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.

D.J. Caruso

Daniel John Caruso specializes in thrillers, and while only one of them has the word "disappointment" in its title, pretty much all of them have been exactly that, leaving Caruso with a career average of 43 for his nine features. (Note that his 2013 family film Standing Up has just five reviews.)

As was the case with Michael Bay, Caruso's sole positively reviewed film is the result of a collaboration with Steven Spielberg: the 2007 Rear Window knock-off Disturbia, which was executive produced by Spielberg.

The one good film:
62 Disturbia (2007)

Everything else:
41 The Salton Sea (2002)
38 Taking Lives (2004)
50 Two for the Money (2005)
43 Eagle Eye (2008)
36 I Am Number Four (2011)
40 Standing Up (2013)
31 The Disappointments Room (2016)
42 xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)

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