Adam McKay Directed Movies Ranked
4. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Perhaps the least well known of McKay’s directorial filmography, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby was actually the first time McKay worked with the partnership of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly that would come to star so vibrantly in Step Brothers two years later.
Telling the tale of a NASCAR driver (Ferrell) and his childhood friend turned partner (Reilly), Talladega Nights was an almost pitch perfect rift on sports movies that featured some of the most hilarious one-liners and creative comedy set pieces you’ll see in any McKay movie to date.
Taking lessons from his time at the helm of Anchorman two years prior, McKay put together a cast of extraordinary actors in supporting roles, each of whom helped to elevate down-time from the movie’s central plot or even assist in the enjoyment created in the movie’s most pivotal scenes. Amy Adams, Gary Cole, Leslie Bibb, Jane Lynch, Michael Clarke Duncan, Andy Richter, Molly Shannon, David Koechner, Greg Germann and Jack McBrayer all brought their own facets of entertainment to McKay’s film, but it was Sacha Baron Cohen who stood out from the rest as Formula 1 driver antagonist Jean Girard, the most French Frenchman you could ever hope to meet.
Seeing Sacha Baron Cohen, Ferrell and Reilly trade jibes is something for any fan of this era’s comedy to see, and McKay’s management of these sizeable egos and considerable talents is something to admire.
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3. Step Brothers (2008)
2008 comedy hit Step Brothers is one of the most quotable comedies of the century so far and certainly in the top 5 for most quoted comedies from the 2000s.
This Adam McKay collaboration with the team of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly was more tightly knit than his work on Talladega Nights, with secondary characters only entering the fray when the screenplay apparently demanded it. As such, every character felt like part of the movie, each having their own place in the developing relationship of the two fourty-something teenagers; their actions coming to shape the coming of age of Ferrell and Reilly – a concept so absurd in itself given their age that it was to be laughed at even ahead of time.
When people think back to comedy in the 2000s, they’ll think of the Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow empire and the McKay/Ferrell movies, the latter of which will feature most prominently Step Brothers and what’s coming next…
