The best Will Ferrell movies

Now, we are admittedly cataloging the best movies that Will Ferrell is in, not just the best “Will Ferrell” movies. He’s not prolific enough for such a list, especially since, well, there are several dicey comedy movies in the mix (“Holmes and Watson” anyone?). Ferrell has a brief role in the first Austin Powers movie, as well as the hit sequel “The Spy Who Shagged Me.” For us, the first film is decidedly better. It’s a clever spy spoof, whereas the sequel is a clearing house for overworked jokes.

“Dick” is an underrated ‘90s comedy. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams play two bubbly teenagers who end up uncovering Watergate and taking down Dan Hedaya’s Nixon. Ferrell has a tertiary role as Bob Woodward, but he’s good in the movie, and this is a fun one.

Alright, now Ferrell was getting to really show out a bit. He’s in a secondary role in “Zoolander,” but he’s the villain and it was his biggest movie role to this point. Mugatu is a silly character in a stupid movie, but “Zoolander” is wonderfully stupid and Mugatu is delightfully silly. This is a cult classic for a reason.

Ferrell’s first two lead roles came in 2003. You won’t see “Old School” on this list, and it is not an accidental omission. “Elf” gave Ferrell an even more central role, and it paid off big time. This helped make Ferrell a viable movie star. “Elf” is the only addition to the Christmas canon to date released in the new millennium (though weirdly the animated “The Grinch” seems to be making a push).

Now Ferrell was off and running. “Anchorman” is on the Mount Rushmore of 2000s comedies. It’s a defining film of the era in that genre. For better or worse, “Anchorman” paved the way for the path that comedy on the big screen would take. This particular movie, though, deserves its place in the canon, and Ron Burgundy is deservedly an iconic character.

As you are about to see, Ferrell got into a real “sporting idiot” zone for a while. He played a few brash, uncouth athletes over the next decade or so. The spark for that came from “Talladega Nights,” where the whole thing worked. This also began the process of pairing Ferrell with John C. Reilly, which also became commonplace and also delivered mixed results (once again, “Holmes and Watson” anyone?).

You know, the fact that “Blades of Glory” fits comfortably into Ferrell’s top movies, especially of those he had a sizable role in, really has us rethinking his career. This movie is pretty funny. A solid B-minus. Worth watching on Comedy Central. That is far from remarkable, though. Ferrell plays, well, a brash, uncouth figure skater. Jon Heder co-stars. That really sets this film in a specific era.

“Semi-Pro” is better than “Blades of Glory,” so there’s that. Set at the end of the ABA era, Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, something of a one-man band for the Flint Tropics, a team fighting the odds to get the call to join the NBA when the league folds. Maybe it’s the retro vibe of it all that gives it a bit more juice, but whatever it is, there’s at least some energy to “Semi-Pro.”

On the one hand, some people are too into “Step Brothers.” It’s not just that they think it’s one of the best comedies ever made. It’s the whole “Catalina Wine Mixer” of it all. There’s an unpleasantness underneath the enthusiasm. On the other hand, “Step Brothers” is very funny. It’s formless. It’s just a bunch of silly nonsense. And yet, there are so many strong jokes in this raunchy slice of stupidity. Pump your brakes, perhaps, but we do agree there is a lot to like here.

“The Other Guys” featured director Adam McKay dipping his toe into the trajectory that would derail his career, at least in terms of quality. Any path that leads to “Don’t Look Up” is a fraught one. However, “The Other Guys” is really good. Mark Wahlberg and Ferrell make a good team in an action-comedy. This is the only pairing of those two on this list, though. “Daddy’s Home 2” has Mel Gibson in it. What a weird decision.

Ferrell tried some stuff. He did some high-concept, “serious” comedies. Proper dramedies, even. They largely don’t work. “Winter Passing” is pretty dreadful. “Stranger Than Fiction” is spotty. “Everything Must Go” is the version of this that works the best. It’s based on a Raymond Carver short story and is pretty straightforward without being overwrought. The movie was also a flop, which may have scared either Ferrell or studios away from such films.

By 2010, animated films had fully adopted the policy of casting big names to do voiceover work as opposed to, you know, voice actors. “Megamind” was a successful foray for Ferrell, though. He played the titular anti-hero. The conceit is relatively clever. Megamind successfully vanquishes his nemesis but then builds up a new hero to be his nemesis until that backfires, and this expected hero becomes a villain that Megamind needs to stop.

“Anchorman 2” is meandering. It has a real, “What about this?” energy. The sequel, like “The Spy Who Shagged Me” suffers a bit from “Let’s do the same thing, but more. Like, way too much.” All that said, it’s got a lot of funny in it. More than we expected, to be honest. Fortunately, they didn’t try for a third, because that probably wouldn’t have panned out.

While “The Lego Movie” is not a Ferrell movie, he is at the heart of this ensemble. Plus (spoiler-ish) he has multiple roles. “The Lego Movie” was always likely to look cool, but Phil Lord and Christopher Miller actually managed to make it work as a movie. That’s how it became a huge hit and spawned a sequel as well as spinoffs both of the film and TV variety.

Since “Anchorman 2” this is as close as Ferrell has gotten to having a successful, hit comedy with him in a lead role. It’s the best “Will Ferrell movie.” It’s also a Netflix movie that is not one of its most popular efforts. “Eurovision Song Contest” is more interesting as a reflection of the decline of the comedy movie, which is mostly extinct now. It’s even a quasi-IP version of that as well, since it rides the coattails of Eurovision. Ferrell was once the biggest comedy star in the world, but he was not immune to the changing landscapes.

Thus, we end with a movie that Ferrell has a secondary but strong role in. Greta Gerwig got the best we’ve seen out of Ferrell in a while in his role as the CEO of Mattel. “Barbie” was also a massive success. It’s also a complete-and-utter IP movie that surely made Mattel extremely happy. Ferrell is still going down the road of streaming service comedy movies, and he’s doing the “sporting idiot” thing in a TV series called “Golf.” Occasionally, though, he will hopefully get to cook like he did in “Barbie.”