John C. Reilly Ranked

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 John C. Reilly-whose latest project "Stars at Noon" releases in theaters and on VOD tomorrow and on Hulu October 28th.

John C. Reilly's Filmography Ranked:

25.The Little Hours (D)

24.The Aviator (C-)

23.Sing (C)

22.Wreck-It Ralph (C)

21.The Sisters Brothers (C)

20.The Good Girl (C)

19.Holmes & Watson (C+)

18.Cyrus (C+)

17.The Perfect Storm (C+)

16.Anger Management (B-)

15.Boogie Nights (B-)

14.Days of Thunder (B-)

13.Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (B) 

12.Cedar Rapids (B)

11.The Thin Red Line (B)

10.The Lobster (B)

9.Life After Beth (B+)

8.The Dictator (B+)

7.Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (B+)

6.Kong: Skull Island (B+)

5.Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (A-)

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

3.Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (A-)

2.Guardians of the Galaxy (A)

1.Step Brothers (A)

Top Dog: Step Brothers (2008)

It really sucks that Adam McKay is no longer making straight comedies or has a working relationship with Will Ferrell because their work together often resulted in dazzling comedic fireworks. Outside of the original Anchorman, Step Brothers was the top highlight from their creative partnership. The lovingly chaotic buddy dynamic between Ferrell and Reilly, go for broke supporting performances (Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Andrea Savage) and delightfully dumb, absurd humor came together in perfect harmony to make one of the most consistently uproarious, rewatchable comedies I've ever seen.      

Bottom Feeder: The Little Hours (2017)

On this edition of when Incredible Ensemble Casts Go Wrong is The Little Hours. Jeff Baena somehow put Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Micucci, Dave Franco, Fred Armisen, Molly Shannon, Nick Offerman and Reilly in an R-rated comedy about a 14th century convent of nuns (Brie, Plaza, Micucci) and their superiors (Reilly, Shannon) who begin to act on their repressed sexual feelings that is aggressively unfunny and shockingly boring.   

Most Underrated: Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012)

There are a number of big Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! fans that really dislike Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, but it's without question among my favorite things Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have ever produced. They were able to package the uniquely silly, nutty and surreal essence of their demented beast of a sketch comedy series into something that was bigger and more linear without losing any of the comedy value or toning down their sensibilities with the hopes of reaching a broader audience and that's a deceptively difficult accomplishment that's worth celebrating.    

Most Overrated: The Aviator (2004)

This was the precursor to the indulgent vanity project era Scorsese has been in from Wolf of Wall Street through now. There's a major sense of repetition in the way that film cycles through Howard Hughes' neuroses, business triumphs and court cases and unlike his more recent efforts, the performances and writing aren't strong enough to atone for its overstretched narrative and needlessly long runtime.

Movie/Franchise That Would've Benefitted from More of Reilly: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Reilly had the rare distinction of being a non-villain with a decent-sized role in a Marvel movie to not return for any future installments. While his Guardians of the Galaxy character Rhomann Dey isn't particularly memorable or crucial to the story, it's sort of a bummer that Reilly never returned to the series in some form. Just imagine the great things Reilly could do in an expanded role where he got to goof off with the Guardians and deliver some prime James Gunn quips. Since there's almost zero chance he shows up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, Gunn should consider casting him in one of the zillion DC projects he has in the works right now so the world can finally get the chance to see if this creative partnership can be as good in practice as it is on paper.