Ben Stiller: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked

1. Envy

We€™re really at the bottom of the comedy barrel right now. You might think that placing two of the most successful comedy actors of recent years, Ben Stiller and jack Black, together to lead the same movie would be a recipe for hilarity. It€™s not. It€™s actually a recipe for the very thing that Black€™s fictional invention €˜Vapoorize€™ is meant to eradicate. Neither side of the pairing is up to much in Envy, and despite director Barry Levinson€™s desperate attempts to get the pair to mesh comedically, it just never seems to work. Both Stiller and Black €“ but particular Stiller €“ stick so closely to the stylings that made them famous, that this attempt at a high earning but forgettable cash-cow fails to be even that. Maybe that€™s the fault of Levinson, maybe it€™s the fault of writer Steve Adams; either way both stars should have clearly avoided this monstrosity like it was a syringe filled with concentrated AIDS. Even die-hard Stiller fans will find little to like from this trite, joyless, poorly written snoozefest, and if you€™ve never heard of it (not unlikely, given its limited cinematic release) it€™s probably best that you leave it in the bargain bin where it belongs. So there are our 5 favourite, of course balanced out with our five least favourite (hey, no actor is perfect) Ben Stiller performances to date. Of course, Stiller makes a movie every what, 9.8 minutes on average, so we€™re bound to have missed a few people€™s favourites (or least favourite). Do let us know.
In this post: 
Ben-Stiller
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Stuart believes that the pen is mightier than the sword, but still he insists on using a keyboard.