Idiot-Savant Comedy Directors

Specimen: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
Scientific Name: Injustus Prosperitas
Natural Habitat: Hollywood; The Multiplex; Your Sister’s DVD Shelf
Diet: Laughter; original content
See Also: Adam Shankman, Shawn Levy, Tim Story

Comedy directors who, despite having little to no natural talent for directing anything even in the remote vicinity of funny, continue to make successful films that draw mind-bogglingly large crowds.

The two bungpieces in question (pictured above) started their Hollywood career as screenwriters for the Leslie Nielsen flick Spy Hard. It would prove to be their Citizen Kane, as they then went on to contribute to all four Scary Movies, as well as branching out their own brand of failure as directors of four of the worst movies ever made (Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and the forthcoming Disaster Movie).

One might think that prolonged exposure to Jerry Zucker and the Wayans Brothers would have caused some actual comedic talent to rub off on Friedberg and Seltzer. Instead, they misinterpreted pop culture references for sight gags, and proceeded to churn out the worst kind of one-trick-ponies known to man. What's worse is that I think they know exactly what they're doing. They're not so much comedy directors as they are shrewd businessmen, continuously producing the feature-length equivalent of Best Week Ever every six months, simply because the people who watch Best Week Ever think their movies are the epitome of topical humor.

After near-unanimous negative reviews, one would think that Date Movie would’ve put their comedy career out of its misery. But no. The public has spoken. Their three directorial efforts have collectively grossed $258 million. Somebody had to front to cash to see these abortions. And that brings me to my next specimen…