The Best and Worst of Will Forte

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Booksmart” star Will Forte.

Films starring Will Forte that I've seen:
Beerfest
The Brothers Solomon
Baby Mama
Fanboys
MacGruber
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
That's My Boy
The Watch
Nebraska
Life of Crime
Keanu
A Futile and Stupid Gesture
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Best Performance: MacGruber (2010)
Forte is a comic that has a gift for being a manic scene stealer in supporting roles (Keanu, Tim and Eric's Billon Dollar Movie, Beerfest) and even turned in a terrific, understated performance in Alexander Payne's road drama Nebraska. However, MacGruber is always the first thing that comes to mind when I hear or see his name. This ludicrous character he cultivated for years on Saturday Night Live hits its peak in the unfiltered, anything goes environment of an R-rated movie. The veteran funnyman nails every smug insult, preposterous threat and bit of physical comedy he's asked to do in this suitably over-the-top parody.

Worst Performance: N/A
As I just mentioned, a lot of the work Forte gets is supporting roles in dumb comedies and the dude crushes it every time. To me, he's in the category of people like Fred Willard, JB Smoove and Kate McKinnon who just show up and manufacture laughs-regardless of how good, bad or mediocre the project is.

Best Film: MacGruber (2010)

The love I have for MacGruber is immense and eternal. I'd go as far to say that it's arguably the most underrated comedy released this decade. With the help of a sensational cast that bought into exactly what they were trying to do (Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, Val Kilmer, Maya Rudolph, Powers Boothe), Forte and Jorma Taccone turned their recurring Saturday Night Live sketch into a seriously funny movie that perfectly satirizes the one-of-a-kind absurdity of 80's action movies in addition to MacGyver.  

Worst Film: Baby Mama (2008)
Saturday Night Live legends Tina Fey and Amy Poheler finally brought the beautiful comic dynamic they displayed on television for years to the big screen with Sisters in December 2015. Their first pairing as co-leads in a movie seven years earlier was a far less successful endeavor. Outside of the scenes featuring Steve Martin as Fey's hippie boss, the jokes don't land very often and the emotional beats of the story almost always feel forced.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” star Kyle Chandler.