ComingSoon.net is counting down our ten favorite movies and TV shows starring Amy Poehler, who has had many terrific roles across both mediums. Check out our choices in the gallery below!
Undoubtedly ranking quite high on the list of most recognizable Saturday Night Live alums, comedian Amy Poehler has managed to maintain her notability across film and television roles throughout the 2000s. Often seen side-by-side with Tina Fey—the two hosted Weekend Update on the popular sketch comedy show for years and carried over this relationship to the world of film—Poehler has made a name for herself by utilizing a signature sense of humor typically portrayed through the lens of chipper, upbeat characters.
From animation to live-action, television to feature films, guest spots to leading roles, Poehler easily stands out against the rest of her costars no matter what the project. Her roll might’ve slowed as the 2010s progressed, but there’s no discounting how many prolific performances she’s managed to score between the early 2000s and today.
Amy Poehler movies
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Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)
Her first big role after departing SNL, Amy Poehler’s NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation remains one of the most well-received sitcoms of the 21st century. Often regarded in the same breath as Seinfeld and The Office, Poehler’s now-classic embodiment of local politician Leslie Knope will go down in history as a television icon. It’s Poehler’s best, through and through.
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Arrested Development (2003-2006)
Part of what made Poehler’s recurring part on Arrested Development so great is how well she played off of her costar Will Arnett. The two’s chemistry was undeniable, with Arnett playing Gob and Poehler playing the never-named “Wife of Gob.” It’s a different energy compared to her other roles, but it doesn’t make it any less funny.
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Inside Out (2015)
Leslie Knope—and, as an extension, Amy Poehler—seems destined to be a Disney character. That’s why it’s not surprising to see how great she is as Joy in Disney/Pixar’s 2015 feature Inside Out. Taking place largely inside the head of a young girl as she experiences a big move and the isolation she faces at her new school, the main characters are the main emotions she feels: Anger, Fear, Envy, Sadness, and (of course) Joy. It seems made for Poehler, and it’s quite likely it was.
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Mean Girls (2004)
Written by her SNL costar Tina Fey, Mean Girls is a seminal piece of 2000s pop culture history. Feeling like a mashup of Heathers and the best parts of John Hughes’s filmography (with none of the cheap nostalgia for the past that so many Hughes-esque films capitalize on), the film follows an outcast who finds herself infiltrating the much more popular mean girls at school. Poehler plays the mom of the leader of the mean girls, delivering all kinds of classic lines that remain culturally relevant all these years later.
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Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
One of David Wain’s earliest features (and the film debut of countless now-famous comedians), Wet Hot American Summer parodies the summer camp comedies of yesteryear with an expert touch of surreality and absurdity. Amy Poehler and a young Bradley Cooper costar as the heads of the camp’s annual musical production, both too early in their respective careers to give a performance anything less than unabashedly ridiculous.
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Sisters (2015)
The most recent on-screen collaboration between Fey, Poehler, and their other frequent ex-SNL collaborator Maya Rudolph, 2015’s Sisters was tragically under-seen back when it was released the same day as Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Any film up against one of the highest-grossing movies of all time was never going to get the attention it deserves. Poehler and Fey switch their typical castings to play against their usual tropes to great effect, resulting in one of the funnier R-rated studio comedies of the past decade or so.
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Blades of Glory (2007)
An iconic sports comedy from the late 2000s, Blades of Glory stars Will Ferrell and a fresh-faced Jon Heder as rival professional figure skaters forced to come together as a couples team when they’re banned from solo competition. Poehler and Arnett play their rival team, a spoiled brother-and-sister duo, with some of that signature ridiculousness they both do so well. It’s a goofy comedy, for sure, but one that deserves recognition as an excellent Poehler performance.
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They Came Together (2014)
Speaking of goofy comedies, 2014’s They Came Together is Poehler and Paul Rudd’s most recent reteaming with Wet Hot director David Wain. This time, instead of spoofing the summer camp genre, Wain skewers classic romantic comedy tropes. It’s funny enough to make you look differently at every romcom you watch after, much like Walk Hard’s impact on the subgenre of the musician biopic.
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Baby Mama (2008)
The first on-screen team-up of Poehler and Fey, Baby Mama also costars Steve Martin and Fred Armisen in another frequently-quoted, frequently-televised studio comedy. Fey plays a professional hoping to become a mother, and Poehler plays the slob she chooses to carry her child. It’s a sweet movie with enough laughs to get you by, with the movie coming close (but not matching) the amount of chemistry the two had on SNL.
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Megamind (2010)
It might seem like Dreamworks ripping off The Incredibles on the surface level, but Megamind is much better than a loose knock-off. The movie sees Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell duking it out as superhero and super villain, respectively, only for the latter to actually defeat the hero in the very first act. What follows is an untraditional and incredibly superhero story, with Tina Fey playing the female lead and Amy Poehler playing a bit part with Bill Hader.
