Justin Long may very well be the most underrated actor working in Hollywood today. With a resume spanning the last two decades, Long has a penchant for popping up in projects and stealing the show when he does. Making his big screen debut at just 21 years old, Justin Long has continued to delight audiences in a wide variety of roles. His ability to make us love him in one role but hate him in another is the mark of an actor helming his craft to the highest level. Nowadays, Long can be heard hosting a podcast with his brother Christian called Life is Short. This hasn’t stopped Long from acting as he continues to impress in his roles. Let’s take a look back at six of his best performances thus far.

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6 Waiting… (2005)

     Lions Gate Films 

One of Long’s earlier roles comes in 2005s Waiting as he stars alongside Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris. Long plays the character of Dean, a down-on-his-luck server whose ego is shattered when he learns about a former schoolmate who just secured a financially lucrative job. This causes Dean to question his entire life and leaves him ultimately wanting more than a manager job at the restaurant. While Long’s role in Waiting… is more grounded than others on this list, he provides realism as comedy to his performance alongside comedic powerhouses like Reynolds, Faris, Dane Cook, and Luis Guzman.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

5 Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

     The Weinstein Company

One of Long’s more out-there performances comes in the form of a small cameo in Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Long plays Brandon St. Randy, a gay porn star and boyfriend to Bobby, a high school friend of Zack and Miri. It is Brandon who ultimately gives Seth Rogen’s Zack the idea to film a porno to help him get out of his financial debt. Through an overly flamboyant personality and a penchant for saying some outrageous things, Long delivers a hilarious performance.

4 Barbarian (2022)

One of Long’s more recent roles is as the unlikeable AJ from 2022s Barbarian. A breath of fresh air into the horror genre, Barbarian tells the story of what horrors lie beneath an Airbnb in the rundown suburbs of Detroit. What makes this one of Long’s best performances is his ability to make the audience despise the character of AJ, despite the fact that we are so conditioned to like Justin Long in the majority of his roles. It even taps into the toxic masculinity found on shows like The Bachelor to create one of cinema’s most unforgettable jerks. Long’s performance in the movie even led to his director, Zach Cregger, to proclaim that he was perfect for the role of AJ.

3 Galaxy Quest (1999)

     DreamWorks Pictures 

Galaxy Quest has no shortage of heavy hitters in its cast. From Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, to Alan Rickman and Sam Rockwell, the film is stacked. Widely considered to be one of the funniest Sci-Fi movies, Galaxy Quest also features the big screen debut of Justin Long as an obsessed fan of the fictional series in the film, as well as the actors who appear in it. Long plays the sci-fi nerd perfectly in this film and shows hints of the promising career he has gone on to have.

2 Tusk (2014)

     A24

Tusk is one of those movies that comes along once in a generation. A movie so outrageous in concept that it is hard to find the right words to describe it. Certainly a film that divided critics on opposite ends of the spectrum, with some reviews bludgeoning the film, and others declaring it marked the “comeback” of Kevin Smith. What makes Tusk one of Justin Long’s best performances is that no matter how outrageous the concept is, he, along with costar Michael Parks, take the outrageous plot and present it in a deadly serious way. The few laughs produced by the movie are those of uncomfortableness, and the horrors of the movie are as graphically terrifying as any ever seen on film. Kevin Smith produced a truly horrific movie and has even more Tusk up his sleeve for the 10th anniversary of the movie.

1 Accepted (2006)

     Universal Pictures

The early 2000s were a golden age for teen comedy films, and 2006’s Accepted may just be at the top of that mountain. Not only was it the first big leading role for Justin Long, but it also featured the likes of Jonah Hill and Blake Lively, who along with Long, would go on to have great success. Every actor has that one movie that “introduced” them to the world officially, and for Long that is Accepted. Through his charismatic performance as Bartleby Gaines, Long announces he is here to stay.