Every Will Ferrell Movie, Ranked
Bursting onto the scene in 1995 with his debut as a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell would quickly come to define one of the show’s greatest eras for the next seven seasons. He soared at 30 Rock, thanks to his menagerie of gloriously oblivious blowhards like Craig the cheerleader, master of “strategery” George W. Bush, and cowbell enthusiast Gene Frenkle.
More than most of his fellow performers at Studio 8H, Ferrell always seemed like an obvious candidate to transition to the multiplex. And his filmography from the past two-plus decades bears this out in spades with blockbuster comedies such as Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, and the eminently quotable Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. But as you’re about to see, Ferrell’s Hollywood ride hasn’t been without its detours and speed bumps.
Ever since his big-screen breakout in 1997’s Austin Powers, in which he played the hilariously unkillable, fez-wearing Dr. Evil henchman Mustafa, Ferrell has been a near-constant presence on the big screen, often popping up in three or four movies in any given year. With so many films to choose from, we thought you might appreciate a hand in determining which of them to throw on when you’re in the mood for a laugh instead of a groan. Factoring in Ferrell’s most recent feature—his Prime Video rom-com duet with Reese Witherspoon, You’re Cordially Invited—we tallied 41 Ferrell films that meet Esquire’s criteria for the comprehensive ranking treatment, which is to say, no voice-only animated-film roles (sorry, Strays and Megamind) and no glorified cameos (that means you, Wedding Crashers and Starsky & Hutch).
For the most part, rewatching the comedian’s oeuvre was a paid vacation. As you may have heard, he’s kind of a big deal. So splash on some Sex Panther cologne and kick back with our rundown of Ferrell’s movies, from worst to best.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
There’s really no getting around the fact that Kevin Smith is a pretty lousy director. All of his movies look like they were filmed on waxed paper, and his dialogue feels like it was written by that annoying kid at recess who thought he was the class clown. Yes, this sequel comes with a stacked cast of Smith’s starry pals doing the director a solid (Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, etc.). As for Ferrell, he’s a tough guy to make unfunny, but Smith, bless him, pulls it off.
See the original post on Youtube
The Suburbans (1999)
Even if you recall ’90s grunge comedies like Airheads, you’ve probably forgotten about this one—if you’re lucky, at least. Ferrell’s early-career bid for big-screen stardom has him playing Gil, the bassist in a band who gets a second shot at fame by appearing on a reality competition show thanks to Jennifer Love Hewitt. The funniest thing in this “comedy” (their word, not mine) is the name of Jerry Stiller’s record exec: Speedo Silverberg. The prosecution rests.
See the original post on Youtube
Zoolander 2 (2016)
Ben Stiller waited 15 years to return to the catwalk in this misguided sequel. The satire’s gags didn’t improve with the passage of time. Zoolander 2 is a meandering mess of a movie that totally forgets what made the first one a minor turn-of-the-millennium classic. Ferrell is one of the few bright spots as the imperious haute couture villain, Jacobim Mugatu. But the rest of the comedy is so god-awful it actually makes you rethink why—and if—you liked the original.
See the original post on Youtube
Winter Passing (2005)
I don’t want to speak for you, but quirky, treacly minor-chord indies aren’t why I seek out Will Ferrell movies. Alas, here we are. Zooey Deschanel plays a struggling, cash-strapped actress who’s offered a sizable chunk of change to dig up the letters her famous-author father (Ed Harris) once wrote to her deceased mom. Paying him a visit, she stumbles onto some unexpected house guests, which include a deadpan Ferrell in subtle, toned-down Sundance mode. Pass.
See the original post on Youtube
The House (2017)
Ferrell is such an exuberant presence that on the rare occasion he phones in a performance, it’s obvious. Take this aggressively unfunny comedy about a couple (Ferrell and Amy Poehler) who turn their suburban home into an underground casino to pay for their daughter’s college tuition. Ferrell and Poehler (and the audience) aren’t the only ones who come up snake eyes here. A whole generation of super-talented comedians (Nick Kroll, Jason Mantzoukas, Michaela Watkins, Rob Huebel, etc.) also crap out.
See the original post on Youtube
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
The ’90s are littered with mediocre, one-note Saturday Night Live skits that were reverse-engineered into sub-mediocre, one-note Hollywood comedies (see: It’s Pat, Stuart Saves His Family, and numbers 33 and 23 on this list). However, none are as thin as this origin story of Chris Kattan and Ferrell’s head-bobbing dance-club schmoes, the Butabi brothers. I don’t want to overstate how terrible this is, but I wish someone had at least mentioned all of the cynical cash-grab movies Lorne Michaels produced over the years in the recent deluge of puff-job profiles of the guy on the occasion of SNL’s 50th.
See the original post on Youtube
Land of the Lost (2009)
Ferrell was far enough along in his movie career by this point to know better than to reboot this Saturday-morning Gen X cheese platter about a family getting zapped back to the Mesozoic era of dinosaurs and monkey-boys named Chaka. This isn’t just a bad movie—Land of the Lost is a bad movie on stilts with a massive special-effects budget … which puts it in a whole different league of bad. Danny McBride and Anna Friel costar. None escape with their dignity.
See the original post on Youtube
Get Hard (2015)
I can’t imagine a more ill-suited costar for Ferrell than the pint-sized motormouth Kevin Hart. As a Mutt-and-Jeff duo in this gay-panic prison comedy, these two have zero chemistry, and the lack of laughs is criminal. The punny title is about as nuanced as this misfire gets. That said, if you’re looking for 99 minutes of dick jokes, have at it.
See the original post on Youtube
Superstar (1999)
For about six minutes every Saturday night, Molly Shannon’s hyperactive Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher was enjoyable as she sniffed her armpits and threw herself into balsa-wood walls. But let’s be honest, 82 minutes of that routine is pushing it. And while we can certainly appreciate Ferrell doing her a solid by appearing in her step up to the majors—no amount of mugging as BMOC football stud Sky Corrigan can make this feel like anything but diminishing returns on an already barely-there premise.
See the original post on Youtube
Bewitched (2005)
Will Ferrell. Nicole Kidman. Shirley MacLaine. Michael Caine. Nora Ephron behind the camera. What could go wrong? Actually, too much to list here. Yet another example of Hollywood defiling the corpse of retro IP, Bewitched commits the unforced error of making Ferrell the milquetoast straight man—and the not particularly funny Kidman the joke machine. Somewhere, Elizabeth Montgomery is twitching her nose to make it go away.
See the original post on Youtube
Holmes & Watson (2018)
Falling somewhere in that gray area between terrible and not quite as terrible as you’ve heard, this re-teaming of Ferrell and John C. Reilly a decade after Step Brothers retains none of that movie’s gonzo infantile magic. The pair teams up to play Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary Victorian sleuth and his trusted sidekick, but neither seems to know what to do with that premise other than loudly shout and cudgel the audience into numb submission. If you haven’t seen it, fear not. You’re not missing anything.
See the original post on Youtube
The Campaign (2012)
There’s a reason why “opposites attract” is a timeworn adage. Pairing two comedians with the same energy is a recipe for box-office death. Exhibit A: this lazy, mirthless dud about a pair of doofus politicians played by Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. The Campaign is about as edgy as a butter knife. What’s that? You don’t remember it? Lucky you. Watching these two actors tackle electoral politics is about as funny as watching George F. Will and David Gergen having a pie fight in a slapstick comedy. Which, come to think of it…
See the original post on Youtube
The Producers (2005)
This second big-screen go-round for Mel Brooks’s deliriously subversive satire of the Great White Way isn’t bad exactly, but it probably had too much to live up to. The original 1967 movie version starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel is flat-out brilliant. And the 2001 Broadway musical was one of the best shows (and hottest tickets) of the decade. The stars of that hit, Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, top-line this adaptation of an adaptation of an adaptation and end up going much broader than they need to, seemingly forgetting that the stage and the screen are different beasts. In other words, Ferrell (as the nutso Nazi, Franz) isn’t to blame for why The Producers doesn’t work. It’s more a case of failure by association.
See the original post on Youtube
Downhill (2020)
As a fan of the 2014 Swedish import Force Majeure, I couldn’t have been more excited for this American remake starring Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a couple on a ski holiday with their kids who learn more than they want to know about their relationship after the husband’s selfish and cowardly reaction to an avalanche. Then I actually watched it. Wowza. Everything that the Scandinavian version got right, this gets disastrously wrong. Downhill is a lost-in-translation dud that’s hopelessly miscast and as subtle as a sledgehammer.
See the original post on Youtube
Everything Must Go (2010)
Ferrell playing the lead in a movie inspired by a Raymond Carver short story is not something most folks saw coming. But here it is: his inevitable bid for clown-crying-on-the-inside seriousness. The problem is that Ferrell brings too much hilarious baggage for audiences to buy him as an alcoholic whose life is coming apart at the seams. After his wife (Rebecca Hall) gives him the boot and tosses all of his belongings on the front lawn, he parks himself in his La-Z-Boy and tries to sell it all off, yard-sale style. The metaphor of shedding one’s past to emerge better and stronger is an undeniably profound one, but I’m not sure that profound metaphors are why we fork out to see Will Ferrell movies. Either way, skip it.
See the original post on Youtube
Dick (1999)
We can probably all agree that 1976’s All the President’s Men is an all-time cinema classic. Now take that movie and imagine it in a sillier, more surreal, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead–like parallel universe and you might end up with something like Dick. Long before they would become Oscar nominees, Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst clicked in this daffy reimagining of Watergate, playing vapid teens who wander off on a White House tour only to meet and become tight with President Richard Nixon (Dan Hedaya in note-perfect five-o’clock-shadow mode). Dick is much better than it has any right to be. And a small share of the credit goes to Ferrell, who plays The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward as a bumbling doofus.
See the original post on Youtube
Melinda and Melinda (2004)
Back when appearing in a Woody Allen movie was still on every actor’s professional bucket list, Ferrell got his shot in this gimmicky, Rashomon-esque look at one woman’s affair. The woman in question is played by Radha Mitchell, the man she trysts with is Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Ferrell supports as her married upstairs neighbor—an unemployed actor who secretly lusts after Melinda. Allen splits the movie into two halves, telling the same story twice (once as a comedy, once as a tragedy). This is middle-tier Woody Allen at best. The good news is Ferrell wisely doesn’t try to stammer his way into playing a pale-clone version of the director—a trap too many actors (what’s up, Kenneth Branagh!) have fallen into over the years.
See the original post on Youtube
Casa de Mi Padre (2012)
Speaking of Woody Allen, this may be the closest that Ferrell has ever come to making his own What’s Up, Tiger Lily? Right off the bat, bonus points must be awarded for the sheer commitment and commercial ballsiness of this straight-faced, Spanish-language spoof of a Mexican telenovela. Ferrell plays Armando, a más macho rancher who falls for the beautiful fiancée (Genesis Rodriguez) of his shady brother, Raul (Diego Luna, who is very much in on the joke). Does that premise wear thin? Absolutely. But like the Sideshow Bob stepping-on-a-rake gag from The Simpsons, it goes from brilliant to annoying all the way back to brilliant over time. Me gusta.
See the original post on Youtube
The Ladies Man (2000)
Okay, critics dogpiled on this movie, but I have to confess that I kind of dig it. Tim Meadows may be the most underappreciated Studio 8H vet out there. Yes, The Ladies Man suffers from SNL-movie syndrome by over-milking its thin premise, but it packs in enough daffy heart and bonkers throwaway bits to make it worth checking out, none more so than when Ferrell’s blustery cuckold, Lance DeLune, covers himself in baby oil and challenges Meadows to a wrestling match on his front lawn. “I am a master of Greco-Roman wrestling and I will crush you!”
See the original post on Youtube
Spirited (2022)
Will Ferrell has graced us with a timeless holiday classic that’s worth revisiting each and every year. Unfortunately, this ain’t it. Instead, this overstuffed musical spin on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is perfectly adequate ... as perfectly adequate as a mug of virgin eggnog. The flavour’s there, but it lacks the kick that makes you want seconds. The problem isn’t a lack of star power. Ryan Reynolds is the lead, a PR exec who’s forced to reexamine his life with the help of the Ghost of Christmas Present (Ferrell). Lessons are learned and songs are sung. Personally, I’ll take anything with Scrooge McDuck over this ten times out of ten.
See the original post on Youtube
Blades of Glory (2007)
In theory, Ferrell’s clueless-idiot figure-skating comedy should have been right up there with his clueless-idiot basketball comedy (Semi-Pro) and his clueless-idiot NASCAR comedy (Talladega Nights). But there’s something missing: It can’t stick the landing. I suspect this is a case of going to the same clueless-idiot well too many times. Or the fact that Ferrell could have used a costar with more wild-card charisma than Jon Heder, who’s really more of a straight man. Either way, Blades of Glory is a serviceable entry in a jackass-sports genre that also includes funnier movies like Dodgeball, BASEketball, and Kingpin. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett as the duo’s on-ice rivals definitely goosed this title up a couple of spots in the rankings.
See the original post on Youtube
You’re Cordially Invited (2024)
Like so many made-for-streaming movies, this rom-com is totally harmless. Which is to say, it’s competently made, adequately acted … and utterly unnecessary. This is 21st-century algorithmic filmmaking: Male Star from Column A + Female Star from Column B x Generic Wedding-Themed Rom-Com Premise C = X Total Viewing Hours. Both of these actors are great, but it’s a bummer when Ferrell sands down his sharp edges for mainstream tapioca like this. What we’re left with is a rom-com widget—the definition of smooth-brain background viewing.
See the original post on Youtube
Barbie (2023)
Playing the most undercooked role in the lamest section of an otherwise excellent mega blockbuster is the definition of a thankless task. But Ferrell, ever the team player, has the good humor and grace to make the most of his villainous turn as the CEO of Barbie’s patriarchal overlords at Mattel. Frankly, he would have had more comic impact as one of Ken’s idiot buddies.
See the original post on Youtube
Kicking & Screaming (2005)
Getting Robert Duvall for this wholesome, family-friendly soccer comedy was a fucking coup. His crotchety, hardass, Great Santini–esque turn as Ferrell’s domineering, win-at-all-costs father (opposite an also-perfect Mike Ditka) elevates what would have otherwise been a limp retread of Rodney Dangerfield’s Ladybugs. Duvall is a goddamn national treasure. As a nation of moviegoers, let’s never forget that. In fact, let’s make a point of reminding him of this every single day. If Gene Hackman’s passing has taught us anything, it’s that we need to celebrate the New Hollywood generation while they’re still with us. As far as Ferrell and the rest of the film go, no surprises here.
See the original post on Youtube
Daddy’s Home 2 (2017)
Confession time: I dreaded sitting down to watch this one a second time but was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. Ferrell returns for holiday seconds as a sensitive guy competing for the love of his stepchildren against their cool biological father (Mark Wahlberg). The new spin for the sequel is that the two men’s fathers show up for the holidays and double down on the paternalistic rivalry—Ferrell’s dad is an even more sensitive John Lithgow, and Wahlberg’s even more badass dad is played by Mel Gibson. And if anyone represents feel-good holiday family sentimentality, it’s Mel Gibson, amiright?
See the original post on Youtube
Daddy’s Home (2015)
See above, but marginally better.
See the original post on Youtube
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
The real-life Eurovision Song Contest doesn’t carry much currency in these parts, so the bull’s-eye for this goofball satire is fairly small. Still, there’s a decent number of laughs (and pop bangers) to be found in its unnecessarily long two-hour running time. You pretty much know what you’re getting with this one—broad and cartoonish characters, equally broad and cartoonish villains, and some ridiculously inspired song parodies. It’s essentially a Christopher Guest movie, only, you know, broader and more cartoonish. Ferrell and an excellent Rachel McAdams play Lars and Sigrit, a possibly incestuous Icelandic duo with dreams of stardom. What’s disarming about the film is how sincere and heartfelt it is … in a good way.
See the original post on Youtube
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
A bit of lucky timing on this one for me. My kids turned six when this sequel first hit cinemas, which put them (and, by extension, yours truly) right in the sweet spot for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s inventive brand of meta kiddie comedy. I’ve probably watched this a dozen times—and consumed God knows how many Pop-Tarts in the process. Is this as good as the first one? Not by a long shot. But it’s still Citizen Kane compared with Captain Underpants.
See the original post on Youtube
Semi-Pro (2008)
It’s been scientifically proven that putting Woody Harrelson in a movie automatically makes it 47 percent better. Hey, I don’t make the rules. Anyway, it’s certainly the case for this funky spoof of the NBA’s former poor stepchild of a rival league, the ABA. Semi-Pro shares some of the recessive genes of Ferrell’s far-better ’70s parody, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. But it’s also its own unique thing thanks to Ferrell in a ’fro, Harrelson in the snug and ball-hugging shorts of the era, and a proven lovable-losers-rally-to-win-the-big-one formula that goes back to The Bad News Bears. Critics slammed Semi-Pro at the time, but it’s actually pretty solid.
See the original post on Youtube
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Is this Ferrell’s Truman Show? Not exactly, but it is Truman Show adjacent. In Marc Forster’s sharp and clever mind-bender, Ferrell plays a bland IRS auditor who starts hearing voices in his head. Actually, it’s one voice in particular, which belongs to an author with writer’s block (Emma Thompson). It turns out that he’s the unfortunate main character of her latest novel, and he’s somehow dialed in to every twist and turn of her story as she taps it out, including a romance with a baker he’s in the process of auditing (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Thompson’s writer is essentially narrating his life—which sounds cool until it happens to you, I suppose. Ferrell received a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for this Möbius strip of a movie.
See the original post on Youtube
Zoolander (2001)
Arriving in cinemas less than three weeks after 9/11, Zoolander had the odds stacked against it at the box office. America wasn’t in the mood to laugh—never mind laugh at something as silly and trivial as a fashion-world comedy about a dim-bulb male model (Ben Stiller) flashing a pursed-lip “Blue Steel” pout. But then Zoolander began to snowball into a cult classic and a sorely needed national balm on DVD. The rest is history. As Mugatu, the film’s outlandish, over-the-top baddie, Ferrell is a magnificently absurd peacock with an equally absurd scheme: to brainwash Stiller’s Derek Zoolander into pulling off a Manchurian Candidate–style assassination of the Malaysian prime minister. As always, watching Ferrell launch into one of his signature arias of booming, operatic nonsense is one of life’s great small pleasures.
See the original post on Youtube
The Lego Movie (2014)
Like all the best kids movies, whether it’s Aladdin or any one of Pixar’s digital fantasias, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s fiendishly clever Lego Movie works extremely well on two levels: It’s got easy laughs and visual puns aimed at the small fries in the audience and more referential, pop-culture-soaked ones for their parents. Paced like a rat-a-tat comedy howitzer, this animation/live-action hybrid is a marvel of pure, unfiltered feel-good entertainment. Chris Pratt does most of the heavy lifting as our shiny, happy everyman hero, Emmet. But Ferrell is the film’s stealth MVP, doing double duty as the voice of the dastardly Lord Business and as the flesh-and-blood, Lego-loving dad who learns to be a better parent in the film’s three-hankie final reel.
See the original post on Youtube
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Aka, the one with Heather Graham’s Felicity Shagwell, Fat Bastard, and the stolen mojo. Mike Myers’s ’60s spy homages have held up remarkably well (certainly a lot better than Zoolander). And this one’s stuffed to the gills with insane sight gags, groovy retro nods, and absurd throwaway bits—none of which are funnier than Ferrell’s turn as Mustafa, Dr. Evil’s sweaty, fez-topped henchman who’s unable to lie when asked a question three times. Myers and Ferrell’s inspired piss take on movie villains giving up the goods all too easily is conveniently explained to the audience in a brilliant bit of fourth-wall breaking. This is Ferrell at his absolute best. See for yourself…
See the original post on Youtube
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
Comedy sequels are exceedingly tough to pull off. The central conceit, already thin to begin with as it is here, can come off feeling like lazy, sloppy seconds. So yes, Anchorman 2 is more of the same, but it’s still pretty damn good. Sexist, dumb-as-a-sack-of-hammers anchorman Ron Burgundy is surely Ferrell’s greatest comic creation to date—the alpha in his stable of clueless, blowhard stooges. The sequel shifts him and his on- and off-air partner, Christina Applegate’s Veronica Corningstone, from San Di-ahhhgo in the ’70s to New York in the ’80s, orbiting around the birth of 24/7 cable news. Brian Fantana, Champ Kind, and Brick Tamland (ahh, sweet Brick) all return to musk up and square off in a bigger and even more rococo news-team rumble. Reheated leftovers have never tasted so good.
See the original post on Youtube
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
In terms of comedy, the world of NASCAR is pretty low-hanging fruit. But Ferrell and the Dick Grayson to his Bruce Wayne, John C. Reilly, turn that low-hanging fruit into a glorious Edible Arrangement of infantile hilarity. As racetrack legend Ricky Bobby, Ferrell is comfortably—and unapologetically—in his wheelhouse, spinning the rites and rituals of the oval into a broad but loving tribute to America’s redneck pastime. Sure, the structure and arc of the film are pretty much an exact replica of Anchorman. But Talladega Nights is the Platonic ideal of what Ferrell does best: He’s incredibly smart about making comedies about characters who are incredibly dumb.
See the original post on Youtube
The Other Guys (2010)
I know what you’re thinking: Come on, The Other Guys way up at number six?! All I can say is, I hear you, but let’s agree to disagree. To me, this is Ferrell’s Rumble Fish. (Bear with me while I try to work out this Francis Ford Coppola analogy.) It’s obviously not The Godfather, The Conversation, or Apocalypse Now, but it’s right there at the top of the second tier even though most folks sleep on it. In this dizzy parody of ’80s/’90s buddy-cop movies, Ferrell plays a schlubby NYPD paper usher who’s happy to be stuck behind a desk, unlike his fellow benched detective (Mark Wahlberg). Then the odd-couple partners are called into action and end up stumbling onto a big-time case. Director Adam McKay (the silent partner behind many of Ferrell’s best movies) understands the clichés and excesses of the Lethal Weapon genre, but he’s also savvy enough to deliver the action-flick goods while sending them up. Well done, sir.
See the original post on Youtube
Old School (2003)
I’d argue that Vince Vaughn is the real star of this wistful, back-to-school romp, but that feels a little churlish considering that everyone in the cast—including Ferrell, Luke Wilson, and Patrick Cranshaw (“You’re my boy, Blue!”)—nails both the obvious and more subtle aspects of the assignment. We’ve seen all of these guys play arrested-development man-children before, pining for their carefree glory days before wives, kids, and nine-to-fives extinguished their spark. And while there’s something pathetic about middle-aged dudes still itching to do keg stands at the frat house, Old School seems well-aware of that. At least, I think it is … I hope it is. Who knows? Maybe I’m giving director Todd Phillips too much credit. But funny movie.
See the original post on Youtube
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
You don’t need me to tell you that Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a brilliant blast of laughing gas that deserves to be in the National Film Registry alongside Ben-Hur and Raging Bull. You’re either onboard by now or you’re not (in which case, I pray for you). Mike Myers’s loving tribute to Connery-era 007 flicks and the rash of groovy spy-film imitators that came in their wake is as exquisite as movie parodies get. As for Ferrell, this was very early on in his big-screen career. As Mustafa, Dr. Evil’s assassin with nine lives (see number nine), he joyously defines what it means to make the most of an extremely limited amount of screen time. “I’m very badly burned, if you could just … you shot me! You shot me right in the arm!”
See the original post on Youtube
Elf (2003)
I absolutely adore It’s a Wonderful Life. But to be honest, this modern holiday classic has become our household’s annual yuletide rewatchable. Ferrell is (rightly) celebrated for his unique brand of infectious goofball foolishness, but what is often overlooked—or at least underplayed—is just how poignant his characters can be. This tale about a grown man who was raised as an elf at the North Pole by Santa has so much depth and heart it’s its own sort of Christmas miracle. The perfect union of the two halves of Ferrell’s onscreen persona: the sweet and the silly.
See the original post on Youtube
Step Brothers (2008)
Speaking of modern classics: Ladies and gentlemen, I submit for your viewing pleasure the image of a grown man spitefully placing his scrotum atop the snare drum of another grown man with whom he share a child’s bedroom. Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s failure-to-launch, arrested-development comedy is absolutely brilliant in its infantile idiocy. Both actors are 100 percent committed to the bit of playing a pair of overly pampered, layabout jackasses unwilling—or unable—to be weaned from the parental teat. Like The Big Lebowski and so many of the best big-screen comedies, Step Brothers wasn’t an immediate hit at the box office. Its devoted cult would take time to grow and blossom. Better late than never, I say. No notes.
See the original post on Youtube
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Has a mainstream Hollywood comedy ever been pound for pound as quotable as Anchorman? “I love Scotch. Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch. Here it goes down, down in my belly.” “Milk was a bad choice!” “I’m a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That’s what kind of man I am!” “She gets a special cologne. It’s called Sex Panther by Odéon. It’s illegal in nine countries. It’s made with bits of real panther, so you know it’s good.” “It smells like a used diaper … filled with … Indian food.” “That escalated quickly.” “Go fuck yourself, San Diego.” Much like Brian Fantana’s musk of choice, Sex Panther, Anchorman captures the pure, fragrant essence of Will Ferrell’s comic genius. It’s deliriously nonsensical. It’s barbed and biting without ever being mean-spirited. It’s unapologetic and unafraid of going way over the top. Oh, and one other thing: 60 per cent of the time, it works every time.
See the original post on Youtube
You Might Also Like
