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Jennifer Lopez has been famous long enough to know the pattern: if the reviews are good, they’ll reach you eventually. If the reviews are bad, they arrive almost immediately. That’s why it’s oddly refreshing to hear Lopez, in conversation with Sydney Sweeney, speak so candidly about criticism. Despite being at very different stages of fame, both are clearly on the same wavelength, openly acknowledging the constant noise that comes with visibility while sitting at a roundtable with 2025 movie schedule powerhouse actresses.
The conversation took place during The Los Angeles Times 2025 Envelope Actresses Roundtable, where the “On The Floor” performer and star of Euphoria (streaming with an HBO Max subscription) joined Gwyneth Paltrow, Emily Blunt, Tessa Thompson, and Elle Fanning for a discussion about resisting Hollywood’s boxes and navigating reviews and negativity. As JLo tells it:
I don’t read reviews of my films either, but people will bring it to you it when it’s good and you’re like, ‘Oh, nice.’ But there’s other things they’ll bring you.
Lopez’s point is simple. You can avoid reading reviews, but you can’t avoid other people delivering them to you. And then she says the quiet part out loud. She’s been a “lightning rod” for praise and negativity from the beginning, and it can mess with your sense of reality if you let it. The A-list singer and actress continued:
From the very beginning, for whatever reason, I’ve been a lightning rod for nice things and a lot of negativity. And it’s hard because you say to yourself, ‘These people don’t get me. They don’t see me. They don’t understand me.’ Then all of a sudden they do. And then they don’t again. Even from when I was very young, I would always say, ‘I know who I am. I’m a good person. I know what I’m doing. People wouldn’t hire me if I wasn’t good at what I do.’ I was always affirming myself and keeping my feet on the ground. Luckily, I had a great mom and dad who really instilled in me a sense of self. And what Sydney was saying, I’d have to block out the noise so I can put my head on the pillow at night and go, ‘I did good today. I was a good person. I was kind to people. I worked really hard. I’m a good mom.’ That has always helped me through.
Sweeney’s take lands in a bit different way. It’s the kind of mindset you build when you’re doing work you care about, and you’re trying to protect it. The star of the upcoming book-to-screen adaptation of The Housemaid shared:
It helps when you love what you do. Like, if you’re loving the characters that you get to play, you’re loving the people you get to work with, and you’re proud of what you’re doing, then it’s just outside noise. When we walk on set, the world kind of disappears and we get come to life in a different kind of way. Those are the moments and the relationships that matter. Everything else is just people we don’t know.
Gwyneth Paltrow circles back with the veteran version of the same lesson. Even when you try to avoid it, the harsh stuff finds a way in. And when it does, it hits hard. The Iron Man trilogy mainstay added:
I try to never read anything about myself, full stop, ever. Period…Sometimes I’ll come upon it. And want to die. Like when someone forwards you a link to something really horrible about yourself, and they’re like, “Oh, this is bull—.” I do try to avoid [that kind of stuff]. I deleted Instagram.
Lopez leans on self-affirmation. Sweeney leans on the work. Paltrow leans on distance. Different strategies, with the same goal of not letting strangers write the story of who you are.
What makes this exchange feel so candid is that none of the participants pretends that criticism doesn’t hurt. Instead, they openly acknowledge that negative reviews are painful and share how they cope with the criticism. In an industry that often expects women to be both agreeable and unfazed, it’s rare to hear different generations discuss their varying approaches in straightforward language. However, this honesty is genuinely human.
After a packed year that saw each of them take on some of the most talked-about roles of the year, the momentum isn’t slowing down. Gwyneth Paltrow’s return to the big screen in A24’s Marty Supreme, Jennifer Lopez’s high-wire turn in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Emily Blunt’s bruising performance in The Smashing Machine, and breakout work from Sydney Sweeney, Tessa Thompson, and Elle Fanning have already put them squarely in the awards conversation. As the industry turns its attention to the 2026 movie calendar and the heart of the upcoming awards season, the roundtable feels like a snapshot of six actresses hitting their stride.
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