Megan Fox is a massive star. She’s beautiful, has a reasonable amount of talent, and is in one of the most high-profile relationships in the world with Machine Gun Kelly.
She’s appeared in nearly 30 movies; if truth be told, it’s not a stellar filmography. However, there are some gems in there, and in this piece, we’ll take you through the best dozen, ending with her finest work. Be warned, there’ll be no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies or Transformers sequels, as they were terrible.
1. This is 40 (2012, directed by Judd Apatow)
This is 40 is a comedy-drama movie and spin-off of 2007’s Knocked Up. In the film, the stressful relationship between Pete and Debbie, characters introduced in Knocked Up, is made more difficult when they each turn 40.
Pete and Debbie are played hilariously by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. Fox plays Desi, one of Debbie’s employees at her boutique, and is perfectly adequate in the role. Other cast members, including John Lithgow, Jason Segel, Albert Brooks, Chris O’Dowd, Melissa McCarthy, and Lena Dunham, ensure a fun ride. This is 40 is funny and relatable, led by a duo with impeccable chemistry, but it is slightly too long.
2. The Dictator (2012, directed by Larry Charles)
The Dictator is a political satire black comedy movie about the eponymous leader of the fictional Republic of Wadiya’s visit to the United States of America.
Sacha Baron Cohen plays Admiral-General Haffaz Aladeen, the main character, and throws himself brilliantly into the role. The impressive supporting cast includes Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly, and Fred Armisen. Fox has an undemanding cameo as a version of herself who sold her body to Aladeen. The Dictator is exceptionally vulgar but funny, intelligent, and unconventional, and it finishes with a rousing monologue that you’ll love.
3. Transformers (2007, directed by Michael Bay)
Transformers is a sci-fi action movie based on Hasbro’s eponymous toys and the first installment in the long-running live-action franchise of the same name. In this one, a teenager gets caught up in the ancient war between the Autobots and Decepticons, extraterrestrial robots that can disguise themself by transforming into conventional machinery.
It remains one of the best movies in the franchise. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson, John Turturro, Jon Voight, and Fox, who adeptly plays the girlfriend of Sam Witwicky, the main character. Transformers is action-packed, exhilarating, funny, has excellent special effects, and is loud and teeming with explosions in typical Bay style.
4. Rogue (2020, directed by M.J. Bassett)
Rogue is an action thriller about a female mercenary who, along with her team, gets stranded in the grasslands of East Africa and is forced to fight for survival against both the local insurgents and a particularly aggressive lioness.
Fox plays Samantha “Sam” O’Hara, the mercenary and main character of the film. She’s surprisingly good and suited to the role, which goes very much against type for her and requires a lot of emotion and conveyance of strength. The supporting cast includes Philip Winchester and Adam Deacon. Rogue is a simple film with relentless action, explosions, and graphic violence to keep fans of that kind of thing suitably entertained.
5. Friends with Kids (2011, directed by Jennifer Westfeldt)
Friends with Kids is a rom-com about two best friends who decide to have a baby together but remain platonic to avoid the problems that having children can cause with romantic relationships.
It stars the terrific Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt as Jason Fryman and Julie Keller, the friends who have the baby, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Chris O’Dowd. Fox plays Mary Jane, an actress who gets into a relationship with Jason and does an adequate job. Friends with Kids is sharp-witted and funny, with excellent comedic leading performances that elevate an otherwise fairly rudimentary story.
6. Above the Shadows (2019, directed by Claudia Myers)
Above the Shadows is a supernatural romance movie about a young woman who people have stopped noticing to the extent that she’s invisible. She must find her way back with the help of the one man who can see her, a disgraced MMA fighter whose downfall occurred because of a photograph she took.
Olivia Thirlby plays Holly, the invisible woman, and Alan Ritchson plays Shayne Blackwell, the disgraced fighter. Fox plays Juliana, Shayne’s ex, in a deliciously bitchy style. Above the Shadows would be considered highly original if it wasn’t so obviously similar to the 1997 Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode “Out of Mind, Out of Sight.” Still, it’s smartly executed, sentimental, fun, and well-performed.
7. Taurus (2022, directed by Tim Sutton)
Taurus is a drama movie chronicling what turns out to be the final days of a troubled musician searching for the inspiration to record his next song as he pushes himself deeper into a void doing so.
Machine Gun Kelly does a decent job as Cole, the musician who is uncannily similar to him. Maddie Hasson, Scoot McNairy, and Ruby Rose are among the supporting cast, and Fox competently plays Mae, Cole’s ex-girlfriend. Taurus is a personal project for MGK and tells a cautionary tale about fame. It’s darkly funny, insightful, poignant, and genuinely touching.
8. Whore (2008, directed by Thomas Dekker)
Whore is a drama movie about a group of teenagers who arrive in Hollywood in the hopes of embarking on an acting career but discover that the business is far more challenging to get into than they could ever have imagined.
It stars director Dekker, Rumer Willis, Ron Jeremy, and Fox playing a character called Lost, which is far from accurate in describing her adroit performance. Whore is a low-budget film using many non-professional actors, and it’s surprisingly good. It’s stylish, well-performed, and cleverly shifts in tone. It’s a movie that will entertain you more than you will expect it to.
9. Jennifer’s Body (2009, directed by Karyn Kusama)
Jennifer’s Body is a comedy horror movie focusing on Jennifer Check, a high school girl possessed by a demonic succubus who kills her male classmates. The film chronicles her best friend’s attempts to bring her murderous spree to an end.
Fox plays the eponymous Jennifer in one of her finest performances. She plays it straight but with a surprising amount of comedic flair. The supporting cast includes Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons, and Chris Pratt. Jennifer’s Body is a modern feminist classic that’s darkly funny, well-acted, intelligent, a little camp, and boasts brilliant characterizations. The extent to which it’s underrated is a tragedy.
10. The Battle of Jangsari (2019, directed by Kwak Kyung-taek and Kim Tae-hoon)
The Battle of Jangsari is a South Korean war movie depicting the 1950 Battle of Jangsari that tells the true story of the Independent 1st Guerrilla Battalion, which comprised student volunteer soldiers led by ROK Army officers.
It stars Kim Myung-min, Choi Min-ho, Kim Sung-cheol, and Fox, who plays Maggie, a fictional character based on war correspondents and photographers Marguerite Higgins and Margaret Bourke-White. She’s excellent in the role, as is the rest of the cast. The Battle of Jangsari is an action-packed spectacle with great battle scenes that accurately convey war’s horrors while being sentimental when it needs to be.
11. Think Like a Dog (2020, directed by Gil Junger)
Think Like a Dog is a sci-fi family comedy about a 12-year-old technology project whose science experiment goes wrong, resulting in him getting a telepathic connection with his dog that they use to overcome the life obstacles thrown at them.
This film has an old-school live-action Disney movie feel and is ideal for kids and adults alike. Josh Duhamel plays Lukas Reed, Fox plays Ellen Reed, and Gabriel Bateman plays their son, Oliver Reed. They all throw themselves into their performances, and their chemistry as a family is perfect. Think Like a Dog is lighthearted, charming, and silly in a good way, and it has a cute dog, which is always lovely.
12. Till Death (2021, directed by S.K. Dale)
Till Death is a horror thriller movie about a woman whose husband handcuffs himself to her just before he takes his own life as part of a sick revenge plot for her having an affair, she then has to survive as two killers arrive to finish her off with her husband’s corpse shackled to her.
Eoin Macken plays Mark, the husband, and Fox plays Emma, the wife who finds herself bound to his dead body. It’s Fox’s best career performance, and the film only works because of her. It’s a stylish, dark, suspenseful, twisty, and highly original movie brutally depicting emotional and physical abuse. Till Death will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.