10 Underrated Blake Lively Movies You Must See

Blake Lively has built a varied film career that ranges from studio thrillers to intimate character pieces. Audiences know her from titles like ‘The Shallows’, ‘A Simple Favor’, and ‘The Age of Adaline’, yet her filmography also includes smaller projects and ensemble work that showcase different sides of her craft. Many of these projects pair her with well known directors and casts while exploring settings that stretch from Texas backroads to New York high society.

This list brings together feature films where Lively plays key roles across drama, crime, romance, and dark comedy. You will find adaptations of novels, an anthology of city tales, and original stories that were shot across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Each entry notes directors, notable collaborators, and story focus so you can decide what to queue up next.

‘Elvis & Anabelle’ (2007)

In ‘Elvis and Anabelle’, Lively plays a small town beauty queen whose life intersects with a mortician in training played by Max Minghella. The film centers on grief, second chances, and the slow pull between two people who have experienced very different upbringings in rural Texas. Writer director Will Geiger stages much of the story in quiet roadside spaces and family run businesses that shape the characters.

The production leans on intimate locations and a modest scale to follow the leads through personal recovery and budding connection. The supporting cast includes Mary Steenburgen and Joe Mantegna, and the narrative threads together pageant culture, family obligation, and the work that surrounds a funeral home. Lively’s role anchors the shift from spectacle to self discovery within the same town limits.

‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ (2009)

‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ is written and directed by Rebecca Miller and adapts her own novel. The film follows a woman played by Robin Wright while Lively portrays the same character at a younger age in extended flashbacks. These passages trace formative experiences that explain the choices seen in the present timeline, including relationships and a move into a quieter suburban life.

The ensemble features Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, and Winona Ryder, and the story balances memory with present day consequences. Production builds a clear visual contrast between the restless earlier period and the settled neighborhood setting. The dual performance structure gives the plot a through line that connects family history, artistic circles, and long simmering identity shifts.

‘Accepted’ (2006)

‘Accepted’ is a campus comedy directed by Steve Pink where Lively plays Monica opposite Justin Long as a resourceful senior who invents a college after receiving a stack of rejections. The premise sends a group of friends into an abandoned building that becomes a fully functioning institution complete with a website, a mission statement, and a rapidly growing student body that wants a place to learn.

The cast includes Jonah Hill, Columbus Short, and Lewis Black, and the script uses classes without walls and student designed curricula to poke at admissions pressure. Scenes were staged on Southern California locations that could stand in for lecture halls and common areas. Lively’s character connects the fake school back to a traditional campus across town, which complicates the social experiment as the new place gathers attention.

‘Hick’ (2011)

‘Hick’ adapts Andrea Portes’s novel and is directed by Derick Martini. Chloë Grace Moretz plays a Nebraska teen who heads for Las Vegas, while Lively appears as Glenda, a drifter who becomes an unpredictable guide. The road narrative moves through bars, motels, and sun beaten highways, and it places its characters in situations shaped by chance and the people they meet.

The film brings together Eddie Redmayne, Alec Baldwin, and Juliette Lewis, with scenes shot in New Mexico and other Southwestern backdrops that match the story’s trajectory. The production focuses on the brittle edges of travel with little money and the power dynamics that arise along the way. Lively’s character adds a layer of survival know how that carries a cost for anyone who follows her lead.

‘Savages’ (2012)

‘Savages’ is a crime thriller directed by Oliver Stone and based on Don Winslow’s novel. Lively plays O, the shared partner of two California entrepreneurs played by Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor Johnson whose business draws violent interest from a cartel. The plot moves between coastal neighborhoods, safe houses, and border checkpoints while tracking surveillance, negotiations, and double crosses.

The cast features Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, John Travolta, and Demian Bichir, and the production uses handheld sequences and saturated daylight to ground the action. Story beats hinge on ransom, encrypted communication, and the logistics of extraction under pressure. Lively’s character serves as the emotional stake that drives the competing strategies of the lead duo and shapes the choices they make.

‘New York, I Love You’ (2008)

‘New York, I Love You’ is an anthology feature that collects short films set across the five boroughs. Lively appears within a mosaic of stories created by an international group of directors and cinematographers who each contribute a different neighborhood and mood. The project captures chance encounters on sidewalks, in hotel lobbies, and at waterfront lookout points.

The film unites a large cast that includes Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Bradley Cooper, and many more, with each segment standing on its own while adding to a composite portrait of the city. Production stitched together multiple units with shared guidelines for runtime and location focus. Lively’s appearance is one thread in a patchwork that records how strangers and almost strangers cross paths in a single day.

‘Café Society’ (2016)

‘Café Society’ is a period romance set between New York and Los Angeles with cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. Lively plays Veronica Hayes and joins a cast led by Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. The story follows a young man who arrives in Hollywood to work for a powerful relative, then returns to New York to build a nightclub business that attracts high profile clients.

The production designed nightclubs, hillside homes, and Manhattan streets to reflect the look of the era. Storaro’s lighting choices emphasize warm interiors and golden hour exteriors that match the social world of the characters. Lively’s role intersects with shifting personal commitments and the social calendar that comes with a rising scene on both coasts.

‘All I See Is You’ (2017)

‘All I See Is You’ is directed by Marc Forster and centers on a married couple living abroad after the wife regains her vision through a surgical procedure. Lively plays Gina and Jason Clarke plays James, and the story follows the changes that arrive as the household adapts to new independence and new attention. Scenes move through apartments, music venues, and city streets in Bangkok and in European locations.

The production makes heavy use of subjective camera work and sound design to convey sensory perception before and after the operation. Visual effects and in camera techniques shift with Gina’s experience as she explores familiar spaces with new input. The film studies intimacy, routine, and the way a relationship recalibrates when one partner’s world expands.

‘The Rhythm Section’ (2020)

‘The Rhythm Section’ is a globe trotting espionage drama directed by Reed Morano and produced by Eon Productions. Lively plays Stephanie Patrick, a civilian who enters the world of covert operations while tracking the people behind a passenger plane bombing. The narrative moves through London, Madrid, Tangier, and other European settings with training sequences and field missions that test her limits.

Based on Mark Burnell’s novel, the film places Lively alongside Jude Law and Sterling K Brown. Production paused and later resumed after the lead suffered a hand injury during a stunt, which shifted the schedule. The filmmaking emphasizes practical effects, close quarters fights, and the logistics of adopting new identities across borders. The score and sound mix underline heartbeat pacing to mirror the title.

‘The Age of Adaline’ (2015)

‘The Age of Adaline’ is directed by Lee Toland Krieger and follows a woman who stops aging after a near fatal accident. Lively plays Adaline Bowman, who relocates and changes names to avoid unwanted attention while maintaining a quiet life near her daughter. The story spans family gatherings, archival photos, and historical callbacks that place Adaline in different eras without changing her appearance.

The cast includes Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, and Ellen Burstyn, and the production uses wardrobe, hair, and set decoration to trace time through style. Visual effects support transitions and brief moments that explain the central condition. Scenes set in San Francisco neighborhoods and rural properties give the character room to hide and to reconnect with people who link her past to her present.

‘Simon Says’ (2006)

‘Simon Says’ is a slasher entry where Lively appears alongside Crispin Glover and Margo Harshman. A group of students heads into the woods for a camping getaway and encounters a pair of twins portrayed by Glover whose presence turns the trip into a fight to survive. The setup draws on isolated locations, booby traps, and a series of encounters that pick off characters one by one.

The film uses practical gore effects and a backwoods setting to deliver its set pieces with a small ensemble and a contained footprint. Lively’s character is part of the core group whose decisions split the party and accelerate the danger. The production keeps cameras close to the action in forest clearings and on dirt roads to maximize tension with limited resources.

‘The Shallows’ (2016)

‘The Shallows’ is directed by Jaume Collet Serra and focuses on a med student and surfer who paddles out to a secluded break and is forced to survive after a great white circles the area. Lively plays Nancy and spends most of the runtime alone on a rock outcropping and on a buoy while tides and distance complicate rescue options. The shoot used a controlled water tank and open water units to capture both close ups and wide shots.

The production filmed on the Gold Coast and also used locations off shore to sell the stretch of coastline and the surrounding reef. The script lays out injuries, improvised medical fixes, and swim routes that turn equipment like a necklace and a wetsuit into survival tools. Underwater photography and surface rigs combine to show the predator and the geography that defines Nancy’s choices.

Share your favorites from this list in the comments and let everyone know which Blake Lively deep cuts you think more people should watch.