Kathryn Hahn 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 Kathryn Hahn-whose latest project "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" begins a limited theatrical run on Wednesday.

Kathryn Hahn's Filmography Ranked:

24.Tomorrowland (D-)

23.Captain Fantastic (D-)

22.This is Where I Leave You (D)

21.How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (C)

20.She's Funny That Way (C)

19.Wake Up, Ron Burgundy (C+)

18.The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (C+)

17.Flower (C+)

16.Afternoon Delight (B-)

15.A Bad Moms Christmas (B)

14.Private Life (B)

13.Our Idiot Brother (B)

12.Bad Moms (B)

11.Wanderlust (B)

10.Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (B)

9.Bad Words (B)

8.A Lot Like Love (B)

7.The Visit (B)

6.The Dictator (B+)

5.Revolutionary Road (B+)

4.The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (B+)

3.We're the Millers (A-)

2.Step Brothers (A)

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

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

Sometime in 2003, some unproven actors with little-to-no-feature credits on their resume (Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, Hahn) teamed up with some established comedy veterans (Christina Applegate, Fred Willard, Vince Vaughn, Chris Parnell) on the directorial debut from ex-Saturday Night Live writer Adam McKay. This movie ended up being Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: a note-perfect goof on 70's cable news stations that is every bit as hilarious, silly and quotable now as it was 18 years ago. As much exemplary work as McKay and this cast have gone onto to do, Anchorman remains a career high mark for all involved and that distinction doesn't feel like it's going to be challenged anytime soon. 

Bottom Feeder: Tomorrowland (2016)

Tomorrowland seems to have killed the live action directorial career of key Pixar architect Brad Bird and while that's not exactly a fair fate, the film is a truly impressive pile of shit that deserves to be viewed as a permanent stain on his otherwise pretty consistently impressive resume. Not even the abundant charisma of George Clooney in a co-leading role can provide any sort of spark to a movie that aspires to be a wonderous sci-fi adventure, but instead ended up being among the dullest, most stunningly incoherent misfires Hollywood produced during the 2010's.

Most Underrated: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

In the directorial filmography of Ben Stiller, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is very much an outlier. Unlike his other efforts-which all live in the worlds of absurdist or dark comedy, Stiller's 5th film is an adventure dramedy about a Life magazine employee (Stiller) who has to track down the location of a reclusive photojournalist (Sean Penn) after the negatives he sent for the magazine's final cover get misplaced. It turns out that Stiller is actually quite adept at directing movies that are outside of his wheelhouse. While Walter Mitty is a thoroughly sentimental affair, the warmth and wonder behind its central message of "go out and live your life to the fullest" is so abundant that it makes the movie a deeply moving delight.

Most Overrated: Captain Fantastic (2016)

I hated Viggo Mortensen's hippie anarchist protagonist so much that I couldn't focus on anything else that Captain Fantastic was attempting. This guy is such a condescending jackass that it was impossible to feel empathy for his plight or side with him on the parenting disputes he has with his sister (Hahn) and father (Frank Langella)-which subsequently made the film's attempts at being heartwarming or poignant impossible for me to swallow and led to me despising every moment of this film. 

The Only M. Night Shyamalan Movie That Has Worked from Start to Finish in the Past 20 Years: The Visit (2015)

There's a reason that M. Night Shyamalan made a Hollywood comeback after the back-to-back colossal failures of The Last Airbender and After Earth: He re-discovered his creative spark (and produced a sleeper box office hit for Universal) with The Visit. This found footage horror flick is a creepy, surprisingly funny thrill ride that cleverly and thrillingly executes its simple premise (teenage siblings get far more than they bargain for when they visit their long-estranged grandparents for the 1st time) by slowly raising the level of unease the kids (Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould) are experiencing until a great twist causes it to explode in its deeply rewarding final act.