Ray Liotta Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank franchises or filmographies from worst to best and hand out assorted superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the films of Ray Liotta-whose latest project "Cocaine Bear" is in theaters now.

Ray Liotta's Filmography Ranked:

21.Wild Hogs (D+)

20.Killing Them Softly (C-)

19.Hubie Halloween (C)

18.Observe and Report (C)

17.Revolver (C+)

16.No Sudden Move (B-)

15.Identity (B-)

14.John Q (B-)

13.Muppets Most Wanted (B)

12.Youth in Revolt (B)

11.Date Night (B)

10.The Place Beyond the Pines (B)

9.Narc (B)

8.Blow (B+)

7.Field of Dreams (B+)

6.Kill the Messenger (A-)

5.Cop Land (A-)

4.Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (A)

3.Smokin' Aces (A)

2.Marriage Story (A)

1.Goodfellas (A+)

Top Dog: Goodfellas (1990)

Martin Scorsese made the ultimate rise-and-fall crime saga by simply staging the shit out of a story that easily could've morphed into something trite and familiar. With his straightforward yet detailed and stylish approach to the fact-based material, Scorsese allows the audience to understand what attracted to Henry Hill (Liotta in his finest hour as an actor) to initially join the mafia as a poor Italian-American kid from Brooklyn, the moral decay and relentless danger that comes with associating with unpredictable killers (Joe Pesci, Robert de Niro) and how his empire built on greed, betrayal and violence ultimately crumbles beneath him in spectacular, abrupt fashion. It's tragic. It's funny. It's enthralling. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen.  

Bottom Feeder: Wild Hogs (2007)

Fun fact: Wild Hogs was the last movie Disney ever released under the Touchstone Pictures label. Wild Hogs being the swan song for an iconic brand manages to be significantly funnier than any joke that appears in this movie that a lot of people that were 40-65 at the time thought was a stitch (this movie made an astonishing $168 million at the domestic box office-which was more than fellow 2007 releases Superbad, Enchanted and Live Free or Die Hard). Wild Hogs is nothing more than a largely unfunny epic-length sitcom episode with a movie budget that is above the talents of everyone in its cast (John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy, Marisa Tomei, Liotta) besides Tim Allen-who is very much at home working with such lazy material. 

Most Underrated: Cop Land (1997)

James Mangold dropped a sneak attack on audiences when he packed a collection of stars known for gritty meathead action/crime fare (Sylvester Stallone, Robert de Niro, Harvey Kietel, Liotta, Robert Patrick) into a melancholic, slow burn take on the corrupt cop movie. That "false advertising" caused the movie to kind of fade into obscurity after its so-so run at the box office, which is really unfortunate since it's a terrific early showcase of Mangold's gifts as a director as well as a much-needed reminder that Stallone has a ton of dramatic acting talent that Hollywood has rarely allowed him to show off since.  

Most Overrated: No Sudden Move (2021)

In its early stages, No Sudden Move is a vintage Steven Soderbergh crime thriller that's loaded with style, intrigue and charismatic performances. In its latter half, it completely loses its way by widening the scope of the story to the point where it becomes needlessly overstuffed and unfocused and deciding to end things on an infuriatingly anticlimactic note.

Best Non-Crime Movie Performance: Marriage Story (2019)

Liotta did a brilliant job of playing against type as the prolific divorce attorney Adam Driver's character hires to help him "win" his divorce/custody proceedings with his estranged wife (Scarlett Johnsson). By playing the character in a completely forthright manner, he's able to showcase just how much nasty, performative bullshit goes into the day-to-day work of a divorce attorney and how the people that excel the most in this field are able to flip a switch as soon as they're out of the courtroom that allows them to completely ignore the severe repercussions these proceedings are going to have on a group of people's lives. Especially now that he's gone, it really sucks that he couldn't secure an Oscar nomination for his performance.