Vince Vaughn 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 Vince Vaughn-whose latest project "Nonnas" is now streaming on Netflix. 

Vince Vaughn's Filmography Ranked:

26.Be Cool (F)

25.The Dilemma (D+)

24.The Break-Up (C-)

23.Mr. & Mrs. Smith (C)

22.Queenpins (C)

21.Wake Up, Ron Burgundy (C+)

20.Unfinished Business (C+)

19.The Binge (B-)

18.The Watch (B-)

17.Delivery Man (B-)

16.The Internship (B-)

15.Swingers (B-)

14.Clay Pigeons (B-)

13.The Cell (B-)

12.Fighting with My Family (B)

11.Seberg (B)

10.The Lost World: Jurassic Park (B)

9.Old School (B)

8.Wedding Crashers (B)

7.Brawl in Cell Block 99 (B)

6.Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (B)

5.Starsky & Hutch (B+)

4.Hacksaw Ridge (B+)

3.Freaky (B+)

2.Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (B+)

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

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

As we approach the 21st anniversary of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, it's hard for me to not continue to be in awe of this film. This is one of those touch the sun comedies that has alluded the cruel aging process that haunts the genre through the sheer force of its brilliant absurdity and the great lengths everyone involved with this project goes to play it up. When we look back on the seemingly dead creative partnership between Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, this will stand alone as the most valuable gem in a vault full of comedic jewels. 

Bottom Feeder: Be Cool (2005)

Quite a few of the members of the huge ensemble cast of Be Cool have starred in some huge pieces of shit over the years-particularly John Travolta and Uma Thurman who have been largely relegated to the VOD circuit in recent years, but I'd argue that none of these efforts are as agonizingly awful as Be Cool. The ill-conceived loose sequel to the 1995 cult hit Get Shorty is the ultrarare comedy full of jokes that are so relentlessly lazy and deeply unfunny that it's hard to not feel kind of bad for everybody who attached their names to such a humiliating disgrace to the medium.        

Most Underrated: Freaky (2020)

This could just as easily go to Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, but I've written enough about that one often enough of late that I felt compelled to switch it up here. Freaky was one of those movies that just got lost in the void of the COVID lockdown (it got released in theaters in November 2020 before bowing on VOD a few weeks later) and has kind of struggled to find an audience since. What's particularly unfortunate about its fate is that it's easily one of the best slasher movies to come out in the past 10-15 years. The whole serial killer/high school girl body swap device that drives the plot works really well due to how seamlessly Vaughn and Kathryn Newton flip between both sides of this tricky character dynamic, nearly all of the kills are creative, gnarly home runs and like all of Christopher Landon's best movies, it bowls you over with its pure heart when you least expect it.     

Most Overrated: Swingers (1996)

While Swingers is a fine enough buddy comedy that's driven by the good chemistry that exists between Vaughn and Jon Favreau, its status as a comedy classic has always mystified me, particularly since it came out around the same time as way funnier, sharper movies that were part of the same subgenre (Friday, Clerks, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion).