Screen veteran Chris Columbus recently released The Christmas Chronicles 2, but how does this latest film fare against the rest of his many directorial efforts? Over the decades, family film icon Chris Columbus has come a long way from scripting 80s classics like The Goonies and Gremlins.
The screenwriter has gone onto an incredible career as a director, beginning with 1987’s Adventures In Babysitting and continuing through to this year’s The Christmas Chronicles 2. However, like any prolific filmmaker, the director’s career has been studded with occasional duds as well as spectacular successes, especially as a result of the more eclectic mix he's brought to the big screen.
After combing through 90s screenwriting legend Aaron Sorkin’s screen career to rank his efforts, it’s only fair that an 80s screenwriter as iconic as Chris Columbus gets the same treatment. Unlike Sorkin, Columbus transitioned into directing early and never looked back, racking up an incredible sixteen feature films in the last few decades. Like Sorkin, however, these efforts range from blockbuster perfection to… Pixels.
Bicentennial Man
A deeply creepy and misjudged effort, Bicentennial Man tries hard to explore ideas of humanity and technology in its tale of a miscast Robin Williams playing a humanoid robot. Avoid at all costs.
Pixels
Barely better than Bicentennial Man (which is hardly a high bar for any film to cross), the 2015 Adam Sandler vehicle Pixels sees the star fighting the character of 80s arcade games in an action-comedy that’s neither fun nor funny, although it was plenty expensive.
Pixels
Despite the best efforts of reliably great ing players like Robin Williams, Jeff Goldblum, and Joan Cusack, this 90s Hugh Grant vehicle sank like a stone thanks to a leaden central performance from the actor. To be fair to Grant, he did at least it that he tanked this one.
Only the Lonely
It’s unclear why anyone involved thought that Paddy Chayefsky’s deeply moving, somber drama Marty needed a rom-com remake, but Only the Lonely endeavors to make the dark, socially conscious classic into a John Hughes-style dramedy. It’s a wrongheaded endeavor, but John Candy is likable as ever, and it’s hard to hate any movie featuring legendary firebrand Maureen O’Hara.
Heartbreak Hotel
Wrongheaded from start to finish, Heartbreak Hotel is a goofy comic "biopic" of Elvis' later life/faked death which sees Columbus at his oddest. By no means a good movie, this one is still superior to a lot of Chris Colombus' other work thanks to its sheer strangeness.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Solid but unspectacular, the 2009 adaptation Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief gave early roles to future stars Alexandra Daddario and Logan Lerman, but was an otherwise forgettable fantasy film. There’s a reason series creator Rick Riordan all-but-ignores the movie.
Rent
There didn’t need to be a movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Rent, but as far as misguided musical movies go, this is at least no Cats. The cast sounds as solid as ever, and although the moving AIDS drama loses its edge in translation, the music is at least still catchy.
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Released in 2008, I Love You, Beth Cooper was a massive misfire for Columbus. The teen comedy suffered badly due to a misguided PG-13 rating that neutered its raunchy humor and left it unable to compete with the likes of Superbad. That said, despite the movie receiving a critical drubbing, there is a lot to like found within. Hayden Panettiere is superb in the title role, Paul Rust makes a potentially creepy protagonist cartoonish enough to be likable, and the script from Simpsons veteran Larry Doyle is occasionally charming. If only it had an R-rating.
Stepmom
Starring Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts, Stepmom is a thinly plotted but effectively staged drama that succeeds thanks to its central performers. The plot is a little slow but Sarandon, Roberts, and co-star Ed Harris have great chemistry, and it’s a moving movie despite the evident flaws.
The Christmas Chronicles 2
Although not perfect, the Yuletide sequel The Christmas Chronicles 2 puts Columbus’ background in family films, fantasy, and action-comedy to use and benefits from some superb chemistry between its ageless leads Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
