Jake Johnson 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 Jake Johnson-whose latest project "Self Reliance" is now streaming on Hulu.

Jake Johnson's Filmography Ranked:

19.Joshy (C)

18.The Mummy (C+)

17.Flower (C+)

16.No Strings Attached (B-)

15.A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (B-)

14.Coffee Town (B-) 

13.Ride the Eagle (B-)

12.Win It All (B-)

11.Let's Be Cops (B)

10.Drinking Buddies (B)

9.Jurassic World (B) 

8.Safety Not Guaranteed (B)

7.Tag (B+)

6.Neighbors (B+)

5.Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (B+)

4.The Lego Movie (B+)

3.Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (A-)

2.Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (A-)

1.21 Jump Street (A)

Top Dog: 21 Jump Street (2012)

Both Jump Street films are triumphs that rank among the funniest films of the 2010's, but 21 Jump Street is special since it caught pretty much everybody off-guard. Animation directors Chris Lord and Phil Miller fearlessly dove into the world of live-action films for the first time with a lively meta satire of remakes, cop shows, high school movies and a million other things that showed the world that Channing Tatum is a comedic force to be reckoned with, a foul-mouthed, perpetually angry police captain was the role that Ice Cube was born to play and doves simply aren't cool outside of a John Woo movie.  

Bottom Feeder: Joshy (2016)

While it makes absolutely delightful use of Jenny Slate's reliably funny, charming screen presence, Joshy is one of those sadsack indie dramedies that struggles to find the right tone or settle on a message with any real emotional heft despite the earnest efforts from everyone involved.   

Most Underrated: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

Is it likely that I am among the biggest fans of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates on the entire planet? Very much so. Given the strong possibility that this is the case, I'll now proceed to break down why I love this movie so much. 1.The ensemble cast from the top (Adam DeVine, Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza) to the middle (Sam Richardson, Sugar Lyn Beard, Alice Wetterlund, Stephen Root) to the bottom (Kumail Nanjiani, Marc Maron, Johnson) is loaded with terrific comedic performers who are all exceptionally funny when called upon but also know when they need to play it straight in order for somebody else to shine. 2.Both Kendrick and Plaza and DeVine and Efron are perfectly-matched pairs that sell the hell out of the love and loyalty that exists within their relationships. 3.All of the major comedic setpieces deliver big time. 4.It remains extremely funny to me after several re-watches. 5.It's a great tourism ad for Hawaii. I'd highly recommend anybody to check it out, just be warned that you almost certainly won't like it nearly as much as I do.     

Most Overrated: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) 

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas was all the evidence I needed that this franchise needed to come to an end. Both John Cho and Kal Penn pretty much checked out on playing these characters, the joke hit rate is considerably lower than the previous two films and like the previous sequel, the more elaborate, fantastical plot somehow manages to reduce the silly stoner film magic that the first one had in spades. Some amusing, deliberately gimmicky use of 3D and another scene-stealing performance from Neil Patrick Harris as himself are really the only things that make this semi-watchable.