Every Project Ben Stiller Has Directed, Ranked According To IMDb
Ben Stiller is one of a handful of famous actors who directs his own films from time to time. His big break as an actor came in the 1998 comedy There's Something About Mary, but before that he had directed several projects, including two feature films. He's also directed himself on occasion, doing his films' heavy lifting behind and in front of the camera.
From goofball comedies to dramatic miniseries, from micro-budget indies and canceled TV series to massive box-office hits, Stiller has amassed an eclectic body of work as a director. Here are all of his major directorial projects, ranked according to IMDb.
9 Zoolander 2 - 4.7
As popular as the original Zoolander is, questions remained as to whether or not it had the cache to warrant a sequel 15 years after its release. Stiller directed the first film, and returned for the second, hoping to defy the odds and bring Derek Zoolander and co. back with a bang.
To put things mildly, it didn't quite work out. The film was a failure with critics and audiences alike, hence its meager 4.7 IMDb rating and 22% Rotten Tomatoes Score. It's considered an unnecessary and uninspired sequel that's overly derivative of the original, and not nearly as funny.
8 The Cable Guy - 6.1
Ben Stiller directed this 1996 dark comedy which featured Jim Carrey at the height of his popularity. Between 1994 and 1995, Carrey had starred in 5 major films: two Ace Ventura movies, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Batman Forever.
In The Cable Guy, audiences were a bit thrown by the darkness of the material, and Carrey's character in particular, who begins the movie as an awkward but affable loner, and ends up a crazed stalker. This left an awkward taste in viewers' mouths, as they were so accustomed to loving Carrey's characters at the time. Nonetheless, the movie has its defenders to this day.
7 Zoolander - 6.5
Stiller directed, co-wrote, and starred in the title role in this 2001 comedy about a fashion model who's brainwashed into committing an international crime after his career takes a turn for the worse. Unapologetically silly but also genuinely funny, Zoolander was a modest hit at the box office, and gained a significant following on DVD in subsequent years.
The ensemble cast is great, including Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Ben's father, Jerry Stiller, and as zany as the script is, the story is fast-paced and entertaining throughout.
6 Reality Bites - 6.6
1994's Reality Bites was Ben Stiller's first major film, and it remains one of the most beloved romantic comedies of the '90s. Stiller directs and also co-stars alongside Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke, who play a group of post-graduate youngsters struggling with their transition from college to true adulthood.
The characters are lovable, the script is both funny and tender in all the right ways and at all the right moments. The movie also captures dilemmas of early adulthood in many different ways, some universal, and some more specific to Generation X.
5 The Ben Stiller Show - 6.9
The first two episodes of The Ben Stiller Show aired as sketch comedy specials on MTV, before moving to Fox for its first and only season. Stiller directed sketches for nine of the show's episodes, and, of course, starred as himself. The show never took off with audiences, and was canceled after one season. It was, however, regarded fairly well by critics, and even won an Emmy Award in 1993 for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series, beating out Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live.
4 Tropic Thunder - 7.0
In 2008's Tropic Thunder, a group of actors starring in a war film are forced to do actual battle through a series of freak occurrences. The film was a massive hit, grossing over $195 million worldwide. This is more due to its fantastic ensemble cast than anything else, though the material itself is quite funny.
Due to its unabashedly politically incorrect content, it's doubtful that such a film would be made today. Nonetheless, it was a major success with both critics and audiences, and remains one of Stiller's most notable films as both an actor and a director.
3 The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty - 7.3
In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Stiller directs himself in the title role, a worker at Life magazine whose only adventures take place in his own imagination. His final work assignment gives him a chance to take a real-life journey outside the office buildings of New York City, and into the world he always dreamed of visiting.
Critics found the film to be style over substance, but audiences enjoyed it quite a bit, which explains its 51% critics rating and 71% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's by far Stiller's most ambitious directorial effort, and it mostly succeeded.
2 Heat Vision And Jack - 7.9
Believe it or not, one of Stiller's most beloved directorial efforts is a television pilot that never even aired. It stars Jack Black as an astronaut with strange powers who, along with his talking motorcycle voiced by Owen Wilson, must get to the bottom of a mystery while being hunted down by a NASA assassin. The pilot opens in bizarre fashion, with Stiller himself appearing on camera with the Emmy Award he won for The Ben Stiller Show, directly addressing the camera and introducing the show.
Despite not being ordered by Fox, and never airing on television, Heat Vision and Jack gained a cult following online, where it is still available to watch today.
1 Escape At Dannemora - 8.0
2018's Escape at Dannemora is a miniseries produced for Showtime which tells the true story of a prison escape involving two prisoners and a female employee who they manipulate into helping them break out. Patricia Arquette won a Golden Globe for her performance, and Benicio Del Toro and Paul Dano are excellent as the two inmates who hatch the plot. The series is stark, realistic, and intriguing from beginning to end.
Ben Stiller directed all seven episodes, making Escape at Dannemora his most serious and ambitious directorial undertaking. It's also his most widely acclaimed.
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