Amy Adams

The Great Performances of 2007

EW pays tribute to Amy Adams in ’’Enchanted,’’ Alec Baldwin on ’’30 Rock,’’ Radiohead on ’’In Rainbows,’’ and 20 other brilliant turns

Birds sing when Adams shows up on screen. In the Disney hit Enchanted, she invigorates what could easily have been just another tired tale of a fairy princess falling into the arms of her prince. Charming without ever being cloying, the actress — Oscar-nominated for playing a similarly uncynical young woman in 2005’s Junebug — manages to play a naive, love-struck maiden without once seeming like a dumb sap. (You’d be forgiven if by the movie’s end you thought she should ditch the dreamboat and strike out on her own.) With her timeless looks and impressive singing chops, Adams earned comparisons to the ultimate Queen of Twirl, Julie Andrews. Hers is a performance that grandmas, mothers, and daughters can equally get behind. It seems curmudgeonly to suggest Adams should ever dim the twinkle in her eye, but after playing some form of apple-cheeked innocent in Catch Me if You Can, Junebug, and Enchanted, she’s already proved that she can outsparkle just about anyone in Hollywood these days. Now, what we wouldn’t do to see her get the chance to play the wicked witch. — Karen Valby