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.

2 of 26 photo by Dale Robinette - Walt Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Miguel Arteta

The one misfire:
54 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014)

The indie director and frequent Mike White collaborator seems to choose his projects well—even in television, where he has directed episodes of critically acclaimed shows like Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Enlightened, Six Feet Under, and Getting On. The only thing to trip him up so far is this 2014 adaptation of the classic (but short) children's book of the same name, which critics dismissed as a "minor" work.

Note that Arteta's next movie, Duck Butter, opens later this week.

Everything else:
61 Star Maps (1997)
76 Chuck & Buck (2000)
71 The Good Girl (2002)
63 Youth in Revolt (2009)
70 Cedar Rapids (2011)
68 Beatriz at Dinner (2017)

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