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Let me begin with a confession: I have not been able to stand Maggie Gyllenhaal](Maggie Gyllenhaal | Moviefone) as an actress for years. I’m not sure where I got turned off. Maybe Casa de los Babys](Casa de los Babys (2003) - Movie | Moviefone). Maybe later, with Happy Endings](Happy Endings (2005) - Movie | Moviefone). I definitely couldn’t take her in SherryBaby](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/sherrybaby/25024/main), and by the time she showed up in The Dark Knight](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-dark-knight/27016/main), I had decided she was the worst part of most movies in which she appears.
Basically I feel she tries too hard in really dramatic performances. I also think she’s completely ill-fit for characters with power or demanding professions, such as Rachel Dawes in TDK. Yet I also didn’t wholly believe her right for the flakier, manic-pixie-dream-girl type she plays in Stranger Than Fiction](Stranger Than Fiction (2006) - Movie | Moviefone). Honestly, I had some hope for her after seeing her in World Trade Center](World Trade Center (2006) - Movie | Moviefone), but maybe it was just that I find her to be a good crier. And more tolerable when she’s not in the lead.
This was not always the case. My introduction to her was with John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented](Cecil B. Demented (2000) - Movie | Moviefone). I despised the movie, but I developed a crush on this young actress playing the Satanist obsessed with avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. And I continued to think she was fine in small roles in Donnie Darko](Donnie Darko (2001) - Movie | Moviefone) and Adaptation](Adaptation. (2002) - Movie | Moviefone). So it was pretty upsetting after eight years for her to go from being the best thing in a movie I hated to the worst thing in a movie I loved.
Continue reading Their Best Role: Maggie Gyllenhaal in ‘Secretary’