Film's One-Hit Wonders: 30 Directors With Only One Good Movie

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – April 15, 2018

Even the worst directors have one good film in them. Well, at least some of them do. In the gallery above, we've identified 30 filmmakers from the past four decades who have directed at least five features but have managed to receive positive reviews for just a single one of their films.

Brian Helgeland

Helgeland has been far more successful as a writer than as a director, penning the scripts for Mystic River and L.A. Confidential, among others (and winning an Oscar for the latter). Behind the camera, his output to date has been much less impressive, with only the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 making any positive impression.

Helgeland is one of several writers currently working on potential Game of Thrones spinoffs for HBO.

The one good film:
62 42 (2013)

Everything else:
46 Payback (1999)
56 A Knight's Tale (2001)
21 The Order (2003)
55 Legend (2015)

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