I think the difference between Ferrell’s characters and Sellers’s characters is exactly that, character. A Will Ferrell character is a cardboard cutout idiot/asshole/buffoon with no real humanity or dimension at all. They are mostly hateful stereotypes that inspire absolutely no sympathy.
I just got the whole family sat to watch Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby… A friend told me how funny it was. To be certain, coz I hate wasting time, I also checked up on it online and it got a 75% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes… so I was quite excited.
We got a quarter… maybe a half way though the film and we turned it off. We all felt like we needed to expunge or exorcise the experience from our eyes and brains. It was just SO pitifully unfunny / or good in any way whatsoever that I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I felt betrayed, dirty, ashamed and appalled. I gazed in wonder at the empty screen after I turned it off… in an almost out of body state… wondering if indeed the experience we had all just been through actually happened.
I think we all need counselling now… I left it for 24 hours because I was too astonished to revisit what we’d all gone through at the time. Now I am almost speechless over the incident and I duly hunted down this thread the next day because I just couldn’t help but wonder how people can be so divided. I thought there must millions of people like me (and the rest of our family) that would feel the same. 75% on Rotten Tomatoes? Really? Is this some kind of Illuminati conspiracy? The good reviews were plentiful under the movie’s synopsis. Turns out we’re the minority!
My friend that recommended this film to us loves Will Ferrell movies. I really don’t know how I’m going to tell him how disappointed I was in his recommendation. I have now personally re-judged him as a human… and it’s not good. I don’t think I can look him in the eye again.
I suppose I am left with a sense of superiority. Like I’m better than everyone else - like the fans of Will Ferrell kind of movies are in some way brainwashed and subhuman compared to us… but then I start to hate myself. I now suffer from horrible shame that I have pigeonholed Will Ferrell movie lovers. It’s like I’ve got neo-Nazi tendencies or something. I’m SO intollerant! How can I be saved from this pitiful condition? - I was okay before I put the movie on!
I am now left in the aftermath. The last time this happened to me was when I saw half of the “Woman in Red” with Gene Wilder… oh yes and “In and Out” with Kevin Klein too. There have been others, but I’m currently blocking their details from my consciousness.
I love Some Like it Hot, Trading Places, Withnail and I, pretty much everything done by the Cohen Brothers… I loved Adaptation and Spike Jonze stuff… Lost in Translation, Juno, Laurel & Hardy… you know… I’m not a sideline nutcase weirdo… honest! - but when I experience a bad… like really bad film… and then I find out that it’s really a good film for everyone else… well… I just don’t know where to turn or what to do. Guys. Help me! - You might think that I’m overdoing it a bit… but I REALLY INTENSELY HATED Talledega Nights. It made me hate my entire life. Help!
I feel the same way about Sandler too. Anybody recommending movies from either “actor” immediatley goes downa few knotches.
The man has only one voice, for Christ’s sake! Anchorman? SNL? Elf? They’re the same voice! Doesn’t anybody notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
I don’t care for either Mr. Sandler nor Mr. Stiller ( Stiller the Elder is brilliant ); but not being American most of the great SNL people leave one slightly cold. Mr. Ferrell can be amusing and clever, yet what little I’ve seen suggests a certain mannered quality that knowingly winks at the viewer.
However, his performance as the narrator-author of a certain type in The Spoils of Babylon was astoundingly, brilliantly perfect so much that it placed him in the very top rank of actors of all time.
Suitably enough for the ego of that narrator…
Farrell is one of a list of actors that I tried to “get” a few times. So far no luck. I wasted a lot of time on movies of his as well as Sandler, Carey, Stiller, Black and Carell. I no longer spend money on any of these people’s movies but will watch a freebie. And am almost always disappointed. But comedy is most definitely in the eye of the beholder. For instance I found Andy Kauffman to be the most UNfunny man ever on SNL. To this day I cannot see even the slightest sliver of humor in lip syncing the theme song to “Mighty Mouse”.
I don’t find him funny either, in fact, I find him annoying, if not infuriating, maybe it’s just the movies he chooses to appear in, but I always seem to sense an overwhelming aura of sheer stupidity…
Will Ferrell is somebody I can intellectually appreciate as being exceptionally talented and very, very good at doing what he does. He just couldn’t be further from my taste. And he’s also, I believe, known for being good to work with, a decent guy, and casually funny to be around.
I’m not sure there’s any performer I respect more whose work I enjoy less.
I don’t care for Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey, but I love Will Ferrell. Just the thought of the “jazz flute” in “Anchorman” has me giggling.
He’s the thinking man’s Adam Sandler.
In the way that an anvil is subtle?
I thought Ferrell had some decent bits on SNL, and was fairly fearless about looking like an idiot (the cowbell bit is a prime example of this). His movies, on the other hand, leave me cold. I detested Elf and Anchorman; not at the level of hate I reserve for Adam Sandler, but still. The man-child bit only works in small amounts before it becomes grating, IMO. Different strokes, of course.
I just checked his IMDb listing for movies where he has a notable, on-screen role.
Ouch.
Of the comedies, the only one where I particularly liked his appearance was the funeral director in Drowning Mona. But that’s hardly a major role.
I love Stranger Than Fiction, but that’s not really a comedy.
But, yeah. Anchorman, Zoolander, Wedding Crashers, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro and on and on. Terrible performances in terrible movies.
Having said that: I like the guy. The smaller scale stuff he does is occasionally good. E.g., the early Funny or Die Landlord bit. He can be funny. Why he does so much crap is beyond me.
What a bizarre criticism of someone who’s not primarily a voice actor.
I don’t like Ferrell, on the whole, but he was great in The Lego Movie as Lord Business (sort of ironically, a voice role) and The Man Upstairs.
The only movie that I saw him in that I thought he was good was “Drowning Mona”, and it was just a silly bit part.
I don’t get his popularity, either… But I wish I could get paid like he does.
Ask your friend if he liked Black Sheep or Tommy Boy. I’ll bet an “Aha!” that he lurvs them both.
Will Ferrell is like a lot of SNL alums: awesome as a supporting character, booooooooooring as a lead.
“Hey ftg, we’re making a movie about a man who invents a flyswatter that also makes tomato soup but he can’t stop it and the damn is about to burst and kill all the orphans so he invents a giant robot cow to eat the tomato soup that can kill flies with his tail, solving both problems at once, but then he’s kidnapped by crazy midget terrorists from Derkaderkastan and forced to use his genius to seduce the Swedish Bikini Team and turn them into robot zombies to take over the world. We’ll give you $4,000,000 to play the role; 3 weeks shooting time and 2 weeks of promos right before release. Are you in?”
That’s why he makes so much crap.
The higher ups think Farrell is very talented (remember Hanks answer to Lovitz in the SNL anniversary show) he’s made eight movies that grossed 100 mill or more, and he’s apparently a dream to work with.
Lip syncing the theme song to Mighty Mouse would not be funny. A mousy guy only lip syncing the overly dramatic “Here he comes to save the day!” on the other hand was pretty funny. IF you don’t see that distinction when you see him perform then he’s not for you.
Not that Andy was trying for comedy or was always funny. He wasn’t. He was a performance artist who was labelled a comedian. His failures would be in his art not in the comedy value of it. This s a guy who read the Great Gatsby to his audience not to crack them up but because he was pissed at them. Judge him strictly as a comedian and yeah, he’s not outrageously funny. He had his moments though.
For the same reason that Liam Neeson has done both Shindler’s List and Gray. A paycheck is a paycheck, and pride of craft takes a back seat.