Ivan Reitman

He makes some pretty funny movies, and some pretty bad ones.

Meatballs (1979) -- Oh, I saw some of this when I was a kid and liked it. (See Ken Wiederhorn for the sequel, Meatballs Part II.)

Stripes (1981) -- It's been a while, but I remember thinking this was pretty funny stuff. And that's the fact, Jack.

Ghostbusters (1984) -- A wonderful, funny, smart movie that tends to be a step ahead at any given point in the movie, fast but perfectly paced. Everyone and everything is great. (See below for sequel, Ghostbusters 2.)

Twins (1988) -- Not the best of Reitman's one word title movies. It had some moments, as I recall, but not too many.

Ghostbusters 2 (1989) -- If the first Ghostbusters were likened to the exceptional pilot TV show of a series, this would be one of the average episodes. Evil ghosts in paintings and mood ooze walking Statue of Liberties: uninspired at best and just stupid at worst. Bill Murray et al make up for some of the shortcomings just by being as cool as they are.

Dave (1993) -- A lovely little movie, sweet and smart.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006) -- You know what kind of movie this is going to be when Luke Wilson's character is described as attracting psycho-girls: a male movie written by guys who idealize, hate, and fear women at the same time. And then it gets worse. Nothing in this movie works, including the fact that Anna Farris is really great and believable (because she's wasted). I could go through and explain why nothing much in this movie makes sense or worse, but it would take a long time and I don't feel like it, but here's one thing. Supergirl Uma Thurman has supersex with Luke Wilson, breaking the wall and his dick and all that. When he has regular sex with sweet Anna Farris, he notes that it's nice because it's normal. But at the end of the movie, Anna Farris gets superpowers and they end up having supersex just like he and Uma did--just for the sake of having that "joke" one more time. Lots of great people in this movie, which makes it even more frustrating. The music sucks really bad. And Ivan Reitman is directing on autopilot.