Will Ferrell Has Jumped the Shark

Can we all agree that Will Ferrell has jumped the shark and has stopped being funny? I have said this since Anchorman, but while then I was mocked for saying so, it appears the rest of the world has finally caught up.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Old School. I think however that the definition of what is “funny” is fluid and changes over time. Ben Stiller style comedy was funny in the late 90s – think Meet The Parents weird real world that could potentially happen to a normal guy comedy. Then Will Ferrell took over with Old School, and what I would call stupid, brazen, asshole comedy. That waned and Borat style “reality” comedy was big. Now it is Apatow and crew comedy where with the lovable loser and one liners (Knocked Up/40 year old virgin).

After Old School, came Anchorman. Even then, I felt it was more of the same. But most people loved it. Anchorman was followed up with Talladega Night: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Here most people had fallen off the bandwagon. The basic laughs were just rehashes. Nothing new or provocative.

Sure, he had his ups. I love “Stranger Than Fiction”, but even in reviews it was noted that this was not typical Will Ferrell fare. And who can forget Pearl the Landlord?

This was largely successful because it was shockingly different. It might have been Will Ferrell humor, but we were startled by a toddler saying the lines instead of a man-baby.

Ferrell then went back to what he knew. Semi-Pro, which was god awful, followed up quickly with Step Brothers, another terrible attempt.

This past weekend, Will tried again with the same tired routine. Land of the Lost opened this past weekend. It got terrible reviews. It did even worse in sales. It opened third behind “Up!” and “The Hangover”. Up! was in its second week, not even a debut weekend. The Hangover didn’t have any A-list celebrities but still beat out Ferrell’s film. (by the way, Hangover was really funny – go see it!). In fact, it didn’t even make half of what Hangover did.

Will needs to revamp his comedy. I know he is used to recurring characters on SNL, but we can’t laugh at the same material 8 times. His core audience of 12 year olds is growing up. He should grow with them.