Over the past four decades, Ivan Reitman has been one of the most successful directors/producers in Hollywood. After producing National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978, Reitman directed a string of successful comedies beginning with Meatballs in 1979, Stripes in 1981, and in 1984, he scored the second highest-grossing movie of the year with the landmark horror-comedy Ghostbusters.
While he continued to direct comedies through the 1990s and 2000s, Reitman also focused more on producing the work of fellow filmmakers such as his son, Jason Reitman. That said, Ivan Reitman is poised to helm Triplets, the long-awaited sequel to his 1988 comedy Twins.
Evolution (2001) 44%
A mysterious alien invasion is played for laughs in Reitman's Evolution, an expensive sci-fi comedy that largely failed to resonate among most film critics and general audiences alike.
The $80 million spectacle concerns an alien life form that continues to evolve and grow inside the meteor it hitched a ride to Earth inside. As the organism threatens human life, it's up to college professors Ira (David Duchovny) and Harry (Orlando Jones) and a bumbling fire cadet Wayne (Seann William Scott) to quell the incursion before it's too late.
Twins (1988) 44%
Despite the underwhelming Rotten Tomatoes rating, Reitman's Twins is one of the most lucrative movies of his directorial career. The film cost $15 million to make and earned more than $215 million worldwide.
The high-concept comedy stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as a pair of estranged biological twins who were separated at birth. Jules (Arnie) is an educated physical paragon, while Vincent (DeVito) is a low-life criminal with poor genetics. As the two get entangled with the mob over a stolen jet engine, the two kindred spirits begin to love each other like brothers.
No Strings Attached (2011) 49%
Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman star as Adam and Emma, two casual young lovers who arrange a series of sexcapades with No Strings Attached.
The recipe to avoid feeling love for one another works for a while, but when Adam takes Emma to meet his family during a beachfront vacation, their relationship inevitably takes the next step no matter who much they want to deny it. The film was Reitman's last financially successful film, grossing roughly $150 million globally.
Kindergarten Cop (1990) 50%
In the second of three comedies that Reitman directed Schwarzenegger, Kindergarten Cop is the highest-rated according to Rotten Tomatoes. The film sees Arnold as an LAPD officer going undercover as a kindergarten teacher in order to put away a drug kingpin.
John Kimble's (Schwarzenegger) new assignment takes him to Astoria, Oregon where he is faced with disciplining a classroom full of unruly five-year-olds in the attempt to dig dirt from a drug dealer's wife.
Ghostbusters II (1989) 53%
Five years after scoring the biggest success of his filmmaking career, Reitman did all he could to recreate the magic with Ghostbusters II. Despite the critical and commercial drop-off, the film still earned over $215 million in cumulative worldwide grosses.
Plot-wise, ghostbusters Venkman (Bill Murray), Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) return to rid NYC of supernatural activity when a river of ectoplasm is discovered in the sewers below the city.
Draft Day (2014) 59%
The last Reitman-directed film to be released was Draft Day in 2014, a film revolving around the Cleveland Browns NFL selection of college football players to the pro ranks.
Kevin Costner stars as Sonny Weaver in the film, the Browns' General Manager whose entire career is on the line with the upcoming NFL draft. The team owner (Frank Langella) wants Sonny to draft a franchise quarterback who may have character issues off the field, while Sonny wants to pick the surefire All-Pro linebacker Vontae Mack (Chadwick Boseman).
Meatballs (1979) 72%
Reitman scored his first directorial hit with the summer-camp comedy Meatballs, a film that turned a budget of roughly $1 million into a $43 million moneymaker. The film also marked the first creative collaboration between Reitman and star Bill Murray.
In Meatballs, a slew of goofy and fun-loving camp counselors who preside over unruly teenagers during one summer. Much of the drama concerns Rudy, a loner who doesn't quite fit in with his rowdy contemporaries. Rudy is befriended by Tip (Murray), who teaches the kid how to loosen up and enjoy himself no matter his surroundings.
Stripes (1981) 86%
In the classic combat comedy Stripes, taxi-driver John Winger (Bill Murray) and his part-time teacher pal Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) join the army with nothing better to do in life. Hilarious hijinks ensue when they meet their fellow soldiers and humorless Drill Seargent Hulka (Warren Oates).
As John and Russell slack off during basic training, their irresponsible behavior leads to an unnecessary skirmish with the Germans when taking a new assault vehicle for a test drive through Europe. Stripes turned a $10 million price-tag into an $85 million hit.
Dave (1993) 95%
Reitman earned some of the highest praise of his career following the release of Dave, a warm-hearted comedy about a presidential lookalike thrust into running the country.
Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) is an ordinary temp agency owner who happens to identically resemble U.S. President Bill Micthell (also played by Kline). When Mitchell suffers a massive stroke that puts him in a coma, Dave is asked to fill in to maintain public appearances. However, when Dave begins running the country more effectively than the actual president and begins falling for the First Lady Ellen (Sigourney Weaver) in the process, the country is put in an even more precarious position.
Ghostbusters (1984) 97%
According to Rotten Tomatoes and nearly every other rating aggregator, Ghostbusters is easily Ivan Reitman's finest cinematic achievement to date. The film has not only become a pop-cultural mainstay that spawned sequels, cartoons, remakes, and the like, but it was also the second most lucrative Hollywood movie of 1984.
Ghostbusters follows a rag-tag team of scientists who, upon being kicked out of their researching role at university, start a business ridding supernatural activity in New York City. Their business becomes an instant success, leading to their celebrity status as they entrap evil spirits inside a large container grid.