24 Best and Worst Comedy Sequels by Tomatometer
Comedies are hard to make and comedy sequels are even harder, when audiences have wised up to your jokes and expect bigger and better. Ben Stiller’s Zoolander 2, coming 15 years after the original, hopes to buck the trend this Friday. And it’s this latest romp down the catwalk inspires this week’s 24 Frames gallery: the best and worst comedy part twos by Tomatometer!
The improbably good reboot of the ’80s TV show got a just as improbably good sequel that matched the original’s Tomatometer.
The presence of Jim Carrey was sorely missed in this visually garish follow-up.
In the ’90s, Pixar did something that has yet to be matched: a comedy and a direct sequel that both got 100%.
On the other hand, Cars 2 gave Pixar its first rotten movie, breaking a 16-year Certified Fresh streak.
Though nothing could hope to equal the classic blockbuster original, the meta-sequel holds up in its own right.
The funniest movie of all time got a sequel that probably wasn’t even the funniest thing released that week.
It’s difficult to pull off but it can happen: Anchorman 2 is one sequel that got a higher rating than the first.
Modern comedy classic The Hangover had its legacy sullied with a series of cynical, contractually-obligated sequels.
Just like Pixar did with its Toy Story franchise, Shrek 2‘s Tomatometer equalled the first.
A PG rating and lack of principal actors from the first makes this sequel one of Hollywood’s biggest bogeys.
Your mileage will vary, but Wayne’s World 2 managed to keep this franchise Fresh on the Tomatometer.
Fletch of the original movie got by on streetwise wit. The sequel settles with dumb disguises and cheap stereotypes.
The original Pink Panther was just a warm-up for Peter Sellers’ classic whodunit, A Shot in the Dark.
Gender roles may get revesered but the sequel wasn’t the one people wanted.
After trying to punch into the mainstream with Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith returned to the series that put him on the map to Fresh results.
The original Legally Blonde was an early critical and commercial success for Reese Witherspoon which the sequel failed to capture on both ends.
The unlikely pairing of Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson made for a decent Western and an equally decent sequel set in London.
A swing and a miss for Charlie Sheen and his teammates, whose Major League sequel represents the biggest drop in franchise Tomatometers.
The original Addams Family movie was a surprise box office blockbuster and the sequel, though it didn’t quite do as well financially, posted a much higher Tomatometer.
The first Men in Black sequel was seen a lazy, chaotic follow up, though the series reputation was salvaged with 2012’s Men in Black III (69%).
The Madagascar series has redeemed itself as it goes along, starting out Rotten before going Fresh with Escape 2 Africa (and then Certified Fresh with the most recent one).
Critics enjoyed Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor update well enough, but felt the second was, ahem, bloated with gross-out gags.
Nobody expected Johnny Knoxville’s painfully funny series to be critical darlings but the sequels post Tomatometer gains with each new entry.
The lowbrow out there are giggling at Revenge of the Nerds‘ 69% Tomatometer, and it fits that the painful sequel gets the world’s unsexiest number: 8.
