The Best and Worst of Bill Hader (2019)

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “It: Chapter Two” star Bill Hader.

Films starring Bill Hader that I've seen:
You, Me and Dupree
Knocked Up
Hot Rod
Superbad
The Brothers Solomon
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Pineapple Express
Tropic Thunder
Adventureland
Year One
Paul
Men in Black III
Monsters University 
The To Do List
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Her
They Came Together
The Skeleton Twins
Inside Out
Trainwreck
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Sausage Party
Finding Dory
Power Rangers
Toy Story 4

Best Performance: The Skeleton Twins (2014)
Craig Johnson's wildly underrated dramedy The Skeleton Twins proved to be the ideal platform for Hader to demonstrate that he's much more than just a scene-stealing comedian and renowned impressionist. As a man who moves in with his estranged twin sister (Kristen Wiig-also fantastic) following a suicide attempt, he gives a raw, fearless and revelatory performance that made me wish he tackled serious roles more often.

Worst Performance: Men in Black III (2012)
Hader is so naturally funny that failure almost seems inconceivable. Men in Black III proved it was possible. His extended cameo as an alien-hunting version of Andy Warhol is a spirited, but ultimately unsuccessful exaggerated take on the famous painter.  

Best Film: Superbad (2007)
Superbad has been revisited a bit of late in the wake of fellow teen party comedy Booksmart's runaway critical success, which makes me glad because I will take any excuse I can get to bask in the timeless glory of this movie. Superbad was to me what Booksmart will likely end up being for people that are between the ages of 14 and 18 right now. It's a really warm, relatable movie about maintaining a friendship as the burdens of the real world start to creep into a young person's life that also happens to be an over-the-top vulgar comedy with no shortage of vibrant side characters, insane narrative detours and big laughs. I don't want to sound like a condescending dick that's writing off every future entry in the genre, but I know deep down that another high school comedy won't ever connect with me like Superbad did.  

Worst Film: Year One (2009)
It's a damn shame that this ended up being Harold Ramis' final project. Outside of a tremendous scene with David Cross and Paul Rudd as Cain and Abel, Year One is an inexplicably unfunny Biblical-era comedy that sinfully wastes an outstanding ensemble cast (Jack Black, Michael Cera, Olivia Wilde, Hader, Hank Azaria, June Diane Raphael) on trash material.    

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “The Goldfinch” star Jeffrey Wright. 

The Best and Worst of Bill Hader

Film Starring Bill Hader That I've Seen:
You, Me and Dupree
Knocked Up 
Hot Rod
Superbad
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Pineapple Express
Tropic Thunder
Adventureland
Year One
Paul
Men in Black 3
Monsters University
The To-Do List
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
They Came Together 
The Skeleton Twins

Best Film: Superbad (2007)
I'll never forget how hard I laughed when I saw Superbad in the theater on opening weekend in August 2007. Almost seven years after its initial release, the film has aged incredibly well and is somehow even funnier now than it was the first time I saw it. This film's barrage of colorful characters and nearly endless amount of quotable lines paired with a cast of actors that were mostly unknown at the time of release (Hader, Jonah Hill, Emma Stone, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse) giving star-making performances makes Superbad the greatest teen comedy of all-time.

Worst Film: Year One (2009)
The late Harold Ramis was without question one of the finest comedy filmmakers of his generation. During his three-decade long career in comedy he brought the world a number of classics including National Lampoon's Vacation, Groundhog Day and Caddyshack. Unfortunately, his swan song as a filmmaker was not even close to worthy of his rich legacy. Year One squanders a brilliant premise (a pair of Neanderthals are banished from their tribe after eating forbidden fruit and go on to encounter a number of Biblical characters on their journey to find a new home) and excellent cast led by Jack Black, Michael Cera and Olivia Wilde on a film that is almost completely devoid of laughs and is shockingly boring for a slapstick comedy. 

Best Performance: The Skeleton Twins (2014)
After strictly starring in comedies for the first decade of his career, Hader successfully transitioned to drama with his powerhouse performance in The Skeleton Twins. Hader's turn as a gay man who is reunited with his twin sister (Kristen Wiig) after attempting to commit suicide is remarkably powerful and was one of the biggest Academy Award snubs of 2014.  

Worst Performance: Men in Black 3 (2012)
This was a hard choice to make as Hader has never turned in a truly terrible performance up to this point in his career, but his work in Men in Black 3 definitely wasn't up to quality of acting we're used to seeing from him. Hader went a little too overboard with zaniness in his role as a fictionalized version of real-life artist Andy Warhol, who is secretly a member of the titular alien-defense agency, and comes off as more annoying than funny in his brief time on screen. 
  
Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next Week I'll take a look at the best and worst work of Ted 2 star Mark Wahlberg.