Ben Stiller 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 Ben Stiller-whose latest project "Nutcrackers" debuts on Hulu this Friday. 

Ben Stiller's Filmography Ranked:

27.School for Scoundrels (C-)

26.Duplex (C-)

25.Little Fockers (C)

24.Hubie Halloween (C)

23.Zoolander 2 (C)

22.Locked Down (C)

21.Keeping the Faith (C)

20.The Heartbreak Kid (C+)

19.The Royal Tenenbaums (C+)

18.Reality Bites (B-)

17.Heavyweights (B-)

16.Megamind (B-)

15.Night at the Museum (B-)

14.The Watch (B-)

13.Tower Heist (B-)

12.Mystery Men (B)

11.Meet the Fockers (B)

10.Starsky & Hutch (B)

9.Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B)

8.There's Something About Mary (B+)

7.Along Came Polly (B+)

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

5.Tropic Thunder (B+)

4.Meet the Parents (A)

3.Zoolander (A)

2.Happy Gilmore (A)

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

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

1/3 of the holy trinity of 2000's absurdist comedy masterpieces (Hot Rod and Wet Hot American Summer round out this divine bunch), Anchorman is a relentlessly side-splitting affair that sees a team of comedy all-stars headed up by Will Ferell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell and Fred Willard putting up Jordan numbers for 90 straight minutes.    

Bottom Feeder: School for Scoundrels (2007)

School for Scoundrels is probably the weakest effort from Todd Phillips' past life as a comedy director.  Jon Heder doesn't have the gravitas or range required to handle a role that sees him alternating between passive nerd, assertive tough guy and sensitive romantic lead, Billy Bob Thornton is just doing a weaker version of the vulgar, curmudgeon prick routine he did in Bad Santa and The Bad News Bears, and it commits the ultimate sin of being instantly forgettable. 

Most Underrated: Along Came Polly (2004)

A gross out romantic comedy isn't an overly novel concept. Hell, The Farrelly Brothers built a whole damn brand off of this very specific genre hybrid! What makes Along Came Polly work despite its familiar conceit is the incredible, borderline head-scratching commitment from its primary cast. There's really no way in hell any of this works if the likes of Stiller, Jennifer Aniston and Phillip Seymour Hoffmann didn't show up and turn these characters that aren't overly exciting on the page into weird, endearing oddballs occupying a world where sweetness lives alongside sophomoric hijinks in a state of beautifully nonsensical bliss.      

Most Overrated: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

One of these days I'll revisit all of the Wes Anderson films I saw before 2015 or so to figure out if I really harbor negative feelings towards them or simply just didn't understand or appreciate them at the time. Based on how I've felt about the Anderson films I have seen since then; the answer is a true coin flip. The Royal Tenenbaums will be a particularly interesting test since it's pretty widely viewed as his best film, but right now, I believe it's one of his more brazenly obnoxious pieces of work. The characters are all peak quirky Anderson caricatures and watching them interact for 2 hours is like being trapped in a conversation with the smuggest, least interesting motherfucker at a Harvard alumni luncheon.