Will Ferrell, cinematic Anti-Christ?

[Kester Pelagius]

As I note in an blog entry at Cosmic Cinema this week Will Ferrell has been subject of some scathing articles and water cooler commentary since the debut of LAND OF THE LOST.  Yet I am astonished by the level of vitriol some articles contain.  All seemingly targeted at Will Ferrell, not critical examinations of the movie itself, which, from what I've heard, is as egregious a departure from the source material as any other Hollywood remake slash re-envisioning.

Love 'em or hate 'em remakes aren't going away any time soon.  Though this is the first time I've seen the backlash for one aimed almost solely at the lead actor, as if he's specifically to blame for all the film's percieved faults.

So are the critics right, is Will Ferrell really anathema to good movie making, or is this sort of backbiting commentary merely bombastic hyperbole?

[Doggett]

He's better than Shia Labouf !
I like the guy, but he makes bad choices.

[Psycho Circus]

This film looks poo poo, but I like Will Ferrell. He's never going to make any "classics" or critically acclaimed stuff, but he's good for a laugh.

[Jack]

I can't stand any of today's "funny" Hollywood people.  They're all pretty much interchangeable to me.

[The Burgomaster]

I haven't jumped on the Will Ferrell bandwagon yet.  I thought he was pretty good in TALLADEGA NIGHTS, but I don't understand his wild popularity.

[RCMerchant]

I haven't jumped on the Will Ferrell bandwagon yet.  I thought he was pretty good in TALLADEGA NIGHTS, but I don't understand his wild popularity.

I liked that film too. He was good on SNL. Most SNL cast members,once they went to film, I don't care for.I don't like Chevy Chase -always blowed. I liked John Belushi,but not as well as most do. Never liked Sandler. Or the copy machine guy...can't remeber his name. Joe Piscopo really went to hell. Eddie Murphey used to be funny....now he's in all those Disney type fliks.I always liked Gilda Radner.

[AndyC]

In the right movies, Ferrell is great. I liked him in Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Elf, etc. I think he does the dumb-but-lovable parody well. Mind you, his movies have become so similar that it's hard to be enthusiastic about yet another sports parody. But I think there is a "Will Ferrell" style of movie that works if it's done well enough.\

The problem comes in sticking his bankable name on a movie he doesn't belong in. If I were coming up with a name to star in Land of the Lost, Will Ferrell would never have occurred to me. It's like somebody said "We're going to make a crappy remake of a cheesy adventure story, and Brendan Fraser isn't available. Type 'crappy remake star' into Google and see who comes up. Will Ferrell? Crap on a crutch. OK, we'll make it tongue in cheek."

[Javakoala]

Maybe the world has finally gotten over Will Farrell.  Maybe now he'll have to actually DO something instead of playing the same character over and over.

I find a lot of these people (Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy and such) don't embarrass themselves when they do straight roles, but they get sucked into the easy money of doing the same shtick over and over again.

Now Sandler...yeesh, I don't think there is ANY redemption for him.

[Javakoala]

Type 'crappy remake star' into Google and see who comes up.

Why do I keep getting "George Bush"?

[HappyGilmore]

I like Ferrell in certain movies, but hate him in others.  For example, I have zero interest in Talladega Nights, but found him hilarious in Anchorman. 

Land of the Lost may be bad (I haven't seen it yet, so I'm holding my judgement), but to blame the star as opposed to the writer's and director is a little extreme.

I haven't jumped on the Will Ferrell bandwagon yet.  I thought he was pretty good in TALLADEGA NIGHTS, but I don't understand his wild popularity.

I liked that film too. He was good on SNL. Most SNL cast members,once they went to film, I don't care for.I don't like Chevy Chase -always blowed. I liked John Belushi,but not as well as most do. Never liked Sandler. Or the copy machine guy...can't remeber his name. Joe Piscopo really went to hell. Eddie Murphey used to be funny....now he's in all those Disney type fliks.I always liked Gilda Radner.

The copy machine guy is Rob Schneider. 

[Rev. Powell]

Ferrel's OK by me.  I don't like his sort of movies, but he was good on SNL and he doesn't annoy me like Sandler, Schnieder, etc.

I guess snide Hollywood-insider types are jumping on him because LotL looks to be a bomb and they smell blood in the water.  Or maybe he isn't well liked personally and his enemies were waiting for him to fail. 

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

There have been some Will Ferrell movies that I've really enjoyed, but Land Of The Lost simply wasn't one of them. It has a few funny moments, and some pretty good set pieces, but whatever semblance of the S&M Kroft series ends with the Sleestak, their cave hideout, Grumpy the Tyrannosaur, and to a lesser extent Alice the Allosaurus.

The dinosaurs are all right, there's no Jar Jar... I mean Dopey, but we get Cha-Ka so its a toss-up. The Sleestak while integral to the plot seem to just be thrown in as an afterthought, but Enik is there.

The majority of the film though is merely set ups for a lot of lame gay jokes, and sexual innuendo that was just not appropriate for a film that is being marketed to kids in a big way. I'm in no way a prude, but having someone translate the effects of drinking a narcotic gourd in the film is like having your intestine punctured by a zombie d**k is not exactly what I was expecting out of a kids show. Will Ferrell is simply the biggest target for the critics because his performance was completely tongue in check and routine for him not a stretch of his abilities at all.

One thing I thought was weird was the end credits had some pretty solid graphics while the beginning of the film simply had the title then jumped straight into it. It would have been slightly better if they had used these at the beginning to sort of get the audience into at least the feel of seeing an adventure movie, but then again maybe that would have been too misleading. Someone mentioned Brendan Frasier, and as indifferent as I am to those Mummy films, that style of film making would have been light years ahead of this mess.

[Joe the Destroyer]

I like Ferrell.  He does pretty decent work.  Sure, he's had the occasional movie I don't like, but what actor doesn't? 

When I saw the previews for this movie, I thought it looked like a steaming pile of crap.  I don't put the blame on Ferrell, because any actor in that position would have equated to one terrible movie.  How do you take a show that was all about a family trying to survive in an alien world and turn it into roughly 90 minutes of a comedy actor screaming at bad CG, and still make it effective?  I don't think any actor could have made that concept work. 

In any case, count me out. 

[Trevor]

. Type 'crappy remake star' into Google and see who comes up.

I tried that and wished I hadn't.

Jackie Chan as Mr Miyagi? 
Hilary Duff as Bonnie in the remake of Bonnie and Clyde?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[Mr. DS]

When Ferrell is in a good character role not being Will Ferrell he has the potential to shine.  Good examples of this would be Anchorman and Elf.  However, most of the time he ends up failing in my eyes. He's just the silly "that comedic guy" actor of our time. I personally am avoiding everything he is currently doing.