The Worst Movies Directed by Former ‘SNL’ Cast Members
A not insubstantial number of former Saturday Night Live cast members have gone on to direct feature films. The latest example of this trend is Kyle Mooney, who is following up his acclaimed dramedy Brigsby Bear with the soon-to-be-released Y2K, which basically looks like if Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive was a teen comedy (and also not powered by cocaine).
But not every SNL alum has been quite so successful when it comes to the arena of filmmaking. In fact, some of Lorne Michaels’ former employees have helmed movie projects that were the cinematic equivalent of that one SNL episode hosted by Steven Seagal.
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Some of the worst movies directed by former SNL stars include…
Dan Aykroyd’s ‘Nothing But Trouble’
It takes an especially terrible movie to make one feel any kind of sympathy for Chevy Chase.
Written and directed by Aykroyd, 1991’s Nothing But Trouble is a grotesque horror-comedy turd about two yuppies who get railroaded by an elderly small-town judge (played by Aykroyd in full Spirit Halloween makeup, complete with a dong-shaped nose for some reason).
It’s painfully unfunny, hopelessly boring and completely wastes an impressive cast, which also includes Demi Moore and the great John Candy (also Tupac, weirdly).
]Chris Rock’s ‘I Think I Love My Wife’
While his most recent film as a director, Top Five, wasn’t bad, Rock’s earlier effort, I Think I Love My Wife, was a sloppy remake of an acclaimed French film, all about a horny husband who desperately wants to cheat on his wife, but ultimately decides not to. What a hero.
Incidentally this movie was written by Rock and Louis CK, two guys who probably shouldn’t have been offering any sort of commentary on how to maintain a healthy marriage.
Harry Shearer’s ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’
Years after proving his directorial capabilities with the Martin Mull-hosted Cinemax mockumentary series The History of White People in America, Shearer made the less successful comedy Teddy Bears’ Picnic in 2002.
Even with a cast featuring some of Shearer’s hilarious friends, like Bob Einstein, Fred Willard and Spinal Tap pal Michael McKean, this satire about an elite men’s club retreat is a complete mess.
Shearer reportedly self-funded the low-budget project using his Simpsons money. “That’s why there’s a ‘Thank You’ to Rupert Murdoch at the end of the credits,” Shearer explained in a 2002 interview. “It’s his money, he just doesn’t know it. It just kind of flowed through me."
Rob Schneider’s ‘The Chosen One’
One of the few directors making Rob Schneider movies these days is Rob Schneider.
The Deuce Bigalow star has helmed a number of films for himself to star in, including Big Stan and the recent Daddy Daughter Trip, the story of the powerful bond between fathers and daughters, made by a guy whose real-life daughter really seems to hate his guts.
But the absolute worst Schneider-directed movie just might be The Chosen One, in which Schneider plays a literal white savior whose cringey emotional catharsis somehow rescues a vaguely-defined South American village from an apocalyptic storm.
It makes The Hot Chick look like a Kubrick production by comparison.
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