this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, I can't begin to imagine why she signed on for it).
Should have been good but just weren't, still not bad though: Love & Shadows (the storyline had potential, the movie was kind of a dud though)
Cult Classic that was not crap, but her performance was certainly not up to the level she later grew into: Labyrinth
Weird AF: Etoile (the actor who starred opposite her appears to have never acted again, I wonder why haha. I really have no idea what to make of this movie), Phenomena (I generally hate this genre of movie, like Etoile it's campy enough to be viewed for laughs though)
Movies I don't think were crap at all, and I actually think were pretty good: Waking the Dead (the script could have been stronger they could have made a taught political thriller out of it that would have been sweet, but they went with a nebulous love story, it was still pretty good, plus Jennifer and Billy Campbell have excellent chemistry, and this was the first time Jennifer seemed really invested in her performance, and not just showing up), Dark City (this movie is totally underrated and was really good, and I would like it even if Jennifer wasn't in it, if you haven't seen the directors cut version, do, it's a much better movie)
If I've forgotten any movies then they fall into the: So bland and forgettable I literally forgot about them group.
The worst of all is that she chose to do all these forgettable movies and yet she turned down Heathers?!?!?! Why? Seriously someone in an interview needs to ask that someday, Heathers was awesome. Why would she turn that down? (I'm assuming Winona Ryder's comments that they originally asked and wanted Jennifer are correct)
In Jennifer's defense she has commented on the general state of her early filmography, and how she herself was not particularly happy with the kind of films she was being offered parts in, and that they were not the kinds of films she was interested in seeing, and that starting out as a kid she was not super invested in acting (or modeling) and was something that her mom got her into and that she made sure to be polite and show up and work hard, but that it wasn't until later in her career (after she had her first son) that she really made the decision that this is what she wanted to do and to really invest herself in her work and finding parts she cared about and all that, which certainly showed.