Vince Vaughn Ranked

Welcome to the latest edition of "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 Vince Vaughn-whose latest project "Freaky" hits theaters on Friday and on demand video services on December 4th. 

Vince Vaughn's Filmography Ranked:

21.Be Cool (F)

20.The Dilemma (D+) 

19.Mr. and Mrs. Smith (C)

18.Wake Up, Ron Burgundy (B-)

17.Unfinished Business (B-) 

16.Clay Pigeons (B-)

15.The Lost World: Jurassic Park (B-)

14.Delivery Man (B-)

13.Swingers (B-)

12.Fighting with My Family (B)

11.The Internship (B)

10.The Watch (B)

9.The Binge (B)

8.Brawl in Cell Block 99 (B)

7.Starsky & Hutch (B+)

6.Wedding Crashers (B+)

5.Old School (B+)

4.Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B+)

3.Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (A-)

2.Hacksaw Ridge (A-)

1.Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (A+)

Top Dog: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Anchorman is a high watermark for comedy that has aged impeccably. Only a handful of movies can compete with the level of wall-to-wall hilarity, inspired stupidity and massive smiles that this classic '70s news satire delivers in 90 minutes. Everyone involved should take pride in the role they played in birthing this valuable contribution to the world of comedy for the rest of their careers.   

Lowlight: Be Cool (2005)

Be Cool is a crime against cinema that should be burned from whatever databases it still exists on. No comedy that I've ever laid eyes upon has served as a bigger insult to jokes or the cathartic act of laughing than this remarkably star-studded (John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Dwayne Johnson, Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Danny DeVito, Andre Benjamin) pile of overwhelmingly pungent manure. 

Most Underrated: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

I strongly believe that the relatively significant degree of venom Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues was met with upon its release is unwarranted. Considering the 9-year layoff and rare legacy the original built, Anchorman 2 went about as well as it possibly could've. All of the returning cast eagerly dove back into their iconic characters, the signature gleefully absurd humor remained in tact and the laugh/quotable dialogue ratio wasn't too far from the original. Sounds like the right formula for a worthwhile comedy continuation to me. 

Most Overrated: Swingers (1996)

Swingers is a fine enough raunchy buddy comedy that was integral in launching the careers of both Vaughn and Jon Favreau. However, the whole time I was watching it, I couldn't help but view it as nothing more than a 90's version of Entourage with a collection of less amusing and entertaining  loudmouth douchebags.

Best Dramatic Effort: Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)

Vaughn is very much like Adam Sandler in that he's a comedic actor that has an almost secret knack for delivering outstanding dramatic performances. His signature moment in this space came in the prison action thriller Brawl in Cell Block 99. As an imprisoned drug mule who is blackmailed into performing a string of murders by the same treacherous cartel members that landed him behind bars, Vaughn does a masterful job of slowly turning into a ruthless, deranged monster that's awakened by a brutal culture of  violence that drives the barbaric maximum security prison he's locked up in.     

Biggest Mess: The Dilemma (2011)

Ron Howard is as hit-or-miss as any director working today and The Dilemma is very high on his list of whiffs. Howard wastes the respectable enough buddy rapport of Vaughn and Kevin James on an overlong movie that frequently weaves between clashing genres (slapstick comedy/dark comedy/relationship-based melodrama) with zero confidence or cohesion.