Sportswriters call it ‘bench strength' – that rarest of things in sports, when a whole team works, in the words of Robert De Niro’s Al Capone, “as a team.” It’s not necessarily that a team with Bench strength has no superstars; rather, it’s that you can rely on everyone to not only pull their weight but also to provide everyone else a chance to do their best work for the team. With that said, here are the seven films from 2005 with the best flat-out bench strength – or, as you might otherwise say, best ensemble casts.

1) The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Yes, it’s a sex comedy. Yes, it’s just a sex comedy. But think about just how good The 40-Year-Old Virgin was … and how much of that wasn’t because of pratfalls or wacky make-up, but instead from simple scenes of people talking.  Steve Carell’s bemused, low-ball performance as sexless Andy Stitzer had a battalion of comedy backstops behind it. In the first rank? Pals Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen – all sexed-up, sexually experienced, completely idiotic and completely distinct from each other. Right behind them? Catherine Keener as Andy’s girlfriend Trish, who grounds the film in real emotions whether expressing love or interacting with her daughter Kat Dennings.  In the next rank after that, you’ve got goofy-pretty Elizabeth Banks and the pretty goofy (but she’ll ‘haunt your dreams … ’) Paula Lynch. And bringing up the rear, a series of small parts given big life by nicely-tuned bits of work, from the waxing lady to the kid who can’t understand Trish’s store, from Mooj at the shop to Gina at the speed-dating night.

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2) The Holy Girl

It’s wildly unlikely you had a chance to see this film in a theater in 2005; Lucrecia Martel’s story of sin and salvation in a Latin American big city is on DVD, though. Part of this film’s pleasure is in seeing strong acting work from unfamiliar faces (a regular pleasure for foreign film buffs – if your lead actress has been the lead on a Brazilian soap opera for 20 years, you don’t have that baggage to carry) – especially the film’s trio of leads. Maria Alche captures the confused, fascinated pious passions of a young girl coming to terms with the next world and this one. Carlos Belloso’s wrong-hearted but sympathetic Dr. Jano helps drive the tensions in the film to a fevered state, and Mercedes Moran is note-perfect as Alche’s hotel manager mother, hosting the conference where Belloso’s world comes undone. Seek The Holy Girl out; you’ll be glad you did.

3) Syriana

If you’re going to make a skittering, jittering, caffeinated portrait of global petro-politics in the here-and-now, you better have actors who can make us care about their characters in short, sharp moments -- and Stephen Gaghan does. Leave aside the marquee names like Clooney and Damon; you’ve still got under-used acting talents like Jeffery Wright given a chance to let it rip, or newcomers like Mazhar Munir and Max Minghella doing brisk, bold work. Add in the performances from a rogue’s gallery of scene-stealing supporting actors like Christopher Plummer, Tim Blake Nelson, David Clennon, Jamey Sheridan and Chris Cooper – and the chance to see different sides of familiar faces like Alexander Siddig and Amanda Peet – and it becomes pretty plain that anyone who found Syriana ‘confusing’ or ‘cold’ just wasn’t watching.

4) Caché

Michael Haneke’s riff on the modern psycho-thriller turns into a meditation on the gulf between first and third worlds fast – but it’s the characters who make it work, and he assembled an ace crew of actors to help it happen. Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche are the supposed leads, but watch the performances – and, for that matter, the film – carefully. Lester Madosky (as Auteuil’s son) and Maurice Benichou aren’t in every frame of this movie, but in many ways, they are – and Haneke’s film becomes more than just a portrait of a family in crisis but instead, thanks to the cast, a portrait of the entire troubled world.

5) Good Night, and Good Luck

You could throw darts at the ensemble for Good Night, and Good Luck and hit a great actor – David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels. But it goes even deeper than that, with Dianne Reeves as a scat Greek Chorus whose smooth jazz sets the tone for rough times – and Frank Langella as a network head with almost no morals, a prince of darkness given a black-and-white kingdom to rule over. George Clooney may not be a great director – yet – but he may be someday, and he knows enough to step back and let his cast of actors do what they do best.

6) A History of Violence

David Cronenberg’s best film in years had an ace cast to smooth it along; Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello shine as a couple who runaground on the shards of the past hidden under the seemingly-sooth waters of their life, but they get great support from Ed Harriss’s scenery-chewing gangster, Ashton Holmes as Mortensen and Bello’s confused, angry teen son … and a wildly amusing turn by William Hurt as an amused, hearty gangster with a warm smile and an ice-cold heart. A History of Violence may have a nice hook and a fine script, but it’s the people living in the film who make it come to life so well.

7) Hustle and Flow

Hustle and Flow got plenty of buzz at Sundance for Terrence Howard’s performance – and deservedly so. But watching it more closely reveals that Howard was just the front man for a big, hard-working cast – from DJ Qualls to Taryn Manning, Anthony Anderson to Taraj P. Henderson plus Paula Jai Parker – and even Ludacris as rapper Skinny J. Watch Hustle and Flow again and you realize that it’s not just about Terrence Howard’s journey; it’s about every character in the film, each of whom wants – and desperately needs – to change their life.

Honorable Mentions: The Squid and the Whale, Thumbsucker, Broken Flowers, Nobody Knows, Munich, Batman Begins and The Constant Gardener.