Filmcritic have put together a top 10 list featuring the very best movie girlfriends. At number 10 is the unfairly (in recent times) maligned, Sam.

10. Sam (Natalie Portman), Garden State

Natalie Portman may get blamed for further popularizing the “manic pixie dream girl” role, but it’s her brazen charm as Sam, the epileptic new friend to mopey homecomer Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) that takes this stock part to that much-imitated, never-matched next level. Sam, as written, is indeed a dream girl: funny, open-hearted, great taste in music, up for late-night swims or motorcycle rides. Portman brings the fantasy to life with such natural aplomb — watch her talking about her ill-fated hamsters or her childhood figure skating — that you almost believe someone this wonderful could actually exist.