WORST RECYCLING
Franz Liebkind in The Producers (2005)
Actually, critics heiled — er, hailed Ferrell's performance as the bird-loving Nazi playwright whose horrible Springtime for Hitler becomes, in the hands of producers Leo Bloom and Max Bialystock (Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, shown), an unexpected Broadway smash. But reviewers felt the film as a whole didn't measure up to Mel Brooks' Tony-hogging 2001 musical, or to the 1968 Brooks movie that spawned it. Audiences stayed away as well, making The Producers the capstone to Ferrell's disastrous 2005, a year that also included Melinda and Melinda, Kicking & Screaming, and Bewitched.