Rachel Anne McAdams

She returned to work in 2008, with two low-key releases. Married Life, a film noir with Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson, was a box-office flop but critics welcomed McAdams' return to the silver screen. Entertainment Weekly found her "a particularly delightful vision after her two-year intermission". Variety's critic also bemoaned her two year absence and felt that she "here endows her readings with tender feeling". However, they noted that "her natural vivaciousness and spontaneity are straightjacketed" by the austere tone of the film.
Her second film of 2008, The Lucky Ones, a story about three Iraq War soldiers on a brief road trip back in the U.S., was another box-office flop and received uncomplimentary reviews. McAdams' performance, however, was praised. The New York Times found her "luminous as always", Variety found her "as captivating as ever" while Roger Ebert hailed the performance as "her coming of age as an actress". "Previously she has been seen mostly as a hot chick or an idealized sweetheart", he wrote. "Here she is feisty, vulnerable, plucky, warm, funny. She provides yet another lesson that you can't judge acting ability until you see an actor given a chance to really stretch. Watch the poignance of the scene when she meets her boyfriend's family."
• Return to prominence
She starred in three films in 2009. The first was well-reviewed political thriller State of Play with Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman and Russell Crowe. Entertainment Weekly felt she was "perfectly cast as an ambitious wonkette" while The New York Times noted that "there is some fun to be had in watching (Crowe and McAdams) lock horns..and engage in fine snappy banter."