30. Phil Weston — “Kicking & Screaming” (2005)
Sadly not the Noah Baumbach picture that it shares a name with, this is deservedly one of Ferrell’s more forgotten star vehicles. A half-baked riff on “The Bad News Bears” that sees Ferrell’s mild-mannered suburban dad coach a kids’ soccer team of misfits to get revenge on his competitive dad (Robert Duvall).
It’s formulaic and not especially funny stuff, and the film’s never off
the chain to the extent that it plays to its star’s strengths.
29. Mary Katherine Gallagher’s Subconscious Idea of Jesus — “Superstar” (1999)
The larger part Ferrell played in this ‘SNL’-stable Molly Shannon
vehicle, was as her high school crush Sky (see above). But more fun than
that rather bland character, and one of the few bright spots in a poor
movie, was Ferrell as a vision of Jesus that visits Mary on several
occasions. It’s a little more lunatic, and a little more silly, and
therefore takes the edge off the sour notes the film hits all over the
place elsewhere.
28. Bob Woodward — “Dick” (1999)
After Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, there was… “The Kids In The Hall”’s Bruce McCulloch and Ferrell. The two comedians play Watergate reporters Bernstein and Woodward in Andrew Fleming’s sporadically enjoyable, but very silly period satire, that sees air-headed teens Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams turn Deep Throat for the “All The President’s Men” authors. Ferrell’s smart enough not to do a Robert Redford impression, and though he doesn’t have all that much to play with, he and McCulloch are among the most enjoyable elements of the film.
27. Jackie Moon — “Semi-Pro” (2008)
The third and least of Ferrell’s mid-00s sports comedy trilogy, though at least providing Ferrell with a more natural showcase, this is a period basketball comedy that sees Ferrell’s gimmick-loving owner-manager attempting to win his team of losers a place in the NBA. It’s very much in the Adam McKay mold without the magic, and has a few funny bits, but it’s lazy and undisciplined more often than not, and Moon’s not a distinct enough character to stand apart from his predecessors.
26. Armando — “Casa de mi Padre” (2012)
This oddball Spanish-language telenovela parody looked promising on paper, but sadly proved to be one of those films that worked better as a trailer than as a full movie. Ferrell stars as a Mexican rancher in love with his brother’s fiance who clashes with a drug dealer (Gael García Bernal). He is committed and gets some new notes to play, but the film simply doesn’t have enough to it to qualify as more than an over-extended Funny Or Die skit.
25. Lance DeLune — “The Ladies Man” (2000)
An ‘SNL’-spin off giving a big-screen showcase to the show’s longtime star Tim Meadows, this had about the same kind of fate as 95% of the ‘SNL’ spin-off movies… The film provided Ferrell his first chance at a villainous role, as the leader of a cuckolded group of men out for revenge on Meadows’ titular sex expert, but there’s not all that much to the role bar a one-joke homoerotic wrestling obsession, though he’s having some fun with it.
24. Federal Wildlife Marshall Willenholly — “Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back” (2001)
Marking the exact point at which Kevin Smith started to transform from promising comic voice to self-regarding in-joke machine (though it has some good gags, mainly involving Ben Affleck and Matt Damon), this had Ferrell as the title character’s adversary, a bumbling Wildlife Marshall who has some difficulty with species recognition. Ferrell has more luck than most at actually wringing some laughs out of the material, but much better was to come.
23. Cam Brady — “The Campaign” (2012)
Yeah, remember this? This was a movie! It saw Ferrell as a popular
congressman who suddenly faces unexpected competition in the shape of Zach Galifianakis’
oddball local. Timed to the real-life election, it’s essentially a
chance for Ferrell to take his Dubya impression to the big-screen, which
was welcome, but a bit late, and while it scores some good blows on the
Koch Brothers, never really melded the broad comedy and the more
ambitious satire.
22. Hobie — “Melinda & Melinda” (2004)
In Woody Allen’s curious experiment, which takes the same character and tells two stories, one comedy, one tragedy, Ferrell (filling in for an uninsurable Robert Downey Jr.) plays the traditional Allen surrogate, as a struggling actor in love with Radha Mitchell’s title character. He does a decent job, but mostly proves a slightly awkward fit for the verbosity of Allen’s dialogue. Still better than Kenneth Branagh in “Celebrity,” though.
21. Damien Weebs — “Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie” (2012)
Ferrell’s always proven willing to lend a hand to comedy stars further down the ladder than him, and popped up for a brief cameo in the big-screen debut of cult favorites Tim & Eric. It’s something of a love-it-or-hate-it movie, but Ferrell fits nicely into the duo’s anti-comedy world, and reunites with John C. Reilly for one of the film’s funniest scenes.
