For the span of five years, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner combined their legendary talents to collaborate on four major film contributions to the comedy genre. An established figurehead in the world of entertainment, Carl Reiner received endless honors and achievements for nearly seven decades of work as an actor, stand-up comedian, director, and screenwriter. From early performances on the 1950s popular television series Your Show of Shows to the creation of the American sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and notable credits on classics like Fatal Instinct (1993), Toy Story 4 (2019) and the Ocean's trilogy, it comes as no surprise that Reiner inspired entire generations of performers.

Steven Martin was one of Reiner's many devotees whose love for comedy and appreciation of Reiner's commitment to the mastery of the genre influenced him to become a comedic force on his own. Martin not only cherished Reiner's best film and TV contributions in entertainment but also his unmatched personality (as seen in his New York Times op-ed). Fortunately, well before Reiner's ing in 2020, Martin was able to collaborate with the Hollywood legend on four movies that, apart from being considerable achievements in his own career, became critical representations of comedy films.

4 The Man With Two Brains

In 1983, Reiner released The Man With Two Brains, a science-fiction black comedy he directed and co-wrote the screenplay for; Martin was at its helm as the main character, Dr. Hfuhruhurr. Arguably one of Martin's best characters, Hfuhruhhurr is a brain surgeon who uses his expertise to save the life of a gold-digging femme fatale he later marries. The zany comedy was generally well-received by audiences, and, as the film was co-written by Martin as well, it was and continues to be a cornerstone for endless laughter and uproarious fun.

3 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

A few years before The Man With Two Brains, Reiner and Martin collaborated on Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was more of an elaborate parody than a pure comedy (like The Man With Two Brains), but the bizarre plot line that follows Martin as a detective who's hired to solve the mystery of a missing cheese maker made for the perfect blend of farce and neo-noir mystery. Martin's crafty performance in the role of Rigby Reardon, combined with the incorporation of footage from vintage films, situated Dead Man Don't Wear Plaid as the perfect parody and homage to detective-era movies.

2 All Of Me

Alongside Lily Tomlin, one of the stars of the successful Netflix series Grace and Frankie, Martin performed in the body-swap comedy, All Of Me. The lovable film featured Tomlin as a dying heiress named Edwina and Martin as her lawyer, Roger; together, they decide to bequeath Edwina's soul to a woman willing to give up her body for Edwina to live on, but when Edwina dies, her soul accidentally inhabits half of Roger's body. With the highest Rotten Tomatoes critics score of all of Martin and Reiner's collaborations at 85%, All of Me was celebrated for Martin and Tomlin's iconic performances and Reiner's careful consideration of the film's odd premise.

1 The Jerk

Despite facing controversy due to its dependence on race comedy and fellow comedian Bill Murray famously criticizing the Steve Martin classic, The Jerk has come to be known as a comedy staple. The Jerk is the most favored Martin/Reiner film among viewers that has acquired a towering 84% Rotten Tomatoes audience score; it is about a white man who was raised by a Black family and moves to St. Louis to find himself. On the surface, The Jerk was only a concept of Martin's that came to fruition once he chose Reiner to direct and ideated the screenplay with American film notables, Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias.

However, once the film got off the ground, The Jerk became a comedy classic that has established an everlasting legacy. It is often ired as Martin's best comedic effort and is considered by some to be one of the funniest films of all time. Of all of Steve Martin and Carl Reiner's movies, The Jerk is held in higher regard with audiences but was just the beginning of a five-year-long collaboration of comedy legends.

Source: New York Times, Rotten Tomatoes