I've recently heard the argument (https://www.quora.com/Is-Zooey-Deschanel-a-good-actress?q=zooey%20deschanel%20a%20good%20ac) that she is when you get right down to it, one of those people who really only play one character, and that’s themselves. You know the type - Jeff Goldblum, Nicolas Cage, etc. In Zooey's case, she was perfect in New Girl because Jess pretty much is Zooey - a quirky, awkward-but-in-a-fun-way, “adorkable” hipster millennial.

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-fab588bd2e3f5c7e2959f31ddcc921d6

Contrast that to when she has to play someone who is substantially different like Trillian in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a3b82f13f997b0c16d1c63b670d7acac

She is, but not quite classy as her older sister, Emily.