Every Rowan Atkinson Film & TV Project Ranked From Worst To Best

The Appointments of Dennis Jennings is an extremely dry comedic short film, led by Steven Wright as the titular Jennings. Wright plays a troubled and downtrodden waiter whose dysfunctional relationship and ineffective counselling sessions produce consistent, if slightly guilty laughs.

Despite dipping in and out of a short thirty minute runtime, this may just be the best villainous performance by Atkinson on this list. His true malice is gradually teased out, first introduced as an indifferent psychiatrist, he is then shown to be one of a group of laddish professionals who share and laugh about their patients' issues, before finally being revealed as Jennings' girlfriend's secret lover.

The 1988 piece would go onto win the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film at the following year's Academy Awards. The film was praised for not only for its sharp wit and unique pacing, but also for its low-key exploration of anxiety, paranoia, and the indifference of many in society to those with ongoing mental health issues.

Best known as the king of one-liners in US stand-up comedy, Wright's film career would only really go downhill from here, initially appearing to have come to an end with a role in the abysmal 2005 sequel Son Of The Mask, only to come out of retirement for, of all things, 2017's Emoji Movie.