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.

28 of 31 photo by Disney Enterprises, Inc./Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc.

Jon Turteltaub

While many of Turteltaub's films—especially the National Treasure series—have been commercially successful, the director has averaged just 47 for his 10 releases. His one decent film came more than two decades ago in the form of the Sandra Bullock/Bill Pullman rom-com While You Were Sleeping. His next feature is the Jason Statham vs. giant shark underwater thriller The Meg, due this summer.

Note that Turteltaub's first two films (1989's Think Big and 1990's Driving Me Crazy) are unscored because they did not receive a theatrical release in the U.S.

The one good film:
67 While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Everything else:
36 3 Ninjas (1992)
60 Cool Runnings (1993)
41 Phenomenon (1996)
43 Instinct (1999)
45 The Kid (2000)
39 National Treasure (2004)
48 National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
46 The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)
48 Last Vegas (2013)

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