Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Weekly Poll Winner: Paul Rudd

As much as all the contestants on last week's poll are formidable actor/comedians, I'm glad Paul Rudd was picked as number one. And that's for one reason:

Paul Rudd can fit his whole fist in his mouth.

Actually, that's not the reason. The reason is because Paul Rudd is the only actor of the five (Will Ferrel, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller) who is just now beginning to enjoy leading-man comedic success.

Rudd has actually been around longer than most people remember. He played Josh in 'Clueless' (almost 15 years ago now), was one of the few who to make it through 'Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers' un-slashed, played in two Shakespeare adaptations--'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Twelfth Night'--and enjoyed a run on 'Friends'.

But it wasn't until Rudd latched onto the Judd Apatow crew in 'The 40 Year Old Virgin', that people really began to remember his name. And in the last year-or-so, with 'Role Models' and 'I Love You, Man', has enjoyed leading-man success in comedies that people actually saw.

Rudd's comedic style of acting is very dynamic, which enables him to play different types of roles, whereas many leading men (like the others on last week's poll), often continue playing themselves in different movies. Will Ferrel (almost) always plays Will Ferrel. Vince Vaughn (almost) always plays Vince Vaughn. And I'll skip out on saying that Ben Stiller (almost) always plays Ben Stiller, because it's not almost always...it's always. That's fine that they do, because that works for them.

But the fact that Paul Rudd can play several types of characters separates him from the rest of the group. He does a good job playing the apathetic husband in 'Knocked Up', and an equally good job playing the devoted fiance in 'I Love You, Man'. And his stoner/surfer dude role in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', despite it's brevity, is one of the more memorable parts of that movie.

He also does hilarious impressions, like his Robert Deniro in 'Knocked Up', or this one from 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story':



As a 40-year-old, Rudd still looks like he could play a 30-year-old, and at the time where he seems to be in his prime, doesn't show the signs of slowing down.

(I'm having a tough time finding more good clips...not because they don't exist, but they've all been taken off the web.)

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