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Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Movies to See Before You Die

by Alex Billington
July 5, 2009
Source: FunnyorDie.com

We see a lot of "to see before you die lists," but this one is a bit different. Not only is it created by two guys I respect a lot - Will Ferrell and writer/director Adam McKay - but it's got some great off-the-wall picks. As always, these kinds of lists are featured just for fun, to point out some great classics that you should be familiar with. FunnyorDie.com presents Ferrell and McKay's 14 Movies You Should See Before You Die. As McKay explains: "I made a point of not putting in Jaws, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Goodfellas or any of the movies that are on every human being’s top ten list." It's definitely not what you'll be expecting.

14. Goodfellas ("Screw it. I lied. This movie is a force of nature and could not be kept off the list.")
13. Election ("I am in awe of this movie.")
12. The Man Who Would Be King ("Caine and Connery and the legacy of Alexander the Great.")
11. Tin Men ("The greatest 'men who won't grow up' movie ever made.")
10. Cinema Paradiso ("Moving and poignant and Italian.")
9. Nights of Cabiria ("It's beautiful, sad and Gulietta Messina is astounding.")
8. Airplane! ("I saw this six times in the theater. Laughed til there were tears in my eyes every time.")
7. Series 7: The Contenders ("A movie that was a good ten years ahead of its time.")
6. The Exorcist ("Amazing film that scares the dick out of you without that many effects.")
5. Mail Order Wife ("It's dark and unhinged and creeps up on you.")
4. Rear Window ("You could pick any Hitchcock film, but this is one of the first I ever saw.")
3. The Sound of Music ("Subversion the kids can watch!")
2. Tron ("Just watch this to remind yourself that this movie was actually made.")
1. Flirting With Disaster ("I was tempted to pick Punch Drunk Love but Flirting With Disaster edged it out because of Richard Jenkins nude acid trip.")

Remember, this list is actually in no particular order. I numbered them above only in the way they were presented on FunnyorDie.com. I'm personally a huge fan of Cinema Paradiso, so I'm always happy to see that included on lists like this. And Tron, wow, same with The Sound of Music, great choices, I guess? Glad to see both the usual top picks and some odd ones, too (including a few I've never even heard of - Series 7, Mail Order Wife?). As always, you can find plenty of these lists all over the web, but this one I was excited to feature. Thanks again Will Ferrell and Adam McKay for coming up with more great Funny or Die content.

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Reader Feedback - 15 Comments

First!!! Odd but Interesting list, gotta love Will Ferrell! 😀

Caitie on Jul 5, 2009

sweet. # 1 agreed.

Xerxex on Jul 5, 2009

I can agree on some but a couple are quite popular on Top Ten lists, especially The Exorcist. I hate Ferrel, though. No respect for the guy and this list, meh. I do like that they're different but there is a huge lack of reasoning behind most. Like they picked them out of a hat. Sound of Music should only be watched if you're into musicals or a HUGE cinema persona that must see everything. Maybe I hate it so much because I was forced to watch it my last days in 6th day which was before middle school. What way to go out eh?

w00t!!! on Jul 5, 2009

nice to see 'The Man Who Would be King' up there... that movie is epic. Another good one along those lines is Zulu whic has Caine, and of course i must recommend the connery cult classic 'Zardoz' (but you must watch it twice)

Janny on Jul 5, 2009

So Will Ferrell doesn't think we should see any of his movies either? Fine by me!

Jeep-Fu on Jul 5, 2009

Is that picture fake!? Hey # 5 watch "Stranger than Fiction" it shines hope that Ferrell can actually act, then perhaps "The Producers" 2005 remake is actually very good, hell even the original is great!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Xerxex on Jul 5, 2009

# 3 why comment? I thought if someone hated someone that someone would steer clear of that individual. Not you though, not only did you take the time to read something about Ferrell, you also commented on his top pick list! STRANGE, don't you think?

Oblong on Jul 5, 2009

im glad land of the lost was not on this list LOL

Meatcarnage on Jul 5, 2009

I'm a fan of Flirting with Disaster, but it's a pretty weak first half. Punch Drunk Love is very good. Good list. Series 7 is certainly prescient, but it's a bit amateur. Would make for a good remake.

Greedo on Jul 5, 2009

Series 7. Holy shit, i thought i was the only person who saw that. Besides the families of the cast and crew. And their friends. Besides them, just me. Anyways it's a good movie thats worth a rent.

Richorama on Jul 5, 2009

And I thought I was the only one who remembered Series 7. Great movie. Hard to believe there was a time when it was a satire. Now that's almost where TV has gone.

Colca on Jul 5, 2009

Series 7 is a great film, and the fact it came out when Survivor was in like it's 2nd or 3rd season really did put it ahead of the whole fascination/explosion of reality TV (although you could say The Running Man did it even before that). I love that film.

Matt on Jul 6, 2009

Tron is a great movie! I'm glad someone included it in their top list, haven't seen that in awhile.

SC on Jul 6, 2009

You've never heard of "Series 7: The Contenders"?! Jesus...

fucku on Jul 6, 2009

@wOOt: to be honest, I hated Sound of music when i was a kid. Hated it. But I just watched it again not too long ago and was shocked at how dark a film it actually is. The gravity of teh events in the film never got through to me when I was young, especially since I didn't really 'get' the parent/child relationship... the film changes once you're old enough to grasp that part of the film. You know, I really wish "Breakfast At Tiffany's" would show up on some of these lists. That's one of my favorite films and I never see it mentioned anywhere. In fact, I'll make a list right now of Films people should see before they die: 1) Breakfast at Tiffany's 2) La Strada 3) Grave of the Fireflies (animated version) 4) The Killer 5) Hana-Bi (or Sonotine... take your pick...) 6) Dracula (the original) I know there are tons more I could list, but these are just off the top of my head.

Squiggly on Jul 7, 2009

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