Will Ferrell picks out his greatest movies: “Any challengers?”
The thing about Will Ferrell is that, as well as being a master of comedy, he can also pull off more serious roles. Stranger Than Fiction isn’t an entirely sober movie, but Ferrell’s portrayal of a man who discovers he is stuck in a novel is one of the most dramatic he’s ever played. There’s a similar case to be made for Downhill, which was written by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong. Ferrell plays a man who reevaluates his life after nearly dying in an avalanche. But come on, we know that it’s really all about the laughs with this guy.
From his days impersonating George W Bush on Saturday Night Live to a string of hits with the so-called ‘Frat Pack’ to more recent appearances in Barbie and Despicable Me 4, Ferrell has routinely proven himself to be one of the funniest men in Hollywood.
Some people are just inherently hilarious, and there’s something about his gangly frame, expressive face, and sense of timing that delivers every single time. Whether he’s leading a family-friendly venture or making jokes about farts, you can always count on Will to help you bust a gut.
Ferrell recently appeared on an episode of Goat Talk, a show on Complex’s YouTube channel where celebrities pick their Goats (greatest of all time) in certain categories. He was asked by his You’re Cordially Invited co-star, Reese Witherspoon, for his favourite 2000s comedy movies. This is a little awkward, as Ferrell starred in several of the funniest films of that decade. Surely he was magnanimous and avoided those answers, right?
“Talladega Nights,” he began, “No, Step Brothers, let’s go Step Brothers”. When Witherspoon asked with (hopefully) fake exasperation if Ferrell was just going to name all of his own films, he responded, “I’m going to say all my [movies]… Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, Elf… Anchorman… Old School… any challengers?”
This might seem big-headed, and it is, but you can’t say that Ferrell hasn’t earned the chance to show off a little. The movies he named in this interview are but a few of the many successes he had around this time. Films he’d appeared in that regularly pop up in lists of the best comedies made this side of the millennium.
When Rolling Stone published their list of the ‘50 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century’, three of Ferrell’s films—Step Brothers, Anchorman, and The Lego Movie—all copped a spot. Step Brothers finished fourth, a position it would maintain in the magazine’s 2022 update of the list.
To give Witherspoon some credit, she also made her fair share of great comedies during the noughties. There are the two Legally Blonde movies, Four Christmases, the 2002 adaptation of The Importance of Being Ernest, and Monsters vs Aliens, a DreamWorks animation that way too many people sleep on. She tried to one-up her colleague by naming some of her efforts in this category, but ran out after Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama, and Election, which actually came out in 1999. Let’s just pretend she was being humble.
Between the two of them, Ferrell and Witherspoon are responsible for so many iconic comedy movies from the 2000s. It’s just a shame about You’re Cordially Invited, which, by all accounts, wasn’t that great.
