Kevin Smith or Robert Rodriguez?
Which washed up, indie Gen-X director do you prefer? These two dudes were once the reigning voices of 90's DIY filmmaking, but have both since faded away to obscurity and irrelevance.
They're both doing okay in the grand scheme of things, of course, with Smith mainly collecting his checks off of doing podcasts and speaking engagements with fans rather than actual films now, and Rodriguez mainly getting by on work-for-hire TV/music video gigs. So, it's not like either are complete failures, but they are certainly disappointing when you look at the amount of hype they had generated for themselves back in the 90's.
For me, I'd say Rodriguez but just barely. Both have been proven to largely lack depth and substance, but Rodriguez is at least capable of making a goofy, enjoyable action romp when he isn't writing the script entirely by himself (Sin City, The Faculty, From Dusk till Dawn etc), whereas Smith is virtually incompetent at writing or directing anything other than guys slacking about and having trivial conversations about Star Wars. Rodriguez is capable of making a good film when he doesn't have complete and total control, whereas Smith really doesn't have much under his belt beyond raunchy dialogue and pop culture references.
Who do you prefer?