The best and worst commercials from Super Bowl LV

I’m not the biggest Schitt’s Creek fan in the world, which may make it strange that I enjoyed a commercial prominently featuring Dan Levy so much, but the little quips in this quick 30-second piece, particularly the mansplaining one, were sharp and effective. The concept was simple – M&M’s can make almost any situation better – which made the payoff that much more entertaining. Lots of last year’s candy commercials were solid, and things picked up where they left off with this effort.

WORST: DoorDash – Sesame Street

I loved Sesame Street as a kid. Heck, I can still enjoy it as an adult. My love for the show could not make this commercial tolerable. I don’t know if it’s the fact that DoorDash and related services make me think of the ungodly amount of time people are having to spend in their homes, or if I just didn’t think the concept and execution were all that clever or funny, but this one fell quite flat for me.

WORST: Doritos 3D – Flat Matthew

This one had me on the fence for a while, as McConaughey usually has enough charisma to pull off just about anything. That’s no doubt what the producers of this spot had in mind, but they didn’t have good enough material for him. The final sight gag, of a paper-thin McConaughey regaining his normal physical form inside a vending machine, was pretty funny, but the rest of the spot, dare I say, fell…flat.

WORST: Pringles – Space Return

Hey, did you know? Pringles are fun to stack, particularly when different flavors are involved. In fact, the practice is so addicting, you might miss major things happening in the world around you, like astronauts returning to earth in a space capsule. I get the gag here, but it’s not funny, nor is it particularly well executed. Was an astronaut rescue really the best thing anyone could come up with? A real disappointment.

BEST: Bud Light – Legends

Was this gratuitous? Of course. Was that the point? Also of course. I’m a sucker for nostalgia and callbacks, and there was plenty of both in this spot. The thematic similarity to the Avengers was good, and bottom line, the entire absurd thing put a smile on my face, no matter how ridiculous it was. A very effective ad, except it still won’t get me to drink a Bud Light. Advertising works, but it has its limits.

BEST: State Farm – Drake from State Farm

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that I finally, though it took a second watch, enjoyed something involving Drake. I had to be convinced of this one, as initially my disdain for anything Drake-related took over, but he managed to both play his role perfectly and subtly, making the whole thing that much better. The Paul Rudd sighting in this one was also solid, and the whole thing just worked. The fact that it was a brisk 30-second spot made it better, as it didn’t over-expose its surprise star.

BEST: Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade – Last Year’s Lemons

If the “Legends” spot played on my tendency to be a sucker for nostalgia, this one took advantage of my weakness for excessively stupid sight gags and slapstick comedy. It was an easy, very stupid 60-second ride, and I found myself enjoying it the longer it went on. The fact that there was a tidy little one-liner at the end to tie things together was just icing on the cake. Even now, as I type this, I’m still laughing at the image of people getting KO’ed by falling produce.

BEST: Rocket Mortgage – Certain Is Better

I liked this one in spite of my bias towards beer companies, and against mortgage companies or other “boring” product and service categories. Tracy Morgan is likable as the star of the show, Liza Koshy was also good, but the sneaky star of the show was former WWE product Dave Bautista, whose work in the Guardians of the Galaxy films proved he had real acting talent and plenty of comedic chops. He was good in this one as well, and some of the hypothetical situations presented were chuckle-worthy.

BEST: Oatly – Wow, Wow, No Cow

Want to know what I think is funny? Spending over five million dollars for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial, then using the 30 seconds to have your CEO (Tony Petersson, in this case) sing a terrible song in the middle of a field while playing the keyboard. It’s a bold choice to pay a lot of money for ad time, and then create a spot that is so intentionally awful that it gets people talking about your product. That kind of counterintuitive behavior is the sort of thing I love, of course, so high marks all around for this one.

BEST: E*Trade – Workout

I’m not sure when this commercial won me over, but I think it was probably sometime around the time that the protagonist got around to tire-flipping. The concept was sort of cheesy, but it was original enough, and most importantly, it was well-executed. Plus, anytime Joe Esposito’s classic, “You’re the Best,” gets some airtime, I’m happy about it. The punchline was sort of weak overall, but everything that came before it was good. Also, it was just 30 seconds. If you’re sensing a theme here, it’s that most attempts at being funny for 60 seconds fall flat.

WORST: Hellmann’s – Fairy Godmayo

First and foremost, the product here is meh to begin with – real mayonnaise connoisseurs know it’s Duke’s or bust, but this one just wasn’t that good. I’m assuming the idea was that Amy Schumer’s comedic chops and timing would carry the day in this one, but that never really happened. Instead, we were left with Schumer wearing wings, and a decidedly unfunny 30 seconds. Whoever came up with the “Fairy Godmayo” idea needs to know that it was a stretch, and that’s putting it mildly.

BEST: Tide – Jason Alexander Hoodie 

Believe it or not, I loved this Tide Spot. It was nonsensical, referenced a famous Seinfeld bit, and the sight gag of Alexander’s face changing in each shot was a very good one. It will not, of course, break me of my bad habit of waiting far too long to wash my clothes, but was that really the point? It was? Oh, well then it might not be the most effective effort in advertising history, but it did entertain me, and isn’t that really the point?

WORST: Dr. Squatch – You’re Not a Dish

Everything about this spot screams “we’re trying way too hard.” It felt like a company in direct competition with Old Spice trying to do an Old Spice commercial, which is probably not the way to convince people to do anything other than buying Old Spice. It also was the latest in an endless line of guy-themed products with marketing campaigns that seem targeted to and devised by 22-year-old college students who think they’re much funnier than they actually are.

BEST: CURE Auto Insurance – Whip It Out

I had never heard of CURE Auto Insurance before Super Bowl Sunday, but this commercial will ensure that if nothing else, I remember them for having the edgiest Super Bowl commercial of them all. It was pretty funny, too, managing to make subject matter that could have gone in the wrong direction very quickly something that turned out very funny. The “Doug” portion of the spot really brought the whole thing full circle, and the facial expressions of everyone involved were top notch.

WORST: Verizon 5G – Can’t Blame the Lag

I should have liked this spot. It had voice work from Samuel L. Jackson and JuJu Smith-Schuster, and a funny ending. But something about it didn’t really click for me, and it may well have been the fact that everything was computer-generated, which of course was the point of the whole thing. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t crazy about it, and it felt like something that could have been so much more than what it was.

WORST: Uber Eats – Wayne’s World & Cardi B’s Shameless Manipulation

Possibly the worst, most infuriating spot of the night. Why? Because the point of it is so offensive, considering the source. Uber Eats wants you to eat local, not because they care about your favorite restaurant, of course, but because it charges those places a hefty delivery fee. Not great! If you really want to eat local and support your favorite places, place the order with them directly if you can, and then laugh at this lame, painfully unfunny spot.

BEST: Anheuser-Busch – Let’s Grab a Beer

Lots of companies tried to pull off cloying appeals to unity, but this is the only one that really rang true to me. Judge for yourself, but it struck just the right tone for me.

BEST: T-Mobile – Team Anthony Anderson vs. Team Mama

This one takes flight about 30 seconds in, and the image of Travis Kelce destroying a family flag football game is a delight. The biggest punchline of the spot, which comes immediately after Kelce’s first appearance, is perfectly delivered and got a big laugh out of me.

BEST: Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer – “All-Star Cast”

Organic hard seltzer is of course a product I have no need for, but this commercial was great, nonetheless. Admit it, you did a double-take early on, and then had your suspicions confirmed seconds later when one of the many fake celebrities made their appearance. The whole thing was slick and well done, but the kicker was outstanding, and if you missed it the first time, I won’t spoil it in print.

BEST: Cheetos – It Wasn’t Me

I am 35 years old, and this spot was 100 percent targeted at people my age. Teenagers watching it probably had no clue what was supposed to be funny about it and paid it little mind, but for those of us who can remember what life was like before smartphones, it was a good effort. The deadpan punchline after some truly awful singing by Ashton Kutcher was also fun, and the husband-and-wife chemistry with Kutcher and Mila Kunis made this a winner all the way around. This one is on the shortlist for the best spot of the night.

WORST: Squarespace – 5 to 9

Nothing like Dolly Parton repurposing the working-class anthem “9 to 5” into something celebrating side hustles for people who are almost certainly overworked and underpaid at unfulfilling jobs. Much like the Uber Eats spot, this one gets a hard pass from me, and as a Dolly fan, brings a single tear to my eye.

WORST: NFL – As One

A CGI Vince Lombardi that looks more fit for Playstation 5 delivering an “inspirational” message to a reeling country that just watched the NFL spend untold amounts of money to keep its games going on as scheduled while hospitals faced shortages and essential employees were (and still are) stretched to their limits because they have no other choice? Yeah, no thanks.

BEST: General Motors – Will Ferrell Hates Norway

This one doesn’t really need a description, other than to say it is stupid, inane, and some of Ferrell’s best work in years. High marks for this one, and especially for the sneakily searing one-liner in the middle.

WORST: Jeep – The Middle

Another message for unity, this time coming from The Boss, which no doubt had the desired effect on many viewers. The whole thing felt like Springsteen’s edges had been softened, and the message was one that has been tried time and again of late. The whole thing fell flat for me, mainly because it was overwhelmingly preachy, and the Super Bowl seems like an odd time to go for profundity with your message. When it comes to “serious” commercials, Anheuser-Busch stole the show, and Jeep got stuck in the mud.

BEST: Amazon – Alexa’s Body

The whole concept here was good, and the execution was funny. Michael B. Jordan was chewing scenery the whole time, the increasing exasperation of the ignored husband was entertaining, and the flipping of the usual “men gawking at women” narrative actually felt novel. And, as with the best commercials, there was a very sneaky, risqué double entendre in the middle of the proceedings. Along with a handful of others, this was one of the few serious contenders for best commercial of the night and was a worthy follow-up to last year’s “Before Alexa” spot.