Gerwig’s 2017 feature directing debut “Lady Bird” — a “400 Blows”-style semi-autobiographical coming of age dramedy for the A24 generation — is primarily a showcase for Saoirse Ronan as Gerwig’s onscreen avatar, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson. Chalamet, however, very nearly walks away with his scenes as Kyle Scheible, the pretentious, douche canoe twink at Christine’s Catholic high school that Ronan’s temperamental, impetuous teenager (who dreams of leaving behind her quiet working-class existence in early 2000s Sacramento for a reputable East Coast college) can’t help but become infatuated with.
In all seriousness, Chalamet’s delivery of the line “That’s hella tight!” is awards-worthy solely on its own.
“Lady Bird” itself is soaring high on Rotten Tomatoes with a practically impeccable 99 percent critics rating from 400 reviews against a superb average score of 9.1 out of 10, making it the actor’s top-rated film according to the website’s metrics. Does that also make it his best one? It’s an odd case of a well-known actor’s highest-ranked movie on the website also being one where they play a minor role (and unlike Jude Law’s “best” film on RT, Chalamet didn’t have a screen persona for “Lady Bird” to riff on just yet). Much as I personally enjoy the film, Gerwig’s “Little Women” is my current favorite among the movie she’s helmed so far, and it also just so happens to give Chalamet far more to do. (That Ronan gets to break his heart this time as the Jo to his Laurie is merely the icing on the cake.)
That’s the thing about Rotten Tomatoes: It’s helpful if you want to know what the larger critical consensus is for a particular film or TV show (audience scores, on the other hand, are kind of useless). But you’ll never really know where you stand on the matter until you dive into the deep end and watch it yourself.