I find him funny. I enjoy his ability to play the completely self-confident buffoon.
I’m not too worried that anyone else doesn’t like him since “likes Will Ferrell” isn’t a particularly integral part of my overall character.
I like Will Ferrell well enough but I don’t think he adds anything particularly great to any of his roles/movies. I like the silly stupid jokes and crazy humor from time to time (although I seem to be growing out of it a bit). Stranger Than Fiction was a pretty good Will Ferrel movie where he plays a pretty straight character who isn’t too wacky or zany. And it was a decent movie too, I think.
You’re mostly going to get a bunch of people who agree with you in this thread. The people who think he’s hilarious aren’t going to bother wasting their time trying to explain why their taste is different.
You may want to try watching, I dunno, a single movie that he stars in, though. I’m sure you’ll hate it, but at least then your opinion will actually be based on something.
I know better than you what is funny and i say he is funny. I think the main stumbling block here is that you need to acknowledge my superior intellect and knowledge of humor. Once you do that, Ferrell’s funnyness will be really quite obvious.
I usually don’t find him funny but there have been a few exceptions. He was OK in *Elf *and Megamind which the kids enjoy. He was excellent in Stranger than Fiction but in that movie he was acting and not just being another Will Ferrell standard character. Everything else I have seen him in he is just tedious. Back in the SNL days he was quite good as Trebeck in the Jeaparody. Most of his skits sucked though. The cheerleader one was especially painful and I would have to flip away.
But like everyone else is saying, different tastes for different people.
I don’t like most of the Frat Pack’s humor. Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn are especially not funny to me. Though even there Stiller has the exception of the first Night at the Museum movie. On the other hand I really like Jack Black and find his many of his bombs fun. So what do I know?
I never found Elf to be more than watchable. It’s an okay holiday movie but I don’t get people’s devotion to it.
Megamind was really good though. I wrote it off as standard Dreamworks “crap script with stunt casting” schlock but then liked it a lot when I finally saw it.
Anyone see him in ‘Everything Must Go’ or ‘Stranger than Fiction’? What do you think of him as a dramatic actor?
He was very good in Stranger Than Fiction.
In fact, I like him best when he’s understated. Take thelion vs. tuna scene in the Other Guys: it works so well, IMHO, because he’s just talking; he’s not playing a “character”.
I’m curious as to the age of the OP as well as who they do find funny. I won’t try and convince you that Ferrell is funny (I think he is) but it will help give some context to your opinion.
This. Will Farrell’s shtick is basically playing pompous, overconfident, buffoonish man-baby (Anchorman, Old School, Step Brothers). You either think he’s hilarious at it, or you don’t.
He was brilliant in Megamind.
But I liked Anchorman
He’s very hit or miss with me. My husband adores Ron Burgundy, though, so we’ll probably be seeing that. He *was *excellent in Stranger than Fiction (much like Sandler was excellent in Spanglish) and I didn’t mind him in Old School, but mostly I find him something to be tolerated instead of outright enjoyed.
- I think that’s a big factor, since other people I know who like him are around 30, except for the Elf" fan who is in his 50s.
People I find funny: Mitch Hedberg and George Carlin, both of whom have the advantage of being dead. It would probably be more germane to name some contemporaries to Ferrell who I do find funny, so - Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and Cheri Oteri were all on SNL at the same time as Will, and I think all 3 are funny.
I’m not totally averse to 2000s comedy movies, though - I loved Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle - but there aren’t many I like. The Hangover was just OK; again, I have friends in their late 20s and early 30s who thought that was the best movie ever. so there is almost certainly an age gap.
Oh, yeah, I did like Ferrell a lot in Megamind, so he’s not without merit. Maybe I just can’t stand his looks.
Okay, which movie should I see? (Not Anchorman, obviously)
Well, if you don’t like absurdist comedy like Anchorman, I’m not sure you’ll like Elf either – although Elf has a lot more heart than Anchorman, so I could be wrong. Plus, Bob Newhart and Ed Asner.
I liked him in the little-seen La Casa de mi Padre, in which the humor was very understated but could also come across as just a bad Mexican movie.
I saw him in “Everything Must Go.” It was a boring movie, neither helped nor hindered by the presence of Will Ferrell.
I liked “Elf.” That’s the only Will Ferrell movie I like. It’s a good movie for “tall guy with crazy eyes who yells.” I’m not really drawn to that style otherwise.
Elf. Tis the season.
I don’t think I’d call him pompous or overconfident in Old School. His character is pretty sad in that movie.
My theory about why Elf works is because he’s the very opposite of his pompous windbag character - as Buddy the Elf he is very naïve and innocent (practically retarded) and a font of child-like wonder.
I haven’t seen many of his movies, but I recently caught part of “Land of the Lost” on the tube, and it was unbelievably unfunny with acting that would have disgraced a junior high school variety show. So he’s definitely not capable of rising above mediocre material.