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This Saturday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (the 22nd annual!) will have a lot to offer. Carol Burnett is receiving a life achievement award; there’s the (unlikely but still) chance that the award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series will go to the cast of Key & Peele … which is just Key and Peele; and who doesn’t love those “I’m [Someone’s Name] and I’m an actor” speeches?

Let’s turn, though, and scratch our heads at the night’s biggest category: Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. A refresher on the nominees:

Beasts of No Nation: Abraham Attah, Kurt Egyiawan, and Idris Elba
The Big Short: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Brad Pitt, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Marisa Tomei, and Finn Wittrock
Spotlight: Billy Crudup, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci
Straight Outta Compton: Neil Brown, Jr., Paul Giamatti, Corey Hawkins, Aldis Hodge, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., and Jason Mitchell
Trumbo: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Louis C.K., Bryan Cranston, David James Elliott, Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Alan Tudyk

Now, beyond the fact that certain key cast members have been omitted from these lists — Jamey Sheridan, Len Cariou, Neal Huff, Michael Cyril Creighton etc. from Spotlight; Adepero Oduye, Max Greenfield, Billy Magnussen, Tracy Letts from The Big Short (not to mention those cameos that the film relies on so heavily); literally anyone else besides the three Beasts of No Nation nominees — is the nagging sense that this is not a super great list of the year’s best ensembles.

Like, sure, it’s pretty obvious that Spotlight and The Big Short are big Oscar contenders with casts packed with recognizable names and familiar faces. The actual quality of acting in those movies is pretty divergent, though. The Spotlight ensemble un-showily gets to the dogged root of their characters, with individual performers knocking their scenes out of the park. The cast of The Big Short, particularly the leads, is pretty bad. Ryan Gosling’s probably the best of the bunch, in his over-the-top way, but Steve Carell continues to struggle with bringing too much business to his performance (this was my problem with his Oscar-nominated Foxcatcher performance too), Christian Bale is his usual hammy self, and Brad Pitt has never been able to sell this particular brand of understated character.

The Beasts of No Nation nomination is a head-scratcher simply because only three actors are recognized. The Trumbo cast is another that’s really inconsistent. It’s bizarre that Helen Mirren was nominated in the Supporting category considering she’s actively terrible as Hedda Hopper. The rest of the cast is pretty solidly average. Straight Outta Compton is actually a pretty great call, if only to shout out the performances of Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell as Dr. Dre and Easy E. Two very exciting young actors at work right there.

I say keep Spotlight and Straight Outta Compton and junk the rest. The question then becomes which ensembles DID deserve consideration? For three available slots, I’ll offer up five options:

The Final Girls

Nominated Performers: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Alexander Ludwig, Alia Shawkat, Nina Dobrev, Thomas Middleditch, Angela Trimbur, Adam DeVine, Chloe Bridges, Tory M. Thompson

I’ve raved about this horror comedy before, but it was truly one of my favorite surprises of the year, and I would highly recommend tracking it down on VOD. The cast is really up to the task of the nimble tone of the film, with the “regular world” actors meeting the “movie world” actors at these wonderful little odd angles. Best-in-show honors would go to Akerman and Middleditch, but everybody gets a moment or two to shine, including The Carrie Diaries‘ Chloe Bridges (Donna LaDonna lives!) and Road Rules alum (I know!) Angela Trimbur.

[Where to stream The Final Girls]

I’ll See You in My Dreams

Nominated Performers: Blythe Danner, Sam Elliott, Martin Starr, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place, Malin Akerman, Reid Scott

Blythe Danner should probably have gotten a Lead Actress nomination all to herself for her well-observed performance in this sensitive little surprise of a film. That Danner’s circle of friends in the film include Mary Kay Place, Rhea Perlman, and June Squibb should be enough to sell you on a VOD rental. And Sam Elliott continued his string of excellent 2015 performances as Danner’s love interest.

[Where to stream I’ll See You In My Dreams]

The Martian

Nominated Performers: Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Sebastian Stan, Donald Glover, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Mackenzie Davis, Benedict Wong, Aksel Hennie

It’s a huge mystery why this movie — an Oscar contender with a big, starry cast — didn’t get a SAG nomination, but it should have. Matt Damon holds up about 70% of the movie all by himself, but the rest of the cast give the performances that make the whole world of the film work, juggling the more somber tones of Chastain’s rescue mission and buzzy-work-place rhythms of NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab.

[Where to stream The Martian]

Mistress America

Nominated Performers: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Matthew Shear, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Heather Lind, Michael Chernus, Cindy Cheung, Kathryn Erbe

Mozart in the Jungle star Lola Kirke got a big-screen spotlight as the co-lead opposite Greta Gerwig here, as they play soon-to-be-sisters whose admiration for each other borders on the vampiric. It’s all incredibly funny, though, and the extended suburban-Connecticut scene turns everything into an impeccably performed farce. Shout out to Cindy Cheung as Karen.

[Where to stream Mistress America]

Spy

Nominated Performers: Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Jason Statham, Miranda Hart, Allison Janney, Peter Serafinowicz, Bobby Cannavale, Zach Woods, Bjorn Gustafsson

Melissa McCarthy once again delivered big time in a blockbuster comedy, but she wasn’t the only one minding the store. Rose Byrne by all rights should have earned the film a nomination alone with her sad-clown scene …

… and every other cast member gets at least a moment or two to shine. Paul Feig has a gift for getting the utmost out of a comedy ensemble. Bridesmaids was a SAG cast nominee in 2011. Too bad they couldn’t have gone back to Feig again this year.

[Where to stream Spy]

Photos: Everett Collection