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They are all, in their ways, touchstones of modern American comedy.
Which of his many films has stood the test of time?
Which is better left forgotten?
And which desperately needs to be considered anew?
Just remember: The truest Stiller will always be the one you picture when you close your eyes.
39.Little Fockers(2010)
39.
No wonder Randy Newman couldnt be bothered to do the score.
38.The Marc Pease Experience(2009)
38.
Its not exactly Stillers fault, either.
Rather, the great failure of thisceremoniously dumped Paramount Vantagepicture is its coherence, or lack thereof.
37.Duplex(2003)
37.
How and whyDuplexwent so wrong is one of Hollywoods great mysteries.
), screams misfire.
Who cajoled him into bringing not one, buttwoslap-happy capuchins into the mix?
Keep playing the same old hits, and you wind up starring in Now Thats What I Call Cinema.
34.Mystery Men(1999)
34.
On a hillside overlooking beautiful Champion City, an animatronic skunk has sex with Paul Reubens.
Take it or leave it, thats the comedic level at which Kinka Ushers tongue-in-cheek, anti-superhero film operates.
Unlike in Stillers best roles, Roys relationship with a waitress played by Claire Forlani seems entirely forced.
Perhaps predictably, Usher never directed another feature.
33.Zoolander 2(2016)
33.
Even the litany of topical cameos, a touchstone of the franchise, comes across as faintly desperate.
32.The Watch(2012)
32.
Im just going to say it: Ben Stiller is not built for sci-fi.
31.Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa(2008)
31.
(those malevolent penguins, for example, are foolishly sidelined).
30.Meet the Fockers(2004)
30.
29.Night at the Museum(2006)
29.
Watching Ben Stillerget slapped around by a little monkeytickles a primitive spot in the human brain.
Wheres Noah Baumbach when you need him?
28.If Lucy Fell(1996)
28.
27.The Heartbreak Kid(2007)
27.
Stillers second film with the Farrelly Brothers is, for the most part, a miserable grotesquerie.
Well, fair enough.
26.Keeping the Faith(2000)
26.
Nor are their jokes, for the most part, cheap.
So why are neither funny?
It comes as no shock that the two never worked together again.
25.Black & White(1999)
25.
24.Zero Effect(1998)
24.
Watch them together and the range between his performances becomes something to behold.
23.Tower Heist(2011)
23.
22.Starsky & Hutch(2004)
22.
21.Reality Bites(1994)
21.
20.Nutcrackers(2024)
20.
If you want your film to fly high, let Stiller stay low.
19.Along Came Polly(2004)
19.
Yes, this film only truly works when our lord and GOAT Philip Seymour Hoffman is onscreen.
But there would be no grease-drinking, Judas-playing Sandy without his anal-retentive best friend, Reuben Feffer.
He and Aniston (fun but underused here as a brainless dolt) are due for a rematch.
18.Meet the Parents(2000)
18.
All things considered, were talking about a bona fide classic here.
17.While Were Young(2014)
17.
16.Madagascar 3: Europes Most Wanted(2012)
16.
Martin Short as a crazed Italian circus sea lion!
Frances McDormand as an Edith Piafsinging animal murderess!
The Penguins Baba Booeying one another!
This wild acid trip for kids!
Alex mating with an Italian trapeze jaguar is only the tip of the weird-joke iceberg.
15.Envy(2004)
15.
14.Heavyweights(1995)
14.
What is it about this Steven Brill comedy that so resonates with children of the 1990s?
Its not particularly great as, like,cinema.
Film students, get those dissertations ready …
13.Your Friends and Neighbors(1998)
13.
Together, they are two of the devilish six-part choir assembled in Neil LaButes symphony of domestic hostility.
12.Permanent Midnight(1998)
12.
Between some shots, we barely have enough time to stop crying before we are asked to giggle.
11.The Meyerowitz Stories(2017)
11.
The message of Noah Baumbachs tenth feature?
Be careful what you wish for.
But its also a shock to see Americas most lovable Jews throw hands on the Bard quad.
On the basis of this, consider us stoked.
10.Madagascar(2005)
10.
9.The Secret Life of Walter Mitty(2013)
9.
The film that Stiller the director was always meant to make.
8.Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story(2004)
8.
Six words for you: Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and … dodge.
If that doesnt make you giggle, then you have a heart made of stone.
Its as close as Stiller ever got to makingJackass, and its long past time we got a sequel.
7.The Royal Tenenbaums(2001)
7.
One wonders why Wes Andersons ever-expanding retinue of regulars never again included Stiller after this first everlastingly delicious collaboration.
Yet Chas and his squirrelly fury disrupt Andersons normal diorama.
Or maybe Im just reading into it and the right reconnection simply hasnt revealed itself.
Either way, I hesitate to get too greedy.
We are already so lucky just to have this jewel.
6.Theres Something About Mary(1998)
6.
Its easy to remember the splooge in Cameron Diazs hair or the fish hook in the mouth.
Youll never look at a zipper the same way again.
5.Zoolander(2001)
5.
4.Brads Status(2017)
4.
Those scenes alone make this exquisite drama from one of the best writer-directors in the game worth every minute.
3.Greenberg(2010)
3.
2.Tropic Thunder(2008)
2.
Who left the fridge open?
That he did not receive an Academy Award nomination while RDJ did is still stupefying.
1.Flirting with Disaster(1996)
1.
Hell, even Chaplin needed a cane to get his point across.
