Will Ferrell: What Happened?

Will Ferrell should have been one of the great screen comic stars of all time. His work on SNL was nothing short of brilliance, and the best the show had seen from a single performer since...probably the days of Belushi. He had a number of small, but memorable supporting turns in the first Austin Powers flicks and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" before "Zoolander" brought his name up to everyone who missed him on SNL. With this, he left SNL to pursue only movies and delivered amazing work in "Old School" before becoming a bona-fide leading man in "Elf." It was somewhere around this time that he became a brand name, showing up in bit parts in stuff like "Boat Trip" and "Starsky and Hutch" to give otherwise crappy movies a little extra push. But he made "Anchorman" and all was right with the world.

Since then? "Melinda and Melinda." "Kicking and Screaming." "Bewitched." "The Producers." "Curious George." Not a single one has been a hit, or according to most who saw them, that funny. I was holding out hopes for this Nascar movie he was working on with Adam McKay, who wrote and directed "Anchorman," but its trailer is what prompted me to write this - it looks like "Anchorman" in a car. And as funny as "Anchorman" is, I think Ferrell's got a bit more diversity than that. While the character is different, the humor is exactly the same.

He also has "Stranger Than Fiction," which revolves around a guy (Ferrell) discovering his life is being narrated and only he can hear it. This is a feature-length film? That it's directed by the guy who did "Finding Neverland" gives some hope, and I'll wait for the trailer, but still.

Then there's "Joan of Bark: The Dog Who Saved France," which I've heard little on, but am fairly certain the title explains itself.

Finally..."Blades of Glory." Sadly, this, about two men who are banned from singles figure-skating competition only to discover a loophole that would allow them to compete in the pairs competition, is the one I have the most hope for, and that's only because in also stars SNL's Amy Poehler (as soon as they lose her, SNL will have nothing left) and Will Arnett, one of the best actors on "Arrested Development." There is that little matter of the...y'know...plot to get over, not to mention it also stars Jon Heder, who is making a living being Napoleon Dynamite.

So what happened? Like I said above, he became a brand name. It usually takes awhile for a lot of people (Adam Sandler, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Craven), but Ferrell's managed it in under two years. It turns out people will pay to see Ferrell play Ferrell...again and again and again. And as much as many of his characters do have a lot in common, there's a huge gap between his work as a cheerleader on SNL and Ron Burgandy.

Have I lost all hope? Nah. If I can, I'll catch the Nascar flick. And "Stranger Than Fiction" if it takes a more Charlie Kaufman turn than a...have you heard of this new Adam Sandler movie called "Click"? Yeah, that turn. And "Blades of Glory" if the trailer works, because Will Arnett and Amy Poehler are still amazing. But Ferrell? As far as I'm concerned, I can't take him as a sign of a good movie anymore.