25 Misfires From Otherwise Great Film Directors

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – April 22, 2018

Last week, we looked at 30 filmmakers who made only one well-reviewed movie over their entire careers. Today, we examine the opposite group: directors who have nearly flawless careers, with only a single misfire (with a Metascore of 60 or lower) standing in the way of a perfect record of all-green scores.

Note that we only looked at directors who have made at least five films since 1980.

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David Mamet

The one misfire:
60 Spartan (2004)

Though he made his name as a Pulitzer-winning playwright, Mamet has worked prolifically in film, writing over two dozen features and directing 10 of them. Of the latter group, only 2004's Spartan received sub-optimal reviews (and only barely, at that). Critics found the Val Kilmer-starring political thriller to be an "unsatisfying," second-rate Tom Clancy knock-off.

Everything else:
78 House of Games (1987)
71 Things Change (1988)
84 Homicide (1991)
61 Oleanna (1994)
70 The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
79 The Winslow Boy (1999)
75 State and Main (2000)
66 Heist (2001)
69 Redbelt (2008)

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