Jay Roach 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 Jay Roach-whose latest project "The Roses" releases in theaters on Thursday. 

Jay Roach's Filmography Ranked:

10.Dinner for Schmucks (B)

9.The Campaign (B)

8.Mystery, Alaska (B)

7.Trumbo (B)

6.Bombshell (B)

5.Meet the Fockers (B)

4.Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (B+)

3.Austin Powers in Goldmember (B+)

2.Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (B+)

1.Meet the Parents (A)

Top Dog: Meet the Parents (2000)

Has Meet the Parents aged well? No clue as I haven't seen the whole thing in at least 17 years. What I will say is that it was a movie that I watched regularly as a teenager, and it made me laugh my ass off every single time. Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro have a perfect adversarial comedic dynamic and the situational comedy that arises from its premise of Stiller's affable yet bumbling nurse character trying to impress his girlfriend's (Teri Polo) intimidating ex-CIA father (De Niro) while staying at their home for the week leading up to her younger sister's (Nicole DeHuff) wedding is top notch.

Bottom Feeder: Dinner for Schmucks (2010)

Dinner for Schmucks isn't even close to being a bad comedy (Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell are very good doing dumb comedy together!), it just has the misfortune of being less funny than the rest of the movies Roach has made over the course of his career. 

Most Underrated: Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Goldmember has long been viewed as the clear weakest entry in the Austin Powers series, and I've never agreed with that consensus opinion. Michael Caine is a great addition to the franchise as Austin's estranged father Nigel, the hit rate of the bits is high (the statue scene still kills me) and above all, it wraps up the trilogy on a fitting, satisfying note. I'll probably come to cherish it even more when Mike Myers elects to make an underwhelming legacy sequel within the next 5 years. 

Most Overrated: None

A fascinating thing about Roach's filmography is that it's effectively immune from having a film that's overrated if you're a fan of Meet the Parents and Austin Powers like am I. Beyond those films, he's alternated between making pretty innocuous comedies that have kind of faded away with time (Mystery, Alaska, The Campaign, Dinner for Schmucks), two relatively polarizing dramas (Trumbo, Bombshell) and a couple of sequels to his beloved comedies (Meet the Fockers, Austin Powers in Goldmember) that people felt weren't on the levels of their predecessors. Barring an unexpected wave of widespread acclaim for The Roses, he should be able to further extend that streak, so congrats to him on this relatively impressive yet completely meaningless subjective achievement.