After graduating from college, Garelick began his career working as an assistant in
Creative Artists Agency's Motion Picture Literary department. He served as the assistant to director
Joel Schumacher on
Tigerland,
Bad Company, and
Phone Booth. He was the second unit director on Schumacher’s 2003 movie
Veronica Guerin. While working on Veronica Guerin in 2002, Garelick sold
The Golden Tux, a spec script he co-wrote with Todd Phillips, to
Dimension Films. The script caught the attention of
Vince Vaughn, who brought Garelick in to co-write and co-produce
The Break-Up. After the commercial success of
The Break-Up, Garelick worked with Phillips again on an uncredited re-write of
The Hangover. The film was a major critical and commercial success, making over $465 million at the box office. Garelick’s early career came full circle in 2013, when he was hired by
Screen Gems to direct and produce
The Wedding Ringer, a feature film that evolved from
The Golden Tux. Despite negative critical reviews, the film was a box-office success when it premiered in 2015, grossing over $79 million worldwide. In 2018, Garelick co-created, directed, wrote, and produced
Best. Worst. Weekend. Ever., an eight-episode
Netflix limited series. In 2023, Garelick directed
Murder Mystery 2, a Netflix movie starring
Adam Sandler and
Jennifer Aniston. Garelick is currently directing the comedy film,
Rolling Loud, with
Owen Wilson,
Matt Rife,
Henry Winkler, and
The Weeknd to star. The film is set to release in 2026.
American High In 2017, along with producing partner Will Phelps, Garelick purchased A.V. Zogg School in
Liverpool, New York for $1 million, with the intention of using it as a location to produce three high school-centered feature films at a fraction of what they would normally cost to produce. By using the same location, Garelick believed he could save millions thanks to the high tax incentives offered to shoot in Central New York, coupled with savings in below-the-line production costs. Under the banner of "American High," Garelick produced two movies:
Banana Split for $1.2 million and
Holly Slept Over for $500,000. American High's third film,
Big Time Adolescence, a
coming-of-age comedy film starring
Pete Davidson and
Griffin Gluck, was a critical success. After it was screened at the
2019 Sundance Film Festival, the film's rights were sold to
Hulu. The streaming service and American High subsequently signed an eight-movie licensing deal. A sequel to the film is set to begin production in January 2022. In order to have the area around the A.V. Zogg School zoned for filming by the city of Liverpool, American High also offered a trade school, in addition to its use as a film studio. Each American High production employs about ten students from local colleges like
Syracuse University,
Ithaca College, and
Le Moyne College. However, as of December 2021, American High is still in operation at A.V. Zogg School. ==Filmography==