Sharon Stone

In Casino (1995), Ginger McKenna's anger could easily become an excuse to blame her for everything going wrong around the men. Sharon Stone makes that reading difficult to sustain. The hurt is there in the anger, and she keeps it visible even when the writing is less interested in giving Ginger a fair hearing. We were moved by her because she made Ginger's unhappiness matter after the repeated confrontations had begun to tire us. She is the strongest reason we recommend the film.

That performance puts her familiar screen manner to a more demanding use. After supporting parts in 1980s action films and comedies, Total Recall (1990) brought a breakthrough as Lori. Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct (1992) made her a star, establishing the sexually charged mixture of charm and menace that would shape her casting. Stone makes the prospect of danger part of the appeal. It is effective casting, but repeatedly asking an actor for the same thing has its costs.

Martin Scorsese gets more from her in Casino, though his direction sometimes crowds the actors. Stone has recalled Robert De Niro telling her that his performance depended on hers; the film is stronger when it trusts that exchange between performers. Instead, narration sometimes explains feelings they have already made clear, and the confrontations keep restating the same bitterness. These are substantial faults in a film we otherwise rate highly. We wanted fewer explanations and more time to take in what the actors had already done.

The Quick and the Dead (1995), with Stone leading a Western as Ellen, offers a useful reminder that her work was not confined to erotic thrillers. The supporting role of Laura in Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (2005) belongs in that account too. Yet glamorous and erotic casting limited her dramatic opportunities after the mid-1990s, and it would be too easy to judge her only by the parts she was repeatedly offered. We want more directors to give her room for the unhappiness as well as the assurance. For that, start with Casino, and be prepared to wish Scorsese would let her get on with it.