How come Elisabeth Shue didn't have a better feature film career?

Adventures in Babysitting was of course, Elisabeth Shue's first big starring role. She was already known at the time thanks to The Karate Kid and she soon followed those movies up with Cocktail with Tom Cruise and the Back to the Future sequels (replacing Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker). She was kind of the go-to actress in the '80s and early '90s for playing the pretty, but wholesome looking girlfriend of the lead character.

When she got nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas (while playing against her previously established good girl image by playing a prostitute), one would've thought that it would've officially cemented her spot on Hollywood's A-list. But in the years following, she's had an okay, but decidedly unremarkable career. I know that Elisabeth was on the last few seasons of CSI (after Marg Helgenberger left) and she most recently showed up in the remake of Death Wish as Bruce Willis' ill-fated wife.

http://waichingsthoughts81.blogspot.com/2018/06/b-movie-actress-feature-spotlight.html

https://lebeauleblog.com/2011/03/23/what-the-hell-happened-to-elisabeth-shue/