Dennis Quaid 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 Dennis Quaid-whose latest project "The Hill" releases in theaters tonight.  

Dennis Quaid's Filmography Ranked:

20.Legion (D)

19.Movie 43 (D)

18.American Underdog (D+)

17.What to Expect When You're Expecting (D+)

16.Kin (C-)

15.Frequency (C-)

14.Any Given Sunday (C-)

13.Soul Surfer (C)

12.The Parent Trap (C)

11.The Intruder (C+)

10.The Day After Tomorrow (C+)

9.Strange World (B-)

8.Flight of the Phoenix (B-)

7.G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (B-)

6.Footloose (B-)

5.Far from Heaven (B-)

4.The Rookie (B)

3.The Words (B)

2.Vantage Point (B)

1.Traffic (B)

Top Dog: Traffic (2000)

While there are quite a few thrillers centered around the drug trade that are more tense and haunting than Traffic, it's still a compelling, well-acted film that gracefully tells an interconnected story from the perspectives of multiple people (cartel boss, Mexican police, DEA agent, American judge) that are either actively help maintain or attempt to disrupt this powerful global business.  

Bottom Feeder: Legion (2010)

When movie nerds pull out the classic jargon-y insult "January Movie", they're referring to stuff like Legion. Cheap-looking VFX/action, an overly serious tone for a deeply silly story that effectively boils down to the fallen angel Michael (Paul Bettany) teaming up with a small band of human survivors (Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Willa Holland, Quaid, Kate Walsh) in a desolate Nevada desert town to try and prevent God from exterminating the human race and constant monologues about faith, virtue, etc. is a nightmarish combination that makes Legion a deeply misguided attempt at creating a fun genre movie.

Most Underrated: The Words (2012)

As cheesy and melodramatic as it sometimes is, The Words is an interesting film that reckons with the steep cost of lying and stealing credit for someone's else creative work. Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons are terrific as the thief and true author of a lost manuscript that was turned into a best-selling novel respectively and the romantic aspects of the story are able to hit both their joyous and bittersweet notes on account of how strong the chemistry between Cooper and Zoe Saldana is (they dated in real life for a time for a reason folks!) 

Most Overrated: The Parent Trap (1998)

The Parent Trap is a relatively inoffensive family romcom that was responsible for putting Lindsay Lohan on the map and further elevating the profile of veteran screenwriter Nancy Myers-who made her directorial debut here and went onto helm a number of beloved films including The Holiday, It's Complicated and Something's Gotta Give. However as a millennial, The Parent Trap has been propped up as a timeless classic by a ton of people from my generation since it came out and although I understand that the love for it is rooted in nostalgia, I just really don't agree with all of the heightened praise its received over the years.