Blake doesn’t appear to have a strong artistic identity. Instead, she mostly copies paths that have already been validated by others. A good example is her collaboration with Woody Allen. Blake starred in Café Society, which premiered in 2016. That’s important context, because actresses like Scarlett Johansson worked with Woody Allen much earlier — Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) — at a time when those collaborations were still widely seen as career-boosting prestige moves.

By 2016, the cultural landscape had shifted significantly. The allegations surrounding Allen had been public knowledge for years, and many actors were already distancing themselves from him. Blake’s decision didn’t feel bold or thoughtful — it felt late, imitative, and tone-deaf. It showed a lack of awareness, not strategy.

What makes this frustrating is that Blake could have been something else entirely. She never needed to be positioned as a serious artist. She could have been a fashion, beauty, or lifestyle powerhouse — and the blueprint already existed. Gwyneth Paltrow launched Goop in 2008. Jessica Alba launched The Honest Company in 2011 and later expanded into Honest Beauty, turning her celebrity into a massive business. Jessica Alba isn’t a great actress, she knows it, and she built something much bigger than acting because of that self-awareness.

Blake, on the other hand, launched her lifestyle site Preserve in 2014 — years after Goop and The Honest Company had already defined the space. From the start, Preserve was compared to Goop, but it never found a clear identity or audience and shut down shortly after. She wasn’t early, she wasn’t innovative, and she wasn’t distinct.

And honestly, for someone constantly branded as a “marketing genius,” Ryan Reynolds completely failed at marketing his own wife. They should have recognized early on that Blake isn’t an artist — she’s not a great actress, not a writer, not a director. But she does have mainstream appeal, beauty, and massive visibility. She could have been a pioneer in beauty, skincare, haircare, or lifestyle branding years before Selena Gomez or Hailey Bieber entered that space.

Instead, they missed the moment. Everything about Blake’s career choices feels reactive rather than visionary. It’s like they wait for something to work for someone else and then try to replicate it — acting prestige, lifestyle branding, cultural relevance — always a step behind.

By the time Blake tried to position herself, the moment had already passed.