10 Directors Who Should Never Be Trusted With Giant Budgets

10. Shawn Levy

Let this sink in for a moment; Shawn Levy, director of Cheaper By The Dozen and The Pink Panther remake, is one of the most commercially successful filmmakers of this century, boasting a resume filled with bland studio fare has seen the combined earnings of his movies top $2bn, eclipsing that of both Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. Credit where credit is due, you have to admit. Breaking through to the mainstream with Big Fat Liar and Just Married, Levy then lamentably teamed up with Steve Martin for a pair of critically-reviled, yet commercially successful 'comedies'. Rewarded with a blockbuster budget, the director then delivered the two tedious Night At The Museum movies at a combined cost of $260m, with the franchise so far earning over a billion dollars and a third scheduled for release this December. The $110m Real Steel provided yet another saccharine dose of family entertainment that grossed just shy of $300m, while Levy also directed disappointing comedies Date Night and The Internship. There is nothing offensively bad about Shawn Levy's movies, but in an industry that seeks to merge art with entertainment the director disappointingly delivers consistent mediocrity that audiences lap up, with The Internship ending a run of seven consecutive movies that earned at least $100m. As a director there is no distinct style or flair to his efforts, just a series of by-the-numbers projects approved by studio committees, and in a medium as visual as cinema, isn't that just as bad as making a terrible movie?