Ryan Reynolds Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out related accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Ryan Reynolds-whose latest project "Red Notice" hits Netflix on Friday.

Ryan Reynolds' Filmography Ranked:

29.Criminal (D)

28.The Voices (D)

27.Green Lantern (C)

26.Self/Less (C)

25.Detective Pikachu (C)

24.The Change-Up (C+)

23.X-Men Origins: Wolverine (B-)

22.Definitely, Maybe (B-)

21.The Croods (B-)

20.The Croods: A New Age (B-)

19.Life (B-)

18.The Proposal (B-)

17.National Lampoon's Van Wilder (B-)

16.R.I.P.D. (B)

15.Just Friends (B)

14.Adventureland (B)

13.Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (B)

12.Deadpool (B)

11.Mississppi Grind (B)

10.6 Underground (B)

9.Free Guy (B)

8.The Hitman's Bodyguard (B)

7.Waiting... (B+)

6.Safe House (B+)

5.Deadpool 2 (B+)

4.Buried (B+)

3.Hobbs & Shaw (A-)

2.Smokin' Aces (A)

1.Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (A)

Top Dog: Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

The 2000's stoner comedy boom provided some of the most beloved cult movies (How High, Grandma's Boy, Pineapple Express) of the last 20 years or so and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is certainly near the top of that list in terms of quality. The perfectly matched John Cho and Kal Penn instantly made the titular duo a classic buddy pairing and combining an absurdist sense of humor with a road movie plot that organically changes scenery every few minutes leads to plenty of scenes that have huge, unpredictable comedic payoffs.      

Lowlight: Criminal (2016)

Idiotic, boring and completely unwilling to embrace the absurdity of its premise, Criminal very well could be the single most forgettable piece of shit action movie of the 2010's.

Most Underrated: Buried (2010)

Reynolds gets typecast as the smartass action hero so often that it's easy to forget that he has real dramatic acting chops. The completely hidden gem Buried features what remains his finest performance to date as Paul Conroy-an American civilian truck driver working in Iraq who has to fight for his life after he wakes up in a wooden coffin that's slowly filling with sand. Reynolds powerfully conveys the fear, anger and helplessness of a man who is fighting against the clock to survive, and the raw urgency and emotion behind his performance elevates Buried above most other tense, claustrophobic thrillers. 

Most Overrated: Deadpool (2016)

Parts of Deadpool's terrific reputation are well-earned. Wade Wilson/Deadpool is the perfect vessel for Reynolds' gifts as a performer and its blockbuster success gave studios the confidence to greenlight more R-rated superhero projects (including its own excellent sequel). While the heavy lifting done by Reynolds' performance and the comedy value of its meta writing is enough to make the movie work, it can't atone for its boring villain (Ed Skrein's Ajax), mediocre action sequences and a depressingly strict adherence to the standard genre formula that it mocks throughout.

Best Cinematic Bastard Child of Quentin Tarantino: Smokin Aces' (2006)

Making crime movies that employed Tarantino's energetic hyperlink style of storytelling was an all too common move from the late 90's all the way up until about 2010. With its collection of colorfully chaotic characters, bursts of graphic, hyperstylized violence and snark-heavy dialogue, Smokin Aces' can proudly take the title of the film from this era that most authentically replicated the rhythm and flow of a Tarantino project.  

Biggest Missed Opportunity: Detective Pikachu (2019)

At the start, Detective Pikachu positions itself as a pretty fun spoof of noir detective stories that just happens to feature a talking version of Pikachu (Reynolds at his most engaging and charismatic) as its main character. Sadly, that promising setup quickly gives way to a convoluted, largely humorless conspiracy mystery plot that quickly stomps out the goofy charm it had going for it.