The receipts are in. Land of the Lost opened this weekend in a distant, disappointing third place behind Up ($44.2 million) and The Hangover ($43.3 million). Lost hauled in a mere $19.5 million, which may not sound like an epic train wreck until you consider that its budget and marketing costs were reportedly close to $200 million and it had one of the biggest stars in Hollywood on its poster.

You could say that the warning signs for Will Ferrell first appeared on Friday, when the nation's critics blew raspberries and dogpiled on the comedy. Our own critic, Owen Gleiberman, gave the movie a C, writing, "the film's only conviction is its investment in its total lack of conviction." That's gotta sting.

Still, I would argue that Ferrell's box-office fate was sealed long before the movie even came out. For months, the trailers of the erstwhile SNL star's riff on the not-very-good-to-begin-with '70s Saturday morning kiddie TV show have been greeted by mild chuckles at best. It had the stink of death on it long before this weekend. If you found yourself laughing at all at the trailer, it was more out of conditioned response to Ferrell's previous track record than the actual goods being sold this time around.


Anyone who's honest with themselves has to admit that Ferrell hasn't been all that funny for a while. Did you see his one-man George W. Bush show on HBO? Just painful. It was like watching someone shoot fish in a barrel for an hour and change. Step Brothers? Semi Pro? The dude's been coasting for a while now. And the less said about The Producers and Bewitched, the better.


Land of the Lost is just the latest proof that Ferrell's shtick -- the clueless, self-deprecating blowhard man-child -- is growing stale. You can put him in a NASCAR jumpsuit, a basketball uniform, or a quantum paleontologist's khakis, but he's pretty much always the same guy. You know that at some point he'll take off his shirt and reveal his flabby belly, or dump dinosaur urine on his head, and then mug at the camera as if to say, Ain't it hilarious? Well, yes it was...the first time.



Look, I like Will Ferrell. I think Anchorman may be the funniest movie of the past decade. So I'm saying this out of love: It's time to change it up, man. Leftovers can be delicious, but sometimes you've got to dig into the pantry and serve up something fresh and new. Agree or disagree?


http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/is-america-over-will-ferrell.html?xid=rss-feed-top25-Is+America+Over+Will+Ferrell%3F

I agree somewhat with the above post.

Hey, every box office star hits a rough patch. They all can't be gems.

I wouldn't blame Will for the Producers and Bewitched underperforming.
Those movies weren't his. He was part of an ensemble.
Besides, their decision to do what they did with Bewitched was a box office disaster waiting to happen. And I don't understand why people hate The Producers. It was a good adaptaion of a musical that everyone loved. What got lost in the transition from stage to screen?

Ferrell is at a crossroads now. Does he try to move on to more "sophisticated" comedy or does he stick with the wacky manchild shtick?

I can't speak for America (since I'm Canadian!) but I'm definitely over Will Ferrell. If you keep telling the same joke over and over eventually it's not funny anymore.

It does seem like Will plays the same type of roles again and again. It's a wonder he's been able to do it so long.

I was over Will Ferrell a LONG time ago! Even before he left SNL!!!

I never thought he was that funny on SNL. Amusing maybe, but not funny. His routine got old very quickly for me.

He's accomplished more than other one-hit wonders, that's for sure.

He at least had more than one hit movie.

I enjoyed Ferrell on SNL, but I have to agree, I've actually never seen a movie of his that I really thought was very funny. Even "Anchorman" seemed overblown to me, and "Elf" was...meh...OK but hardly gut busting.

Now he's in this rut where all his movies have him playing the vacuous, well meaning guy usually in a sport or a remake of a classic tv show. It's getting old and he's not like Jerry Lewis who can afford to milk the shtick forever...he's in danger of becoming a one trick pony.

Elf is the only movie I like with Will Ferrell in it. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's kind of cute.

Thought he was good on snl, but movies not so much.

He's one of the most overrated "comedic" actors of all-time. It must get boring playing the same character over and over again.

Watched "Semi-Pro" a few months ago.......that was wretched!

As for Bewitched, Nora Ephron is mainly to blame for that dreck. Will is just the rotten icing on the moldy cake.

I thought Will Ferrell was going to go the "serious" acting route after he did "Stranger Than Fiction"(which I liked and thought he was very good).

If he did a few more drama/dramedy roles, maybe even an indie, I think he would then be welcome back to comedy.

At that point he might even have something fresh to give to the public.