Alexandra Shipp

The wedding in Anyone but You (2023) belongs to Claudia and Halle, played by Alexandra Shipp and Hadley Robinson, yet neither woman gets much of a character. We were frustrated that the brides were the least developed pair in a film about their wedding. Will Gluck gives his supporting cast one note each, leaving Shipp little to work with. We would have welcomed a scene that let these two women be more than the reason for everyone else to gather.

Her breakthrough came as Kim in Straight Outta Compton (2015), before she took on Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019). Those franchise parts sit alongside the teen comedies and musicals rather than marking a permanent change of direction. We liked Straight Outta Compton for its young cast, studio humour and music, while finding it more forgiving towards the men than the women. That reservation matters here: praise for the young cast should not obscure the uneven treatment of their characters.

In Love, Simon (2018), her Abby Suso draws on an approachable manner that suits teen comedy. tick, tick... BOOM (2021) gives her Susan Wilson singing and dance work alongside Andrew Garfield, with Lin-Manuel Miranda directing. That musical work makes use of abilities that another supporting-friend role would be unlikely to test. We would like to see it pursued more often, with characters allowed to demand something from the people around them rather than simply being available for company.

As Writer Barbie in Barbie (2023), she is back among a comic ensemble, this time under Greta Gerwig. We recommend that film for its jokes and the wit of its construction, with a caveat about the speeches that make the second half duller. It offers a better evening than Anyone but You, though an enjoyable ensemble film need not tell us much about every actor in it. Start with tick, tick... BOOM if Shipp herself is the reason for choosing.