In Praise of Rob Reiner

Monday is Movies. And sometimes TV. Today it's movies - specifically the handful of truly great ones made by Rob Reiner.

I’ve been thinking a bit about Rob Reiner lately. Still very much alive and active, he is the son of a comedy legend (Carl Reiner) and he is a comedy legend himself. Reiner is known for his work as a film director and, prior to that, as a writer and actor on TV. He spent the best part of a decade playing the “Meathead” son in law of Archie Bunker on the still-brilliant sitcom, All In The Family; he also wrote a few of the episodes and in that time contributed to other TV staples like Happy Days.

As a film actor he’s had some solid cameos (The Jerk, The Wolf of Wall Street) as well as more significant roles (Bullets Over Broadway) but he is best known as a film director. Sometimes he has a cameo in the movies he makes – but that’s barely important (beyond one significant role, which we’ll get to).

I’ve been thinking about Reiner, a deadpan presence in American TV and film for now 50 years, because of the extraordinary work he smashed out in less than a decade across the mid-80s and early 90s. In the 8-year stretch from 1984-1992 he directed seven films, six of them what I would consider staples, all of them a winning example of a particular sub-genre.

When you look at them, I’m not sure there’s been a more consistent and inspired run from a single director in the mainstream.

There are other huge achievements by Reiner by the way – and though his filmmaking really dropped away in the 00s especially (I consider The Buckley List to be one of the worst things ever – particularly with that cast and budget) he still has the ability to bring together something that really shines (2015’s Being Charlie is a sad, beautiful watch). Oh, and he confounded the production company, Castle Rock, so we can thank him for taking a punt on a wee TV show called Seinfeld.

But, what I am constantly astounded by is those six classic movies across different genre lines that he pumped out in the 80s. He is not credited as the writer in any of them. He has uncredited cameos – blink and you’ll miss them in a couple of them – and he is only really prominent as an actor in one of them. So it’s this focussed work as a director that is the key. But, let us all just reflect on how deeply Rob Reiner UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT!

1984 – This Is Spinal Tap

1986 – Stand By Me

1987 – The Princess Bride

1989 – When Harry Met Sally…

1990 - Misery

1992  A Few Good Men

I mean there’s cause right there for A Rob Reiner Film Club right? Why isn’t there a series in Masterclass from Reiner? How To Make Winning Examples of Classic Genre Staples. Maybe you cannot teach what he honed and harnessed across that decade, using his acting and writing skills – knowing what it takes to to do both – to drill right down into directing, to nurture performances and frame scenes and understand pace.

In Spinal Tap, he is co-creator (there’s a writing credit on that one) of the world’s greatest music film and a pioneering mockumentary. He also plays the film’s director making the film within the film. He gets to play the straightest face of all (Marty Di Bergi) and gets to make fun of himself and all other film directors in the process.

With Stand by Me, he makes one of the best coming of age dramas ever, and creates a brilliant Stephen King adaptation – King had been burnt by Hollywood after a couple of early successes but Stand By Me not only recreated interest in his work for the big screen it also introduced the wider public to his non-horror storytelling.

The Princess Bride is an all-star comedy fantasy movie for all ages. One of the best Grown Up Kids pictures I know. And, frankly, a brilliant adaptation of a book that is actually pretty fucking bonkers.

And then When Harry Met Sally… defines/rewrites the RomCom. It made a huge star out of Meg Ryan, a leading man out of Billy Crystal, and has one legendary oft-parodied/repeated scene in particular which directly speaks to Reiner’s knowledge and skill of comedy, specifically his innate understanding of the timing.

Then it’s back to adapting Stephen King, with Misery – a perfect two-hander for James Caan and Kathy Bates, making a star out of Bates, and becoming one of the best-loved mainstream horror films, and another hugely important King adaptation. Just a perfect film too, as far as I’m concerned.

This golden run concludes with A Few Good Men, which I must admit I am due a rewatch, the others in this list I know very well – but Good Men is a thrilling courtroom drama, it might not have aged as well as the others (that’s my hunch) but it was hugely important at the time. And a strong pivot for Reiner, who had comedic elements in his drama (Stand By Me) and even in his horror (Misery). There aren’t any laughs in A Few Good Men but it was an acting tour de force at the time, huge scenery chewing moments and great, well harnessed drama.

I just wanted to line all these films up, and have a look at them in one go. There is other strong work from Reiner, but there’s nothing that comes close to this golden run. And, I doubt many other directors have ever come close to this sort of run either.

What do you reckon?