30 Film Directors Who Have Never Made a Bad Movie

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – June 9, 2018

Recently, we looked at 30 filmmakers who made only one well-reviewed movie over their entire careers, and then 25 great directors who missed out on perfection by just one film. But there is an even more elite group of film directors who have received critical acclaim for every single film they ever directed. In other words, they've never received anything but a green Metascore for one of their features.

How many of those directors can you guess? Check them all out in the gallery above. Note that we only looked at directors who have made at least five films since 1980.

15 of 30

Nicole Holofcener

The title of her debut, Walking and Talking, could serve as the description for any of her five features, which are dialogue-heavy indie dramedies featuring terrific casts (always including Catherine Keener). Though not a prolific filmmaker, Holofcener works often in television, where her choice of material (Parks and Recreation, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under, Enlightened, and One Mississippi, just to name a few) has been pretty much impeccable.

Her next feature film is The Land of Steady Habits, an adaptation of Ted Thompson's novel starring Ben Mendelsohn and Edie Falco. She is also developing an adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s novel Mrs. Fletcher as a potential HBO comedy series.

The full filmography (as director):
67 Walking and Talking (1996)
75 Lovely & Amazing (2001)
68 Friends with Money (2006)
78 Please Give (2010)
78 Enough Said (2013)

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