Meredith Hagner 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 Meredith Hagner-whose latest project "You're Cordially Invited" releases on Prime Video on Thursday.

Meredith Hagner's Filmography Ranked:

10.Brightburn (C-)

9.The Oath (C)

8.Irrational Man (C)

7.Vacation Friends 2 (B-)

6.Vacation Friends (B-)

5.Horse Girl (B-)

4.Joy Ride (B)

3.Set It Up (B)

2.Palm Springs (B+)

1.Ingrid Goes West (A)

Top Dog: Ingrid Goes West (2017)

As a biting satire of influencer culture and the facade of happiness that social media helps cultivate, Ingrid Goes West has aged exceptionally well since it was released nearly 8 years ago. The leaders of the ensemble cast (Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Wyatt Russell, Billy Magnussen) all deliver powerhouse performances, the script is sharp and hilarious, and the ending is a perfect albeit depressing encapsulation of the damage these fucking apps have done to people's psyches.  

Bottom Feeder: Brightburn (2019)

"What if Superman turned out to be evil" is an intriguing hook for a horror-driven take on the superhero genre. Unfourtnately, that great premise is completely wasted here. Outside of some gnarly gore in the second half, Brightburn doesn't do much right as budgetary constraints and silly, half-baked script from James Gunn's brother Brian and cousin Mark prevent the film from taking advantage of its cool setup.    

Most Underrated: Ingrid Goes West (2017)

As the longtime leader of the Ingrid Goes West fan club, all I'll say here that I didn't say above is that I believe that this film is a masterpiece and hope more people will check it out in the future.

Most Overrated: Joy Ride (2023)

While this is admittedly a bit unfair since Joy Ride completely bombed at the box office, I elected to put it here as the film generated a ton of critical buzz following its premiere at SXSW a few months before it was released. Adele Lim's buddy road comedy flys high at times with its string of hilarious vulgar gags and main cast (Ashley Park, Sherry Colla, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu) that complements each other perfectly, but ends up falling short of the greatness it regularly flirts with courtesy of an inconsistent joke hit rate outside of its bigger, more outrageous moments and dramatic final act that fails to generate its intended emotional impact.