Will Ferrell movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best
Tom O'Brien Chris Beachum Misty Holland
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14. OLD SCHOOL (2003)

Director: Todd Phillips. Writers: Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong. Starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Juliette Lewis.

Down in the dumps, three thirty-somethings — Mitch (Luke Wilson), Frank (Will Ferrell) and Bernard (Vince Vaughn) — decide to relive their wild college days and start a fraternity in Todd Phillips’ comedy that was only a moderate success when it opened in theaters but found new life on home video. Resembling nothing so much as an “Animal House” with adults, “Old School” even has an antagonistic dean — in this case Gordon Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), who was the guys’ rival back in college and who now rejoices in making their lives miserable. The film offers Ferrell yet another opportunity to show that he will do anything for laugh as, in the film’s most notorious scene, he runs naked through the town’s main street to the shock of all. Pure Ferrell.

13. THE PRODUCERS (2005)

Director: Susan Stroman. Writers: Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan, based on their musical. Starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Gary Beach.

It had to happen — Will Ferrell meets Mel Brooks. As one of Brooks’ most memorable characters, unstable Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind, Ferrell gets to sing, dance and fall down several flights of stairs in this film adaptation of Brooks’ Tony-winning musical. Franz gets the break of a lifetime when producers Bialystock (Nathan Lane) and Bloom (Matthew Broderick) want to produce his play,”Springtime for Hitler,” unaware that the play is part of a massive theatrical scam. But even the best laid plans have a way of not working out in the theatre. For his performance as Franz, Ferrell as nominated for his first Golden Globe Award.

12. THE CAMPAIGN (2012)

Director: Jay Roach. Writers: Chris Henchy, Shawn Harwell. Starring Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott.

In this 2012 political satire, Farrell plays North Carolina Democratic Congressman Cam Brady who, despite having a public affair with a staffer, is running unopposed for a fifth term. Alarmed at Brady’s politics, dark money forces recruit town tourism director Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to run against him as a Republican. Marty doesn’t know the first thing about politics, though his campaign is unwittingly helped by Brady’s rage at getting challenged, resulting in Brady accidentally punching a baby in the face. Even when their material is not A+ in quality, watching two comic actors as skilled as Farrell and Galifianakis go at it keeps the laughs coming.

11. SPIRITED (2022)

Director: Sean Anders. Writers: Sean Anders, John Morris. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Tracy Morgan, Rose Byrne.

After creating a beloved Christmas character in “Elf,” Ferrell took an big chance in portraying another holiday icon — The Ghost of Christmas Present — in this modern-day musical remake of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” This year, Christmas Present’s job is to haunt opposition-research guru Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), who has been deemed “unredeemable” by those in charge. But Christmas Present has a dark secret in his own past about being “unredeemable” that might jeopardize this mission. Reynolds and Ferrell make a great team, skillfully balancing the film’s snarky humor with surprising musical-comedy chops (including some smooth dance moves), and for earrell, what could have proved to be one Christmas film too many turned instead into another holiday triumph.

10. BARBIE (2023)

Director: Greta Gerwig. Writers: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach. Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Kingsley Ben-Adir.

If there is a villain in the generous world that Greta Gerwig has created in “Barbie,” it may be Ferrell as the otherwise-unnamed CEO of Mattel, the company that owns all things Barbie. Ferrell wisely plays his bad guy as a cartoonish villain, a sharp-dressed corporate executive who can mouth all the platitudes he wants about supporting “female empowerment,” but all that he and his phalanx of male henchmen really want is for the free-thinking doll to get back in her box. As Barbie makes her escape through the Mattel headquarters, she is the Road Runner to Ferrell’s Wile E. Coyote, and like the Warner Bros cartoon, things don’t end well for the hapless CEO.

9. EVERYTHING MUST GO (2010)

Writer/Director: Dan Rush, from the short story by Raymond Carver. Starring Will Ferrell, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Rebecca Hall, Michael Peña.

In one of his rare dramatic outings, Ferrell plays Nick Porter, once a salesman at the top of his game whose star has fallen. He is finally fired and immediately goes off the wagon, much to the consternation of his wife who leaves him, but not before strewing his entire worldly belongings over the couple’s front yard. Choosing to make lemonade out of the lemons he has been given, Nick decides to sell off everything he owns in a gigantic lawn sale. Writer/director Dan Rush takes a few liberties with the Raymond Carver short story “Why Don’t You Dance?”, but the film provides Ferrell with a terrific showcase to display what else he can do as an actor.

8. BLADES OF GLORY (2007)

Directors: Josh Gordon, Will Speck. Writers: Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky. Starring Will Ferrell, John Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler.

Rival singles skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell), a sex addict, and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder), a shy flower, are both banned from competing in the men’s singles of the World Sports Games for fighting on the medal podium. Both are desperate to return to pro skating and find a loophole in the rules to get around their ban on singles skating by competing as a same-sex pair. There’s still friction between the rivals, but if they can join forces to pull off the never-before-accomplished move “The Iron Lotus,” vindication will be theirs. The premise may be far-fetched but Ferrell and Heder are in total comic sync together.

7. MEGAMIND (2010)

Director: Tom McGrath. Writers: Alan J. Schoolcraft, Brent Simons. Voices: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Brad Pitt.

Ferrell has worked as a voice artist in several animated films, but he was particularly good as the lead villain Megamind in Tom McGrath’s superhero comedy. Megamind has an ego as large as his giant purple head, an egotism that Ferrell can vocally capture with ease, but when he finally conquers his longtime nemesis, the beloved superhero Metro Man (Brad Pitt), the supervillain finds that he is no longer viable. After all, without a superhero to battle, just who is Megamind anyway? Ferrell’s voice hilarious work makes the most of Megamind’s existential crisis, as the supervillain attempts to rebuild his shattered ego.

6. THE OTHER GUYS (2010)

Director: Adam McKay. Writers: Adam McKay, Chris Henchy. Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan.

There’s a superstar pair of cops on the New York City police force. No, it’s not detectives Allen Gamble (Ferrell) or Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg). It’s the other guys — cocky detectives Chris Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and P.K. Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson, both perfectly cast). But when Danson and Highsmith die in the line of duty, the mantle of “superstar cops” may fall on Gamble and Hotiz, if Gamble’s desk jockey and Hoitz’s hot-headed cop can get it together to fill the bill. Ferrell and Wahlberg display such great comedy chemistry together that they later teamed up for 2015’s “Daddy’s Home,” as well as its 2017 sequel.

5. STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006)

Director: Marc Forster. Writer: Zach Helm. Starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson.

Farrell earned his second Golden Globe nomination for his performance in this comedy/drama in which Ferrell’s IRS agent Harold Crick begins hearing voices in his head narrating the events of his life as they happen, as if it was in a novel. But when the narration begins to foreshadow what’s to come for Harold, including the fact that he will die very soon, he frantically tries to do everything he can to change his life’s narrative. While Ferrell’s performance is often still funny, he wisely tones down the laughs to concentrate on his character’s sensitive dilemma — how to stop the narration in his head and most importantly, how to alter his preordained fate.

4. TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (2006)

Director: Adam McKay. Writers: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay. Starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amy Adams.

Ferrell created one of his most popular characters in this Adam McKay comedy in which he plays famed NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby, whose only concern has been winning alongside of his trusted friend Cal Naughton Jr.(John C. Reilly). Ricky has been top dog at Dennit Racing for years, but when the company brings in openly gay French driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), his confidence is a bit shaken. And when Girard keeps beating him, Ricky exceeds his limits and crashes, beginning a downward spiral that finally results in his dismissal. Chastened, Ricky becomes determined to find his way back to the top. In addition to a strong supporting cast, Ferrell’s lead performance brought together both SNL devotees and NASCAR fans, a perfect mix for a big movie hit.

3. THE LEGO MOVIE series (2014, 2019)

Directors: Various. Writers: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller. Voices: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman.

Although you might not guess it at first, Ferrell’s most critically-acclaimed films are the two “LEGO” movies, in 2014 and 2019, in which he voices the film’s dastardly villain, Lord Business, as well as appearing in the first film’s live-action bookends, in which he portrays “The Man Upstairs,” a father who owns a LEGO collection himself. Ferrell is no stranger to voicing animated bad guys (“Megamind”), but he is especially uproarious in these two films, as the especially witty scripts by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller meld beautifully with Ferrell’s often outrageous sensibilities, and the result are two of the funniest films this decade.

2. ANCHORMAN series (2004, 2013)

Director: Adam McKay. Writers: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay. Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner.

I just look at a poster of Ferrell as Action News anchorman Ron Burgundy, and I have to laugh. Adam McKay’s comedy set in the male-dominated world of local news in San Diego was exactly the way I remember that era — the pornstaches on the men, hip 70s fashion, and if there was a woman on camera, she’d likely be doing the weather if that. Like “Talladega Nights,” “Anchorman” is blessed with a strong supporting cast with Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner as Ron’s bros, as well as Christina Applegate as the woman in the anchor chair who upends the macho vibe of the local newsroom. Still, it’s Ferrell as the handsome but dim Ron who is the ringmaster to all this nonsense, and he is a hoot.

1. ELF (2003)

Director: Jon Favreau. Writer: David Berenbaum. Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Edward Asner.

Through all the hilariously raunchy comedies that starred Ferrell throughout his career, it will probably his performance as the 6’3″ elf Buddy in Jon Favreau’s Christmas comedy “Elf” for which Ferrell will be most fondly remembered. From crawling into Santa’s bag on Christmas Eve to being adopted by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) upon his arrival at the North Pole, Buddy, now an adult, seeks to find his real father Walter (James Caan), a callous book editor in New York City. Though Buddy brings with him the spirit of Christmas, it’s tough sledding for an elf in the cold streets of Manhattan. Ferrell brings a childlike sense of innocent wonder to the role that brings such heart to “Elf” that it helps to make the film a contemporary holiday classic.