10 Talented Directors Who Just Made Five Awful Movies In A Row

10. Rob Reiner

Rob ReinerThe Five Awful Movies: Alex & Emma, Rumor Has It, The Bucket List, Flipped, The Magic of Belle Isle Rob Reiner is the Fleetwood Mac of movie directors. That's to say, you don't realise quite how many of his flicks that you actually like until somebody points it out to you, or - in fact - how many great flicks he's actually made in the first place. Also, there's a lot of crap. So what happened to the guy who gave us This Is Spinal Tap, Misery, The Princess Bride, Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men? Look at all those bonafide classics. Hell of an impressive resume, don't you think? But where was all that greatness in Alex & Emma? Reiner's directorial style is probably best-described as "workmanlike," though I don't mean that as a put-down. I'm sure that the man himself would even admit that he's good at just getting a story across on the screen in the most efficient way possible - there's no flashy technique or sense of auteur about him. That's to say, you can't look at a Rob Reiner movie and know that he made it, but that never used to matter because he was always working from great scripts. When he has the screenplay for Rumor Has It gripped in his sweaty palms instead? Uh, not so good.
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