2008–2012: Ingénue parts and expansion to dramatic roles
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival saw the release of Sunshine Cleaning, a comedy-drama about two sisters (played by Adams and Emily Blunt) who start a crime scene clean-up business. Adams was drawn to the idea of playing someone who constantly tries to better herself. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle found Adams to be "magical", adding that she "gives us a portrait of raging want beneath a veneer of surface diffidence". In the 1939-set screwball comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Adams starred as an aspiring American actress in London who encounters a middle-aged governess named Miss Pettigrew (played by Frances McDormand). Stephen Holden of The New York Times drew similarities to her role in Enchanted and wrote that the "screen magic" she displays in such endearing roles "hasn't been this intense since the heyday of Jean Arthur".
Adams next starred in Doubt, an adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's play of the same name. The film tells the story of a Catholic school principal (played by Meryl Streep) who accuses a priest, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, of pedophilia; she played an innocent nun embroiled in the conflict. Shanley initially approached Natalie Portman for the part, but offered Adams the role after finding her innocent, yet intelligent, personality similar to that of Ingrid Bergman. She identified with her character's ability to find the best in people, and described her collaboration with Streep and Hoffman as a "master class" in acting. Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Adams "sparks with distressed compassion", and Ann Hornaday believed that she "exudes just the right wide-eyed innocence". She was nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award.
As with Junebug and Enchanted, Adams's roles in her three 2008 releases were those of the ingénue—innocent women with a cheerful personality. When asked about being typecast in such roles, she said she responds to characters who are joyful and identified with their sense of hope. She believed that despite certain similarities in their disposition, these characters were vastly different from one another; she stated, "Naïveté is not stupidity, and innocent people are often very complex."
The 2009 fantasy adventure film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Owen Wilson, featured Adams as the aviator Amelia Earhart. It was the first motion picture to film inside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The director Shawn Levy said the role allowed Adams to showcase her acting range; the actress believed it to be the first time she was allowed to play a confident character on screen. Despite mixed reviews, Adams's performance was praised. Terming her a "sparkling screen presence", Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the film "radically improves whenever Amy Adams pops up". That same year, Adams starred in the comedy-drama Julie & Julia as disgruntled government secretary Julie Powell who decides to blog about the recipes in Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking; in a parallel storyline, Meryl Streep portrays Child. She enrolled at the Institute of Culinary Education to prepare for the part. Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer thought the film was "as delicious as French cuisine" and found Adams to be "at her most winsome". Both Night at the Museum and Julie & Julia were commercial successes, with the former grossing $413 million.
Adams began the new decade with a leading role opposite Matthew Goode in the romantic comedy Leap Year (2010), which critic Richard Roeper believed was saved from "truly awful status" by Adams's presence. Her next release of the year—the boxing drama The Fighter—was much better received. Directed by David O. Russell, the film tells the story of boxer half-brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund (played by Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, respectively); Melissa Leo played their mother and Adams played Ward's aggressive barmaid girlfriend named Charlene Fleming. Describing her character as a "tough, sexy bitch", Russell cast Adams against type to rid her of her girl-next-door image. The role marked a significant departure for her, and she was challenged by Russell's insistence on finding her character's strength in silence. She enrolled in an exotic dance class by trainer Sheila Kelley to find her character's eroticism. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal found Adams to be "as tough, tender, smart, and funny as she was ethereal and delightful in Enchanted. What an actress, and what range!" She received Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations; she lost the former two to Leo. She expressed a desire to play more dramatic roles in the future.
The Disney musical The Muppets (2011) starring the eponymous puppets featured Adams and Jason Segel in live-action roles. She sang seven songs for the film's soundtrack. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly noted that the role marked her return to her "comedian-sweetheart" persona. The following year, Adams played the Baker's Wife in the Public Theater's revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Into the Woods, as part of the Shakespeare in the Park festival at the open-air Delacorte Theater. It was her New York stage debut and her first theater appearance in 13 years. She agreed to the month-long production to "take on a challenge that seemed insurmountable", though she was overwhelmed and intimidated by it. She prepared with a private singing coach, but her film schedule enabled her to spend only four weeks in rehearsal. Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised Adams's "lucidly spoken and sung performance" but criticized her for lacking the "nervy, dissatisfied restlessness" of her part.
Adams took another "fierce woman" part in Paul Thomas Anderson's psychological drama The Master (2012). She played Peggy Dodd, the ruthless and manipulative wife of a cult leader (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman). It marked her third and final collaboration with Hoffman, whom she deeply admired, before his death two years later. The organization depicted in the film was deemed by journalists to be based on Scientology; Adams considered the comparison to be misleading but was glad for the attention it brought to the film. Although not a method actor, she believed the intense role had left her on edge in her personal life. Comparing her character to Lady Macbeth, the critic Justin Chang wrote that Adams's "pertness has rarely seemed so malevolent", and Donald Clarke of The Irish Times commended her for playing the part with "discrete menace". John Patterson of The Guardian remarked that a scene in which her character chastises her husband while furiously masturbating him was one of the most significant sequences in the film. Once again, Adams received Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations for her performance.
Clint Eastwood's sports drama Trouble with the Curve, in which she played the estranged daughter of a baseball scout (Eastwood), was Adams's second film release of 2012. She admired Eastwood's "warm and generous" personality and was pleased with the collaboration. She prepared for the part by learning to catch, pitch, and swing from a baseball coach. The film received mixed reviews, and Roger Ebert took note of how Adams had made a standard role seem valuable. She also played the brief part of a drug addict in On the Road, an ensemble drama based on Jack Kerouac's novel of the same name.
