Ray Romano 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 Ray Romano-whose latest project "Fly Me to the Moon" arrives in theaters today. 

Ray Romano's Filmography Ranked:

9.Welcome to Mooseport (D-)

8.Ice Age: The Meltdown (C-)

7.Rob the Mob (B-)

6.Ice Age (B-)

5.Paddleton (B)

4.Somewhere in Queens (B)

3.Bad Education (B+)

2.The Irishman (B+)

1.The Big Sick (A-)

Top Dog: The Big Sick (2017)

The Big Sick marks the sad end of an era in a way as it was one of the final films to get picked up by a studio following its Sundance debut and go on to find commercial success. Thankfully, it's more than deserving of this bittersweet honor. Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon's dramatized retelling of their own unique love story does a great job of blending sweet, hilarious romantic comedy with some pretty heavy dramatic elements without ever feeling disjointed or emotionally manipulative.      

Bottom Feeder: Welcome to Mooseport (2004)

Many of the all-time greats stick around for long enough where they end up going out on a low note. Tom Brady got blown out by the Dallas Cowboys on his own home field in his last NFL game. Michael Jordan was part of a sub.500 Washington Wizards that didn't qualify for the playoffs in his final NBA Season. Sean Connery said au revoir to movies after starring in blockbuster flop The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  

Gene Hackman followed this path when he ended up finishing off his acting career in Welcome to Mooseport. Odds are if you're reading this, you probably haven't seen this film (or even heard of it), so let me provide a quick synopsis. Welcome to Mooseport is a political comedy from Donald Petrie (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Miss Congeniality) about a heated small town Maine mayoral election between a former United States President (Hackman) and local hardware store owner (Romano). The whole affair feels like an overlong sitcom episode and not even a good one like the one Romano was in at the time of Mooseport's release. The jokes are hokey as shit, the pacing is brutal for the genre and every actor (especially Hackman) looks embarrassed to be there. Tough way to end a career Mr. Hackman, but at least you solidified your greatness by going out with a HOF dud.            

Most Underrated: Bad Education (2020)

A true crime movie this entertaining getting relegated to a quiet linear cable/streaming release in the spring of 2020 is really unfortunate. Bad Education tells the story of how a superintendent (Hugh Jackman) and assistant superintendent (Allison Janney) successfully stole millions from their wealthy Long Island school district in the early 2000's, only to get caught by a student journalist (Geraldine Viswanathan) assigned to write a piece on the high school's proposal to build a new skywalk for the school newspaper. It's a crazy, often very funny story of greed and corruption that takes several unexpected turns and features one of the best performances that Jackman has ever turned in. Check it out on Max if you haven't seen it.          

Most Overrated: Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

While not completely unwatchable, Ice Age: The Meltdown showed early on that these characters and the slapstick antics of side character/franchise mascot Scrat the Squirrel weren't strong enough for this film to make the jump from good movie to good franchise.