The 10 Most Underrated Emily Blunt Movies, Ranked (from Least to Most Underrated)

Emily Blunt’s filmography stretches across sci-fi spectacles, intimate indies, and historical dramas, and she has a knack for anchoring very different kinds of stories with clear, grounded character work. This list spotlights projects that deserve more attention in conversations about her career—films that show her range beyond the handful of roles everyone already knows by heart.

Below you’ll find a countdown that moves from lesser-seen cult entries to major releases that still don’t get their full due. Each selection includes the essentials—who made it, what it’s about, and where it fits in Blunt’s body of work—so you can quickly decide what to watch next.

‘Wind Chill’ (2007)

Directed by Gregory Jacobs, ‘Wind Chill’ follows two college students on a winter drive that goes wrong on an isolated back road, with Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes leading a compact survival story. The film blends psychological tension with supernatural elements, using a confined car and a freezing landscape, and it favors practical effects and sparse locations over large-scale set pieces.

Blunt plays a traveler whose guarded exterior peels back as she confronts external hazards and unreliable information while stranded in snowbound conditions. Production emphasized in-camera atmosphere—visible breath, frost, and night exteriors—supported by sound design that isolates wind, metal creaks, and distant traffic to heighten the characters’ limited options.

‘The Girl on the Train’ (2016)

Adapted from Paula Hawkins’s novel and directed by Tate Taylor, ‘The Girl on the Train’ centers on Rachel Watson, a commuter whose routine intersects with a missing-person investigation. The cast includes Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, and Luke Evans, with the narrative structured around shifting timelines and point-of-view reveals.

Blunt’s role relies on memory gaps and unreliable perception, and the production distinguishes perspectives with color grading and camera placement tied to what Rachel believes she saw from the carriage window. Location work around suburban stations and residential streets supports the investigative beats, and the release earned high-profile awards recognition for the lead performance.

‘Mary Poppins Returns’ (2018)

Directed by Rob Marshall, ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ revisits the Banks family decades after the original story, with Emily Blunt in the title role and Lin-Manuel Miranda as a lamplighter who joins new adventures. The musical features original songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and includes hybrid live-action/animation sequences staged as large ensemble numbers.

The film received multiple Academy Award nominations in craft categories, including production design, costume design, score, and original song, reflecting the scale of its period London recreation. Choreography and vocal work were integrated with elaborate practical sets—such as a Royal Doulton bowl sequence—augmented by visual effects to achieve a storybook look.

‘Your Sister’s Sister’ (2011)

Written and directed by Lynn Shelton, ‘Your Sister’s Sister’ is an intimate comedy-drama set largely in a Pacific Northwest cabin, co-starring Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass. The production used an outline-plus-improvisation process to develop dialogue on set, keeping conversations natural and closely tied to character objectives.

Blunt’s character, Iris, anchors scenes built around long, unbroken takes that preserve overlapping speech and reaction shots. The small crew and limited locations allowed for quick schedule pivots, while available-light cinematography and handheld framing maintain a lived-in, semi-documentary texture that highlights shifting loyalties among the trio.

‘Sunshine Cleaning’ (2008)

Directed by Christine Jeffs and produced by the team behind ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, ‘Sunshine Cleaning’ pairs Emily Blunt with Amy Adams as sisters who start a crime-scene cleanup business. The narrative incorporates workaday details—permits, training, and protective gear—alongside family obligations, with Albuquerque locations supplying warehouses, rental yards, and tract homes.

Scenes depicting biohazard removal use real-world procedures—containment, labeling, and disposal protocols—to ground the characters’ new enterprise. Supporting performances from Alan Arkin and Clifton Collins Jr. fill out the family and business ecosystem, while the film’s festival play introduced it to broader audiences before platform expansion in theaters.

‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ (2011)

Directed by Lasse Hallström and based on Paul Torday’s novel, ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ follows a British fisheries expert, played by Ewan McGregor, recruited by a consultant, played by Emily Blunt, to realize a sheikh’s plan to introduce salmon angling to a desert region. The story intercuts government agencies, Scottish waterways, and Middle Eastern sites, balancing political satire with logistical problem-solving.

The film received major awards attention in the musical or comedy categories, highlighting its blend of romance and policy maneuvering. Production foregrounds the technical hurdles—flow rates, migration patterns, habitat viability—and uses practical water-control rigs and location work to depict how an ambitious concept is translated into engineering steps.

‘The Adjustment Bureau’ (2011)

Written and directed by George Nolfi, ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ adapts Philip K. Dick’s ‘Adjustment Team’ into a contemporary romance-thriller about fate and choice. Emily Blunt co-stars with Matt Damon, with Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, and Terence Stamp as part of the ensemble. New York City architecture functions as a narrative map, with special doors and a rule-bound organization defining movement through space.

Blunt’s character, Elise, is a modern dancer, and the production collaborated with choreographers to integrate rehearsals and stage work into character beats. Location shooting across boroughs required careful continuity to execute door-to-door transitions, combining in-camera tricks, hidden cuts, and visual effects to sustain the film’s spatial logic.

‘The Young Victoria’ (2009)

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by Julian Fellowes, ‘The Young Victoria’ dramatizes the early reign and marriage of Queen Victoria, with Emily Blunt in the title role and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert. The production reconstructs court attire and ceremonial protocols with extensive archival research, using historic estates and palaces to depict private and public spaces.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design and received additional nominations in craft fields, underscoring its emphasis on historical detail. Blunt’s performance traces political education alongside domestic negotiations, and the staging of audiences, councils, and processions adheres to period etiquette to illustrate power dynamics inside the royal household.

‘Sicario’ (2015)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve, ‘Sicario’ follows an FBI agent drawn into a joint task force operating along the U.S.–Mexico border, with Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin leading the cast. The film features cinematography by Roger Deakins and a percussive score that underlines convoy choreography, urban incursions, and surveillance-driven staging.

The release earned Academy Award nominations for cinematography, score, and sound editing, reflecting its emphasis on precise technical execution. Production integrated aerials, long-lens observation, and practical vehicle work, while briefings and after-action debriefs structure the narrative around chains of command and legal authorities.

‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (2014)

Directed by Doug Liman and adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s ‘All You Need Is Kill’, ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ pairs Emily Blunt with Tom Cruise in a time-loop combat story against an alien invasion across Europe. Blunt portrays Sergeant Rita Vrataski, a soldier whose training regimen and combat record form the tactical framework of the plot.

The production combined heavy practical exosuits, on-set rigging, and digital augmentation to deliver repeatable battlefield iterations, with major sequences staged on beaches and in urban kill-zones. The film grossed over $360 million worldwide and became a case study in iterative action design, using looped scenarios to refine strategy, choreography, and character training beats.

Share your picks for the most overlooked Emily Blunt performances in the comments and tell everyone which hidden gems you think belong on the list.