Will Ferrell is one of the most well-known actors in comedy. His strange deadpan delivery and uncanny ability to portrayal a character who is simultaneously sympathetically loveable and immediately hateable is impressive, while his control of some of the most uncomfortable situations in comedy history is one of his finest skills.
IMDb can be used to compare some of his most impressive displays of comedic acting brilliance to the five worst films he has ever made an appearance in.
BEST: Megamind (7.2)
One of those classic animated films that suddenly has the ability to attract a world-class voice cast was Megamind. Will Ferrel played the leading role, with the likes of Tina Fey and Brad Pitt dotted around the animated universe.
It doesn’t really look like the sort of thing to have gained an amount of critical success, but thanks to Ferrell’s leading performance and a top-notch script, it was very well received.
WORST: Superstar (5.1)
Before Will Ferrell was known around the world as one of the most prolific, success and funny actors of a generation, he was appearing in very strange stuff like this. Superstar is a Saturday Night Live spinoff film which took a character Molly Shannon frequently brought to sketches, to the big screen. The sketch character obviously should have stayed a sketch character.
BEST: Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (7.2)
One of Ferrell’s most notable roles ever is his portrayal of Ron Burgundy himself. He’s a news anchor, known around the US despite his incompetence and issues with acting like a normal, caring person outside of work.
The first film was hilarious throughout, even if its 2013 sequel was pretty much-derided (and copied most of its plot from Jane Eyre).
WORST: Bewitched (4.8)
Ferrel and Nicole Kidman star in the critical failure, Bewitched. It’s a reimagining of the series of the same name, but puts Ferrel in the role of an actor who realizes his co-star is a witch. It might have done well at the box office, but Ferrel and Kidman won a Golden Raspberry for ‘Worst Screen Couple’.
BEST: Stranger Than Fiction (7.6)
Starring alongside Hollywood royalty such as Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson meant Will Ferrel had to make big waves in this Zach Helm-directed comedy.
Luckily, he put on an excellent performance and helped the film go down in history as a classic, with critics praising everything from its humor to Ferrell’s performance.
WORST: Downhill (4.8)
The most recent Will Ferrel film is Downhill. The now aging comedy actor plays Pete Staunton, one half of a married couple re-evaluating their relationship after a near-death experience. The film’s release was stinted due to COVID-19, but that hasn’t stopped the reviews coming in pretty low. Perhaps if it had been released at a different time, the movie would have gotten more reviews and the rating would have gone up.
Then again, perhaps not.
BEST: The Lego Movie (7.8)
Ferrell both lent his voice to the primary antagonist of The Lego Movie, and lent his likeness to the live-action form of the same character, who ended up simply being the father of a boy playing with Lego.
Considering this is, in essence, a really long advert for a toy, the film received critical acclaim for everything from its comedy and writing, to its voice cast and artistic direction.
WORST: Zoolander 2 (4.7)
Ben Stiller is quite hard to like. He does a good job in Night At The Museum, but his leading role in Zoolander is just a bit difficult to get on board with. Having said that, the first film was successful enough to spawn a sequel. Ferrell plays the main antagonist (in much the same way that he plays most comedic antagonists) and the film was critically panned.
BEST: The Office (8.9)
After Carell left The Office, things went seriously downhill. The success of what was once a monumentally successful and genuinely very, very funny show was left almost exclusively to Ed Helms and Rainn Wilson.
Then, for some reason, Will Ferrel showed up. He was Carell’s replacement for just a few episodes (possibly in an attempt to get the audience on their side and make the transition a little easier) before he was injured on the job and never seen again. It was all very strange.
WORST: Holmes & Watson (3.8)
Known for their brilliant partnership in Step Brothers, nothing could possibly go wrong when Will Ferrell and John C Reilly team up, right? Well, their 2018 comedy attempt at retelling a Sherlock Holmes story certainly didn’t work out. Most of the film was set in London, and as a result, British comedians Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan show up, making it feel like a sitcom more than a Hollywood film, meaning the end result is just very weird.