Image Credit: Suzanne HanoverThrow a rock at a movie screen in the next couple of months and there’s a fair chance you’ll hit a film starring someone from The Office. (You’ll also be thrown out of the cinema or, at the very least, be assailed with cries of “Who the hell brings a rock to the movies?” But I digress!) No Strings Attached, with Mindy Kaling, is still in cinemas, and this Friday sees the release of the Ed Helms-starring Cedar Rapids. Two weeks after that arrives Hall Pass, which features one Jenna Fischer. Meanwhile, the mighty Rainn Wilson will soon be seen in both Peep World and Super, the new movie from director James Gunn.
All of which got us thinking about the best (and worst) movies to feature an Office cast member. As a diehard horror fan, I’d probably nominate Gunn’s previous movie, the underappreciated monsterfest Slither (Fischer) as among the best, as well as the B.J. Novak-starring Inglourious Basterds. I’d also more than happily rewatch The Hangover (Helms), 40-Year-Old Virgin (Steve Carell), Pineapple Express (Craig Robinson), and Almost Famous (Wilson). On the other hand, as a diehard fan of comedies that actually make me laugh, I’d nominate Dinner for Schmucks (Carell) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Wilson) as among the worst.
What do you think of the aforementioned? And what about It’s Complicated (John Krasinski), Juno (Wilson), Away We Go (Krasinski), The Proposal (Oscar Nunez), Four Christmases (Brian Baumgartner), Get Smart (Carell), Leatherheads (Krasinki), Hot Tub Time Machine (Robinson)… Hey, these folks have been busy!
Read more:
‘Cedar Rapids’ trailer: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly party down
Sundance: Ed Helms and Anne Heche visit ‘Cedar Rapids’
‘No Strings Attached’ EW review
Leatherheads with John Krasinski was terrible and George Clooney couldnt save it. Had a lot of potential but fizzled quick.
I know Clooney loves stuff from the early part of the 20th century in an almost fetishistic way (maybe b/c he’s often compared to Cary Grant and Clark Gable) so I blame him for that waste of time being made in the first place. Wasn’t he also the director?
Best: Inglourious Basterds
Worst: Away We Go
DAN IN REAL LIFE!!
FOG CUE,
is that best or worst, b/c I’m a Steve Carell fan and I came out of that movie feeling like I had watched some subpar romcom that Tom Hanks had turned down the lead part in? That movie sucked and that is what happens when one of my sisters picks the movie for Family Movie Night.
Yeah, Dan in Real Life FTW!
Totally agree. I couldn’t believe how awful Dan was. Hated every character with the exception of Dane Cook, and that’s saying something!
Except BJ Novak was easily the worst actor in Inglourious Basterds.
I was in “License to Wed” with that tall fella! It was great for me, because I was doing handfuls of coke and silly impressions the whole time! It was terrible for the poor b*stards who shelled out money to see it! NANU NANUUUU!!!!!!
I agree, “License to Wed” was awful.
Wait, Rainn Wilson was in Almost Famous? Who the hell was he?
He was a writer at Rollign Stone. The one who says that Jeff Bebe’s mother had already sent over a whole box of baby pictures!
Best Office-Cast-Member-Featuring films:
1. Almost Famous
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Anchorman
4. Inglorious Basterds
5. 40 Year Old Virgin
I can totally get behind this list.
Dinner for Schmucks is by far the worst. One of the worst “comedies” I’ve seen ever, let alone featuring an Office cast member.
Completely agree. I saw Dinner for Schmucks the other day and it was TERRIBLE…and I enjoy a lot of crappy movies, but this was just bad.
I completely agree that Dinner for Schmucks sucked but I recommend seeing the original French version called, “Le Diner de Cons”. It is a fantastically funny movie.
Agreed, “Le Diner de Cons” is hilarious!
Agreed! Dinner for Schmucks is definitely one of the the worst movies of all time! Yeah – I said it…..people should be going to jail for making such mindless,pointless, laughless ridiculous crap! Totally lame!
So its just as bad as all the SyFy original movies, all of the Steven Segal Direct/Wesley Snipes/Jean Claude Van Damme (sp?) direct to DVD movies as well? If you didn’t like it then that cool, but to put it in the class of “Worst Movies of All Time” is pretty stupid.
Definitely the best is Anchorman with Steve Carell! (and David Koechner! … and soon to be Will Ferrell!)
Cosigned. Because who doesn’t love lamp?
This.
Worst: Walk Hard (Jenna Fischer)
Best: Anchorman (Carell)
I must be the only one who liked Walk Hard. Made me laugh, and the music wasn’t half bad!
I liked Walk Hard too. It had some good laughs in there.
WALK HARD was not a terrible movie. It was just a drawn-out spoof that forgot it was a spoof as it went along. “The wrong kid died!” I guess, coming so quickly on the heels of WALK THE LINE, it might have seemed disrespectful of Johnny Cash or something?
I really liked Walk Hard. Especially Tim Meadows: “Dewey! You don’t want any part of this sh*t. It’s Marijuana. It’s not habit-forming!”
“Walk Hard” was terrible. I tried to block it from my memory, but you just reminded me it existed.
Yes. Worst is Walk Hard. Best? Maybe Galaxy Quest (Wilson). Interviews with Hideous Men (Krasinski) was pretty good. I think Bridesmaids with Ellie Kemper will take the trophy for best though.
I actually like Walk har a lot The Beatles clip is worth it alone. But even if you didnt like it, how can you think it’s worse than My Super Ex Girlfriend? That was a bomb. However, I like the inclusion of Galaxy Quest. Def a hidden gem.
Walk hard is just fantastic, so are Galaxy Quest and Anchorman. Dinner for Shmucks = horrible.
Walk Hard was almost as awesome as Anchorman; loved how it made fun of self-important biopics (I’m looking at you, Ray)…
WALK HARD’s friggin’ HILARIOUS!! One of the 3 funniest movies from 2007. I liked it ten times better than ANCHORMAN. Carell was literally the ONLY ONE who made me laugh in ANCHORMAN (and I’m not a Will Ferrell hater or anything).
License to Wed with John Krasinski. Hands down!
That was a pile o’crap. What was Krasinski thinking when he signed on to that?
Could not agree more.
As much as I like John Krasinski, License To Wed was really bad. Leatherheads wasn’t great either.
License to Wed gets bonus points for also featuring Angela Kinsey, Mindy Kaling, and Brian Baumgartner, and being directed by Ken Kwapis, who’s directed many Office episodes. It was a regular old Office-palooza! And yet still, so, SO bad.
Seriously terrible movie, but that’s owing 90% to Williams. I like him when he plays lowkey (World’s Greatest Dad, One Hour Photo), but when’s he’s “on”, I can’t handle it.
I agree with a lot of the “best” choices, and to that I have to add “Lollilove” which was a tiny indie that Jenna Fischer wrote and directed and it was incredibly funny. Very worth hunting the dvd down on ebay.
How can we forget The Rocker? I haven’t seen it, so I can’t judge either way, but certainly Rainn Wilson’s starring vehicle deserves a shot to be considered, right?
But, as for my vote, License to Wed gets top billing for the worst (but wins the award for most Office-related cameos) with Dinner for Schmucks and Leatherheads very close behind it.
The best is Anchorman. No contest.
I LOVE The Rocker!! Not as much for Wilson as for Emma Stone. I love anything she’s in!
Galaxy Quest had Rainn Wilson in it, so I would nominate that for the best.
Yup..was going to say the same thing. that is a great movie. Alan Rickman was fantastic: “Miners…not minors!”
I love that quote. Thanks for reminding me of it.
Quick, let’s get out of here before one of those things kills Guy.
What about Blades of Glory? Really underappreciated and completely hilarious… definitely Fischer’s best movie so far. And bonus points for having Park and Rec’s Amy Poehler in it too!
“Blades of Glory” with Jenna Fischer. AWFUL.
Best: 40 Year Old Virgin, Inglorious Basterds, It’s Complicated, Juno, The Hangover
Worst: Evan Almighty, Four Christmases, My Super Ex-Girlfriend
completely agree except for Its Complicated
yes. evan almighty was DREADFUL. and add License to Wed to your worst.
Away we go is a pretenious piece of crap. Leatherheads was also not great.( I love John but a lot of his movies haven’t been good, not to say that the other castmembers have had some bad ones too)
Best: Blades of Glory (Fischer), Away We Go (Krasinski), Knocked Up (Kaling, Novak, ect.), Little Miss Sunshine (Carell), Anchorman (Carell), Talladega Nights (Carell)
Worst: The Rocker (Wilson)
Whoops, Talladega Nights (Carell) is wrong. I was recalling David Koechner in both this movie and show.
Knocked Up (Kaling) is wrong as well. Should have been Robinson listed instead.
they were both in it!
I hate, hate, HATED “The Last Mimzy” with Rainn Wilson. I’d put that up there, but that’s only because I haven’t seen The Rocker…
Agreed!
I’ll nominate House of 1000 Corpses with Rainn Wilson as one of the best AND worst. That movie was a wonderfully twisted mess.
Has Little Miss Sunshine really not been mentioned? Steve Carell was awesome in it, and it was such a departure from his usual comedy. Love it.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend hold the title for worst movie I’ve seen in the movie theater.
And Leatherheads was so disappointing. John Krasinski and George Clooney? WHY WAS THIS MOVIE SO BAD?
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it took people this long to mention Little Miss Sunshine, which by far, is the best movie.
I still hold true to this day that My Super-Ex Girlfriend is the worst movie I have ever paid money to see. SO BAD.
Leatherheads and License to Wed were both meh, but Krasinski made up for it in It’s Complicated plus the 5 seconds he was in The Holiday. I can’t wait to see him in Something Borrowed.
I’m just worried they’re going to ruin Something Borrowed. Krasinski plays Ethan, who is supposed to be in London and has no physical interaction with Darcy in the book, and yet I could swear I saw a screen grab where he and Darcy are sitting with Rachel and some other people around a table. That would drive me crazy because I LOVE that book!
I completely forgot he was in it. I love that movie! I love Steve’s character in the film too.