Geena Davis makes eccentric characters approachable without smoothing away their oddness. We value her warmth and physical confidence, and the unsettling turn she can give a small comic part when the writing allows it.
Fi1m perspective
In Blink Twice (2024), Geena Davis's Stacy is forever mislaying things and apologising for it. Davis makes those apologies funny and troubling within a handful of lines. We laughed at her fussing and felt a real shiver, because she made the apparent comic nuisance seem less harmless than expected. We rate her ability to make an eccentric character appealing while leaving enough oddness to make us wonder about them.
The earlier films made use of her physical presence as well as that warmth. The Fly (1986) put her opposite Jeff Goldblum; The Accidental Tourist (1988) drew on her gift for making an eccentric woman likeable. With Susan Sarandon in Thelma & Louise (1991), she proved effective in the road-film format, before leading the ensemble sports comedy-drama A League of Their Own (1992). Those parts help explain her association with strong, independent women, though that description leaves out how much comedy she can do.
The smaller parts have been worth attending to, too. Zoë Kravitz's Blink Twice gives Stacy more to work with than several of the men surrounding her, who remain thinly written types. Davis earns her laughs and her unsettling moments; the film's larger mystery promises more than it delivers. We would not use her contribution as an excuse for the script, but it is a reason to watch a flawed film.
In The Boroughs (2026), Davis's Renee Joyce helps make a group of older adventurers worth spending time with. Alongside Denis O'Hare and Clarke Peters, she contributes to a programme that takes its residents seriously. Writers including Will Matthews and Jeffrey Addiss give them fears about death and responsibilities to the next generation, not merely a monster to survive. The humour works because being old is not treated as sufficient reason for a laugh.
Davis is good company here, though Alfred Molina and Alfre Woodard do most to keep the adventure worth following. The monster mystery becomes a chore, and no amount of affection for the cast quite fixes that. Try The Boroughs for the people, with some patience for what they have to investigate.
Biography
Geena Davis is an American actor. She studied drama at Boston University and began her career as a model before making her film debut in Tootsie (1982).
She is known for roles in The Fly (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), The Accidental Tourist (1988), Thelma & Louise (1991) and A League of Their Own (1992). Davis won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Accidental Tourist and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama for Commander in Chief (2005). She founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004.
Her later credits include Blink Twice (2024), in which she played Stacy, and the series The Boroughs (2026), in which she played Renee Joyce.
