Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Ayo Edebiri-whose latest project "Ella McCay" is in theaters today.
Ayo Edebiri's Filmography Ranked:
9.How It Ends (D+)
8.The Sweet East (C-)
7.After the Hunt (C-)
6.Opus (B-)
5.Inside Out 2 (B)
4.Theater Camp (B)
3.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (B+)
2.Bottoms (A-)
1.Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (A-)
Top Dog: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
The main reason that people are so frustrated by the long wait for the third Spider-Verse movie is that Across Spider-Verse is a great movie that ends on a crazy cliffhanger. Lord and Miller and their various collaborators managed to up the ante from Into the Spider-Verse by adding more characters/stakes to Miles Morales' story without sacrificing any of the emotional core that made the film so special. Despite all of the delays and rumors about it being significantly reworked over the past couple of years, my confidence in Beyond the Spider-Verse serving as a triumphant conclusion to the trilogy remains high (the current planned release date is June 18, 2027).
Bottom Feeder: How It Ends (2021)
How It Ends' existence can be chalked up to a talented actor/writer/director (Zoe Lister-Jones) getting bored during COVID and securing funding for a half-baked idea they thought of during lockdown that could easily be shot while adhering to pandemic protocols. There's nothing particularly funny, touching or compelling about watching Lister-Jones walk around nearly empty LA streets alternating between having conversations with a younger version of herself (Cailee Spaney) and various people from her life that she'd like to talk to one last time on the day before the world is set to end via a giant meteor hitting Earth. None of Lister Jones' famous friends (Lamorne Morris, Olivia Wilde, Whitney Cummings, Nick Kroll, Fred Armisen, Glenn Howerton, Logan Marshall-Green, Tawny Newsome) who were enlisted for extended cameos appearing to be overly invested in their roles is the final nail in the coffin for this poorly conceived film.
Most Underrated: Theater Camp (2023)
Burdened by its indie status, the SAG strike blowing up its promotional efforts and releasing in the wake of Barbenheimer, Theater Camp never really had a chance to find its audience in theaters. Sadly, it also hasn't found much of a life on streaming despite the Searchlight-backed project being available on Hulu for 2+ years before exiting the service earlier this year (it is however currently available to rent on all of the major VOD platforms). Anyways, this love letter to musical theater and the colorful personalities that help bring it to life features a treasure trove of modern alt-comedy stalwarts (Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Edebiri, Owen Thiele, Molly Gordon-who also served as co-director and co-writer) and musical mainstays (Ben Platt, Noah Galvin-both of whom aided Gordon with the script) fully committing to the string of great interconnected bits that make up this movie.
Most Overrated: None
Edebiri is such an in-demand performer right now that it's easy to forget that she's only been acting full-time for a handful of years after getting her start in entertainment as a television writer and stand-up comedian. Her relatively short acting resume has also protected her from having a film that appears in this dreaded section. I truly love every acclaimed project she's been in (Bottoms, Across the Spider-Verse, Mutant Mayhem) and the few projects of hers that I didn't really connect either got pretty widely panned (After the Hunt, How It Ends) or were too small to be seriously considered (The Sweet East).
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