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How Many Good Movies Has George Clooney Directed, Really?

With his 6th directional effort, George Clooney's Suburbicon opens this weekend. The film stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac and was 'one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2017'. The film 'is based on a Coen Brothers script' about a black family being ran out of their neighborhood by 'angry white suburbanites' that takes place in the 1950s. The movie premiered at the film festivals in Venice and Toronto and...bombed. The movie is currently at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and thoroughly destroyed by top critics as the NY Post's Sara Stewart calling the film “bizarrely tone-deaf” and New York Magazine's David Edelstein stating “I frankly don't know why Suburbicon happened. I do know that pulpy black comedy combined with a straight-ahead story of racism translates into sanctimonious pulp”. So with Suburbicon being a misfire, Decider asks the question: “How many good movies has George Clooney directed?

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)


This is Clooney's directing debut and to many his most often forgotten film. Starring Sam Rockwell (who gave a fantastic performance) as game show host Chuck Barris. The movie had favorable reviews such as “Who would've thought a movie about Chuck Barris could be so rich and entertaining?” from Eric Harrison (Houston Chronicle). But other critics as LA Times's Kenneth Turan weren't that impressed saying, “A film so tedious that it is impossible to care whether that boast is true or not”.


Good Night and Good Luck (2005)

Clooney's second film is by far his most successful movie that garnered 6 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Screenplay (Clooney and Grant Heslov co-wrote) and Best Director. This black-and-white film portrayed 'the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow (played by the underrated David Strathairn) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin'. This film is universally praised by critics where it's has a Fresh 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.


The Monuments Men (2014)

Just as Suburbicon, Clooney's fifth effort was also touted for awards season in 2014 and starred Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray. But also as Suburbicon it also bombed with critics (however it did gross over $150 million at the box office) as Film.com's William Goss states (which can probably be said for many of Clooney films he has directed), “A frustratingly flat film that drifts from moment to moment with a curious lack of urgency and an overbearing sense of self-importance”.

The rest of the discussions about Ides of March and Leatherheads are @ the Decider source, its really good read about his films (it also goes more in to detail with those films and the ones posted).


Also, how many films do you like by director Clooney? How do you feel about Clooney as a director compared to him as an actor?
Sources
Decider
Rotten Tomatoes - 1/2/3/4