Joey Magidson
As I’ve already said before, Jason Reitman, at his best, is one of my favorite filmmakers. The writer/director burst on to the scene with Thank You for Smoking before quickly becoming an A-list storyteller. Often considered at his best when working with writer Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult, and Tully), Reitman has now become a bit of an underrated talent. So, with a new effort of his having hit theaters on Friday with Saturday Night, I wanted to go over his work so far once again.
This weekend, after a successful film festival run, Reitman’s latest writing and directing effort was released in theaters (on a limited basis before expanding nationwide soon, and looking like it’ll have the second highest debut per theater average of the year so far) in Saturday Night. I adored the movie at the Telluride Film Festival. My rave review here included the following bit about his filmmaking:
Jason Reitman pours every ounce of his filmmaking bravura into this flick. The script he wrote with Gil Kenan is sharp, hysterical, and absolutely crackles with energy. Reitman’s direction leans into that brilliantly, from the score from Jon Batiste to in particular the cinematography from Eric Steelberg. The film is made up of long takes and shots where the camera follows around the cast throughout the set, making for what had to be an incredibly complicated production. That Reitman and company pull it off so spectacularly shouldn’t be surprising, but is a terrific testament to the talents of all involved. Visually and technically, this is Reitman’s most accomplished movie, as well as his funniest.
Below, you can see how I rank Reitman’s helmed movies so far, updated for Saturday Night. I have some slots that should match up with most folks, with Juno and Up in the Air among his top tier efforts. However, I’m also still of the option that he’s never made a bad film, so that definitely puts me at odds with others. Take a gander to see my list and then obviously feel free to chime in with yours…
Here now is my updated ranking of Jason Reitman’s directorial efforts to date:
10. Labor Day
9. Thank You for Smoking
8. The Front Runner
6. Tully
5. Young Adult
4. Men, Women & Children
2. Juno
1. Up in the Air
As you can see, my Reitman ranking is a bit different than most, at least until more of you see Saturday Night. The big one is how high I have Men, Women & Children, I know, but I maintain that the knives were unfairly out for that one. So, I continue to defend it. This is just where I stand. You all can have a say as well, and I’m certainly keen to find out your thoughts. So, have at it…
How would you rank the films of Jason Reitman? Let us know!
As someone who is not nearly as enthusiastic about Jason Reitman, I am 100% in the tank for Tully. It’s my favorite film of his by a substantial margin, boasting my personal favorite post-Monster Charlize Theron performance, shockingly great supporting work from both Ron Livingston as a husband character who could have easily been a total nonentity in lesser hands and especially Mackenzie Davis as a character I wrongly assumed I would detest as soon as I saw her introduced in the teaser trailer, locked-in cinematic presentation of the escalating pile-up of seemingly mundane domestic stressors, and a script from Diablo Cody improving on all of the best things about Juno with none of that film’s flaws.
Tully is definitely one of his most underrated films!