Will Ferrell’s Top 5 Films & Top 5 Characters
Written By Nick Doll and David Kozlowski
With Daddy’s Home 2 now in theaters, ’tis the season of Will Ferrell. In celebration of Ferrell’s latest comedy, today we will be ranking both Ferrell’s Top 5 Best Movies as well as his Top 5 Best Characters from film.
Ferrell got his start on Saturday Night Live, playing a number of memorable characters from his take on Robert Goulet, to a killer impression of Harry Caray, regular appearance hosting SNL’s parody of Celebrity Jeopardy as Alex Trebek, a cheerleader named Craig alongside Cheri Oteris’ Arianna, a club dancer alongside Chris Kattan, one of a pair of hot tub lovers, and of course, a pivotal parody of George W. Bush.
Leaving the show in 2002, Ferrell has gone on to become the most famous SNL graduate of the 21st century, starring in countless films, all the while creating a number of new characters that are just as memorable as the ones from SNL, only now with the ability to carry the weight of a feature film (mostly… mostly…). While peers such as Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, and Amy Poehler have gone on to appear in several movies, have had their own TV shows, and produced many others, none have the sheer star power of Will Ferrell, who is quite good at getting butts into seats with his unique brand of silly, goofy, and often stupid comedy, with a focus on the man-child.
Ferrell has also had moderate success in a few more dramatic films, but this type of stupid, yet remarkably brilliant comedy has defined his career. He can play aggressive or sweet. Confident or cowardly. Loud or… well, loud. So, let’s take a look at the best of Will Ferrell!
Will Ferrell’s Top 5 Movies
Written by David Kozlowski
5. Step Brothers (2008)
For everyone who’s had a sibling that was a complete and total bastard, Step Brothers was made specifically for you. This film is essentially a horrifying character-study of two grown men who act like complete assholes to one another, often taken to such extremes that it’s hard to watch (there’s a sequence that involves a drum set and a specific set of body-parts… like I said, hard to watch). And yet, despite the unending stream of profanity and dirty tricks, these two become friends… and that’s when the sh*t really hits the fan.
Ferrell and his co-star, John C. Reilly, channel their worst infantile tendencies through most of the film (let’s assume this isn’t who they truly are, deep down). At times the comedy goes beyond absurd into full-on surreal, which strains credulity when everything else in this movie wants to convey some kind of recognizable reality. Step Brothers comes across as mean-spirited and bitter more often than not, but damned if it isn’t incredibly funny too. If you’re a Ferrell fan, you need to see this movie… but maybe just the one time (and then turn on Elf, you’ll feel a lot better about yourself).
4. The LEGO Movie (2014)
Most Will Ferrell movies have one thing in common: a lot of heart, but not much soul. The LEGO Movie isn’t really even Ferrell’s film, but his presence and influence permeates every single moment of the comedy. This is a movie about childhood creativity and imagination, but it’s also about growing up and accepting responsibility. Sounds like a “message” film, right? Hardly. The LEGO Movie is wall-to-wall insanity, which includes the definitive Hollywood Batman, and a cast of ridiculous characters engaged in a string of non-stop gags. The LEGO Movie is incredibly funny, until it gets deadly serious.
Obviously, The LEGO Movie is an animated film, but it’s also book-ended with live-action sequences, which remind the audience that this is a story playing-out inside one little boy’s basement as much as within his imagination. Ferrell plays the evil President/Lord Business, who is also connected to the boy in the real-world (I won’t say how, it would spoil the greatness of this movie for anyone who somehow hasn’t seen it yet). This movie pokes fun a pop-culture with its superhero, sci-fi, and historical characters, but it’s really an allegory about the sad, rigidity of the adult world. Ferrell brings his typical manic qualities to the animated sequences, but in the live-action section he’s very much human. The ending of this film is genius and honest and sincere… It’s one of Ferrell’s most understated roles (as a human… as a LEGO character he’s completely nuts).
3. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
The city of San Diego doesn’t get a lot of run in the movies, but it will forever be known as the home of Ron Burgundy, the scotch-swilling, blowhard-king of local TV legend. Anchorman is both a send-up of the male-dominated, 1970s broadcast news and an opportunity for Ferrell to engage in his trademark buffoonery, which includes a truly inspired “gang fight” between rival San Diego news teams.
Ferrell stars as Burgundy, but his supporting cast, which includes Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate, and Steve Carrell nearly steal the show. While the premise is brilliant, the film lags at times and feels like an overstretched SNL skit (it kinda is) — including a bunch of Ferrell’s all-time best, cringe-worthy moments. Anchorman is simple, dumb fun; best enjoyed by powering-down your brain for the duration, which is also a great definition of Ron Burgundy himself, and I’m sure he’d appreciate the non-compliment.
2. Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby (2006)
If there’s one truism in Will Ferrell’s movie career it’s that all of his characters are dopey idiots with a heart of fool’s gold. Ferrell plays Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR racing legend, who lives the life of a driver 24-7, right down to the KFC and 2-liter Cokes on the dinner table. Bobby is an unapologetic redneck, loudmouth, but he’s also a loving father and husband.
It’s the kind of complete role immersion that has defined Ferrell’s career. The movie is equal parts parody and homage — his portrayal of Bobby is at times so authentically absurd that it’s impossible to listen to with actual driver interview and keep a straight face. It’s impossible to say whether or not Talladega Nights helped or harmed NASCAR as a sport, but it certainly embraced its more surreal nature.
1. Elf (2003)
Hollywood has a great tradition of holiday films (Miracle on 34th St., It’s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story). It’s one of the great silly, sappy movie genres, which many folks look forward to around this time each year. However, while many of these films tend to focus on everyday folks enjoying (or enduring) time spent with family, there’s the alternative holiday films that explore the odder side of Christmas, including Will Ferrell’s strangest, yet most compelling role yet.
Jon Favreau’s Elf turned the camera around to explore workplace conditions at the North Pole. Santa’s workshop is a strange, factory environment that combines toy-making magic with daily quotas, and it’s also the home to a misfit human who is raised by Santa’s elves. For Will Ferrell, this was an opportunity to lean into his childish nature and extract one of the sweetest and most earnest roles in his career. Elf was an instant classic upon it’s release, and it’s mandatory viewing in my family each year.
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Will Ferrell’s Top 5 Characters
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Will Ferrell’s Top 5 Characters
Written by Nick Doll
There may be a little bit of overlap, as one of Ferrell’s best characters is absolutely allowed to come from one of his best movies. That being said, some of his best characters could come from a bad movie, as here I will be looking solely at the character and not judging any films as a whole. Besides, part of the fun in examining his best characters is including smaller roles and cameos among the starring, career defining characters that we know and love Will Ferrell from.
5. Chazz Reinhold, Wedding Crashers (2005)
A small role, but perhaps one of Will Ferrell’s most quotable ones. In Wedding Crashers, John (Owen Wilson) checks in with the man who inspired him and his best friend Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) to try the art of crashing weddings to bed attractive women. What John finds is a man in his pajamas, wielding nun-chucks, now crashing funerals and living in his mother’s house. In fact, John shows up just as Chazz is dismissing an attractive woman, way outside Ferrell’s league, telling John, “Yeah, her boyfriend just died. Dude died in a hang-gliding accident! What an idiot!”
It’s one of Ferrell’s most hilarious roles, ranking lower on the list because of it’s brevity, which in the case of this role is also a blessing. I don’t think we’d want to spend an entire movie with Chazz, but a few minutes is welcome, in an otherwise overrated movie. There’s nothing quite like watching Chazz yell at his mom for meatloaf for his guest, all the while informing John, “What is she doing back there? I never know what she’s doing!”
These quotes may not read as hilarious, but that is part of the magic of Will Ferrell; his inflection and ability to shout in a comedic manner can bring great humor to otherwise pedestrian dialogue.
4. Mustafa, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) & Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Another small role in what certainly would not qualify as an actual Will Ferrell movie.
Did you forget Will Ferell was in the Austin Powers franchise? I almost did! That’s not to say the role is forgettable, but it is the one on this list that goes back the farthest, as Ferrell appeared in second Austin Powers film, The Spy Who Shagged me in 1999, while he was still on SNL.
In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, poor Mustafa is dropped into a pit of death when Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) isn’t happy with his results, with the flip of a supervillain’s switch that plunges Mustafa’s chair into a fiery pit. Surviving the fall, and the flames, Mustafa cries out for help in only a way Ferrell can. All the comedy comes from Ferrell’s voice, no visual humor here as we watch Dr. Evil and his team listen to the drama below, as Mustafa is overjoyed when someone opens the door to “rescue him.” Things quickly turn as Mustafa realizes his would be rescuer is there to finish the job:
“You shot me!… You shot me right in the arm!”
Mustafa’s tragedy does not end there, as when Austin Powers (also Mike Myers) travels back in time in The Spy Who Shagged Me, he again encounters Dr. Evil’s henchman, who give you even the most sensitive information if you ask him any question three times, that is, if you don’t start a new line of questioning. Mustafa takes a tumble off a cliff, again allowing Ferrell’s voice to provide all the comedy, declaring he has broken legs. Of course he checks each one — yup, they’re both broken — to more delightful shouts: one of Ferrell’s strengths.
3. Jacobim Mugatu, Zoolander (2001) & Zoolander 2 (2016)
This is Ferrell’s most delightfully weird character on the list, even more of an oddball than Ron Burgundy, with his ridiculous haircut and plan to hypnotize Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) so he will assassinate the Malaysian Prime Minister.
Though he too is a pawn, this time instead of playing a supervillain’s henchman, Ferrell gets to play the supervillain, who also seems to be obsessed with Zoolander’s biggest rival, Hansel (Owen Wilson), who is “so hot right now.” Ferrell may also be playing his smartest character, in a world just as stupid and ridiculous as that from Anchorman or Austin Powers. After all, though he arranges a fashion show called “derelicte,” with clothes inspired by the homeless, he is the only one to realize Zoolander always delivers the same look and is able to differentiate a model from an actual building. Though Mugatu isn’t as stupid as the average Will Ferrell character (I still wouldn’t call him smart), his sheer ridiculousness and willingness to take it over-the-top still makes Mugatu a character deserving of this list.
Ferrell is also Zoolander 2’s only redeeming aspect. Though it takes the film long enough to get to him, nearly every scene with Mugatu is a delight, with Ferrell and director Ben Stiller taking the character into even wackier territory than before, with more outlandish costumes, a very silly escape from fashion prison, and the film’s funniest scene where he again dresses like a child from our nightmares in order to fatten up Derek’s child, Derek Jr. (Cyrus Arnold).
2. Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burdgundy (2004) & Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2014)
I mean, what can be said about Ferrell’s signature character, Ron Burgundy, that hasn’t been said already? He may not be my favorite Will Ferrell character, but he is certainly the most defining one, basically cementing Will Ferrell’s stardom.
I would rank him as the least intelligent character on this list, an impressive feat, leading to most the character’s humor. It is a combination of Burgundy being successful, yet an idiot, arrogant, and absolutely sexist that makes Burgundy the most memorable and career defining character in Ferrell’s repertoire. Burgundy gets to have the best shouting matches, engages in the most physical in scenes such as the news team rumble, and reminds his dog that he can’t speak Spanish, all the while delivering the news with a certain level of professionalism… or not.
His collaboration creating the character with Adam McKay opened the door for more classic Will Ferrell characters (that didn’t make my list), including Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights, Brennan Huff from Step Brothers, and Allen Gamble from The Other Guys, along with many other characters that share Rob Burgundy’s traits, but come from working with other directors.
And though Achorman 2: The Legend Continues was a dud, even the commercials Ferrell did for the film and other brands in character as Ron Burgundy are pretty hilarious.
I still quote Ron Burgundy thirteen years later, and I’m sure I’ll let one last quote slip when I’m on my death bed.
1. Frank “The Tank” Ricard, Old School (2003)
The world of Old School is the one most set in reality on this list. Sure, the film is full of ridiculous characters and situations, but in this world a fall off a cliff would kill you (assuming you don’t have a cinder block attached to your you-know-what), the fashion industry is not part of a giant conspiracy (as far as we know), and falling into a bear exhibit at the zoo would not end in anyone being saved by a dog that can talk to bears.
Still, Ferrell still gets to be the silliest and most stupid character in Old School with the biggest laughs, playing Frank “The Tank” Ricard, legendary from his drinking days, but trying to lay off alcohol at the request of his new wife. Of course, this promise quickly falls to the wayside after the first party he attends at his friend Mitch’s (Luke Wilson) new house just outside campus. He tries to object the offer of hitting a beer bong at first, explaining he has, “a pretty nice little Saturday” planned for the next day, where he and his wife will be going to Home Depot and “maybe Bed, Bath & Beyond” if they’ll have enough time. But, “once it hits your lips, it’s so good,” and he again earns the title Frank the Tank, destroying his marriage in the process.
Ferrell gets to go streaking, tackle pledges, threaten a pledge’s wife, referee a KY Jelly wrestling match, honor his boy Blue at Blue’s funeral by singing “Dust in the Wind,” tranquilize himself and ruin a child’s birthday party, and win a debate against James Carville in the film’s finale. Oh, and he botches a jump though a ring of fire in a mascot’s costume. All scenarios showcase Will Ferrell at his best and most hilarious, making Frank his best role to date!
What are your favorite Will Ferrell films and/or characters? I know we missed a lot; it’s hard to narrow Ferrell’s career to five characters and five movies, but what do you feel like we missed? Or, what do you think doesn’t belong on the list? Let’s have a discussion in the comment section below!
Daddy’s Home 2 is in theaters now!
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