10 Will Ferrell Films You May Not Have Seen

Will Ferrell is one of the most successful comedy actors in the history of cinema. His 55 feature films have together grossed over $4.3 billion at the worldwide box office. Most of the people reading this article will be able to name at least 1-2 Will Ferrell films just off the top of their heads. From leading roles in Old School, Anchorman, Elf, Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory and Step Brothers to supporting roles as Jacobim Mugatu in Zoolander and as Lord Business in The LEGO Movie, Will Ferrell has undoubtedly left his impact on modern cinema.

However, like any actor, Will Ferrell has starred in films that have slipped under the radar. These range from early works to independent productions all the way to big-budget Hollywood features. So let me take you through 10 Will Ferrell films that you may not have seen (just yet).

Men Seeking Women (1997)

Aside from his cameo in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, this independent comedy from director, producer and writer Jim Milio serves as Will Ferrell’s film debut. In his debut film, Mr Ferrell plays a 33-year-old single man who, along with his two other single friends, makes a $2000 bet to see who can find a girlfriend first and have the relationship last for three months. Therefore, the three friends go to any length and meet any woman to win the bet and claim the $2000 prize.

Despite being one of three leading actors in Men Seeking Women with Grant Shaud and Anthony Palermo, promotional material for the film primarily features Will Ferrell front and centre, seemingly to capitalise on his later success. Men Seeking Women did not manage to reach a cinema near you, instead being released directly to DVD and video in March 1997.

A Night at the Roxbury (1998)

Will Ferrell’s first notable leading role would come in 1998’s A Night at the Roxbury. The film was an adaptation of a series of sketches that Ferrell had made famous with his co-star Chris Kattan while the two served as cast members on Saturday Night Live (SNL). In the original skits, Ferrell and Kattan played Steve and Doug Butabi, two brothers who spent their time frequenting nightclubs trying to meet women while bobbing their heads to the Haddaway song ‘What is Love?’. The two brothers would often be joined in the sketch by the latest SNL guest host, with Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, and Sylvester Stallone joining Doug and Steve in their clubbing antics.

These sketches proved popular enough that SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels and Paramount Pictures thought these 5-minute sketches were worth making an 82-minute movie about. The film adaptation of the SNL sketch sees Doug and Steve pursue their dream of partying at The Roxbury, a fabled Los Angeles nightclub. After its release in October 1998, A Night at the Roxbury would become a minor (but not especially noticeable) box office success, grossing $30.3 million from a $17 million budget. However, it would receive less-than-favourable critical reviews and sink into obscurity along with many of the Saturday Night Live film adaptations.

The Suburbans (1999)

While still a cast member on Saturday Night Live, another of Will Ferrell’s first film roles saw him feature as a member of a washed-up 1980’s boyband. The Suburbans, released by Tristar Pictures in November 1999, sees Ferrell (along with Donal Lardner Ward, Tony Guma and Craig Bierko) feature as a member of an early 1980’s one-hit-wonder boyband. After reuniting for a one-time performance at a friend’s wedding, The Suburbans are noticed by a young record company executive played by Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film sees Hewitt’s character attract media attention to the band, while the individual band members must deal with being at the centre of public scrutiny once again.

The Suburbans, which featured an early producer credit for J.J. Abrams, opened at just 11 cinemas in its opening weekend in November 1999. The film grossed $11,130 at the box office before quickly disappearing after only two weeks of release. It is fair to say that out of the film’s main cast (including Jennifer Love Hewitt), Will Ferrell certainly did have the best post-Suburbans career.

Melinda and Melinda (2005)

Did you know that Will Ferrell once appeared in a Woody Allen film? Unfortunately, the Woody Allen film that featured Will Ferrell did not ultimately become the next Annie Hall or Manhattan. Instead, Ferrell would feature in Woody Allen’s answer to the 1998 film Sliding Doors, Melinda and Melinda. The film Melinda and Melinda presents two alternating storylines focused on the character of Melinda (Radha Mitchell). One story is a comedy, the other a tragedy. In both scenarios, Melinda falls in love. In the comic story, she falls in love with Hobie, a character played by Will Ferrell.

Melinda and Melinda features a talented cast, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Steve Carell, Amanda Peet, Josh Brolin, and Chloe Sevigny. It also features a classical score featuring works by Bach, Brahms, Bartok, and Stravinsky. Despite these factors, the film failed to find an audience, grossing just $20 million worldwide after its release in March 2005. This box office gross ranks Melinda and Melinda 20th of Woody Allen’s 50 directorial efforts, below the likes of Annie Hall and Manhattan and more recent efforts Match Point, Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris. The film also ranks 34th out of Will Ferrell’s 47 acting roles. Therefore, there is a chance that this film may have slipped under the noses of both Will Ferrell and Woody Allen fans.

Winter Passing (2005)

Despite starring in high-profile comedies like Elf and Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell has also starred in his fair share of smaller and independent films, even at the height of his fame. One of these films is the 2005 comedy-drama Winter Passing. In Winter Passing, the story revolves around Reese (Zooey Deschanel), a depressed actress and the daughter of famous novelist Don (Ed Harris). A publisher offers Reese $200,000 to find the love letters that her father wrote to her recently deceased mother. Returning to her childhood home to retrieve the notes, she finds the house occupied by two strangers and her father living in the garage. One of the houses' new residents strangers is Corbit, a down-and-out musician played by Will Ferrell.

Despite premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Winter Passing would open at a maximum of 11 cinemas in the United States and would not even be released in the UK until 2013. Winter Passing would make just $113,783 at the worldwide box office. When searching for this film, you may not even find anything under the name Winter Passing as the film has more recently been released under the title Happy Endings.

Bewitched (2005)

Along with starring in a lesser-known Woody Allen film, Will Ferrell has also starred in a lesser-known Nora Ephron film, and what a Nora Ephron film he appeared in. Instead of starring in a film that would become as beloved as Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, Will Ferrell found himself sharing top billing with Nicole Kidman in Bewitched, the 2005 film adaptation of the iconic 1960s TV series. The original TV series was about a witch named Samantha who marries an ordinary man named Darrin. Samantha and Darrin try to keep up the pretence of being an ordinary suburban couple while Samantha’s magical relatives constantly try to interfere.

In the 2005 film adaptation of Bewitched, Will Ferrell is Jack Wyatt, a narcissistic actor who finds himself cast in a sitcom remake of the original Bewitched TV series. Jack soon convinces an unknown actress, Isabel (Nicole Kidman), to star as Samantha in this remake sitcom, not knowing that Isobel is a real-life witch. In this film adaptation of Bewitched, Nicole Kidman is a witch cast as Samantha in an in-film remake version of Bewitched.

Bewitched would become a minor box office success, grossing $131 million from an $85 million budget. However, the film would receive negative reviews from critics and receive five Razzie nominations. Despite being more commercially successful than Anchorman, Old School and Zoolander, Bewitched is not one of the first Will Ferrell films that people think of, as poor critical reception seems to have rendered the film utterly forgettable.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

It is a shame that one of Will Ferrell’s best acting performances, the performance that showed that he was more than just a funny character actor, is not talked about more today. That particular acting performance came in the starring role of the 2006 comedy-drama Stranger Than Fiction. Stranger Than Fiction sees Ferrell play a more restrained role as Harold Crick, an IRS agent who lives his life by a strict routine. One day, Harold hears a disembodied voice seemingly narrating his life as it happens. It turns out that Harold is the main character of a book currently being written, a book that contains a rather unsatisfying ending.

Featuring a likeable supporting cast of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson, Stranger Than Fiction received positive reviews from critics, with critics praising Ferrell’s more dramatic performance. Ferrell would later receive a Golden Globe nomination for his work, with the nomination coming the year after his Razzie nomination for Bewitched. Stranger Than Fiction would prove to be a minor box office success, grossing $53 million from a $30 million budget despite spending four weeks in the US box office top 10 and just one week in the UK top 10. However, due to Will Ferrell being known primarily for his comedic performances, Stranger Than Fiction is a film that often gets lost in the shuffle.

Semi-Pro (2008)

In 2004, Will Ferrell had found instant critical and commercial success with Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, a comedy set in the 1970s that poked fun at local news coverage from the time. In 2008, Ferrell would return to the 1970s with the film Semi-Pro, this time poking fun at amateur basketball. In Semi-Pro, Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a one-hit-wonder singer who serves as owner, coach, and player for ABA (Amateur Basketball Association) basketball team, the Flint Tropics. When the NBA-ABA merger is announced, and with the ‘Tropics’ facing dissolution, Jackie goes to desperate measures to make sure that his team makes it to the NBA.

Like other films on this list, Semi-Pro features a recognisable and talented supporting cast, including Woody Harrelson, Andre (3000) Benjamin, Maura Tierney, Will Arnett and Ferrell’s Anchorman co-star David Koechner. The film would not go down well with either critics or audiences, currently holding a 22% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. With this film being released at the height of Will Ferrell’s success between Blades of Glory and Step Brothers, Semi-Pro would bomb at the box office, grossing $43 million from a $55 million budget. The only positive that this film would receive would come in the form of an ESPY Award for the Best Sports Movie of 2008.

Everything Must Go (2011)

Everything Must Go might be the most dramatic role of Will Ferrell’s cinematic career. While the film is officially classed as a comedy-drama, like Ferrell’s other dramatic role in Stranger Than Fiction, Everything Must Go leans more towards black comedy in its humour. The film is based on the 1978 Raymond Carver short story ‘Why Don’t You Dance?’, originally included as part of the collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love in 1981.

In this film, Will Ferrell plays Nick Halsey, a salesman recently fired for an alcohol-related incident. After his firing, Nick returns home to find that his wife Catherine has left him, has changed the locks on the house and has left all of Nick’s belongings on the front lawn. With three days to vacate the premises, Nick resolves to live outside his own property, befriending a neighbourhood kid (C.J. Wallace) and a new neighbour (Rebecca Hall) as he tries to sell as much of his belongings as possible before the three days are up.

Like Stranger Than Fiction, Everything Must Go would receive a positive reception from film critics, including a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, due to the film’s independent backing and a lack of promotion, the film would fail to recoup its budget, grossing $2.8 million against a considerably low budget of $5 million. The film currently has the 5th-lowest box office gross of Will Ferrell’s entire career but is well worth checking out.

Casa de mi padre (2012)

There may be a reason why some people have not seen or heard of this film. When thinking of notable Will Ferrell movies, the movie where he only speaks Spanish for 85 minutes would probably not feature too near the top of your list. You are not reading this wrong. In 2012, Will Ferrell would produce and star in a Spanish-language comedy called Casa de mi padre (or House of My Father translated into English). The film was distributed by Pantelion Films, a production company whose aim is to increase the theatrical distribution of movies aimed at Latino audiences. The film’s plot is supposed to mirror that of a ‘telenovela’, the Latin American equivalent of a soap opera.

In Casa de mi padre, Ferrell plays Armando Alvarez, who spends his days living and working on his father’s (Pedro Armendariz Jr.) ranch in Mexico. When the farm begins to experience financial difficulties, Armando, his brother Raul (Diego Luna) and his fiancée Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez) must prevent the ranch from falling into the hands of a fearsome drug lord (Gael Garcia Bernal).

Due to the film’s more niche appeal, Casa de mi padre would not fare particularly well at the worldwide box office. From a budget of $6 million, the film would gross $8.4 million, with 98.5% of that gross coming from the USA and Mexico. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics, holding a 42% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 35% audience score. If you want to spend 1 hour and 25 minutes watching the most unique of all Will Ferrell films, then Casa de mi padre might be worth checking out. What a better way to end this list of forgotten Will Ferrell films than with one that you will literally need subtitles to understand if, and when, you choose to watch it.