Jack Black
Okay. Am I the only one here that
didn’t want Jackie’s arm blown off in
The Jackal (1997)? That was around the time I started to really recognize Black and was already forming an opinion of him that he was a pretty cool dude. Ever since that moment, I’ve come to appreciate his many talents and effortless charm. Jack is my favorite, of this ill named group (I too would hate it if it stuck), mainly for his natural ability to be utterly likable and outrageously funny. Looking at his burgeoning career as a co-star, most of the films he worked on weren’t that bad.
High Fidelity (2000) (his breakout performance) is a darn good film, in part, because of his performance. It’s no wonder that steady work came his way soon after in the likes of
Saving Silverman (2001),
Shallow Hal (2001), and
Orange County (2002), which were all pretty decent comedies. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when you have co-stars like Steve Zahn and Gwyneth Paltrow. When given the opportunity to carry a film completely on his own, he really stepped up to the plate and delivered.
The School of Rock (2003) is a gas. I couldn’t believe how hilarious a movie could be that was centered around kids and a somewhat cheesy premise. Treating the script, audience, and the kids with respect made this movie one of the greatest of its kind. I
expect to love
King Kong, and assume that Jackie’s going to deliver once again. I also have faith in Peter Jackson to treat this cherished story as lovingly as he did
The Lord of the Rings. So yeah, Black’s cool.
Luke Wilson
It’s odd even to me, that Luke is so high on my list. I guess it’s more his personality than anything else. He’s quiet and reserved by nature, but also outwardly charismatic and obviously intelligent. I haven’t exactly
liked many of the films he’s had minor parts or shared billing in;
Home Fries (1998),
My Dog Skip (2000), and
Charlie's Angels (2000) are about the best of ‘em. I couldn’t stand
Blue Streak (1999), but I’ve never been a fan of Martin Lawrence, so that’s why. I still haven’t seen
Old School (2003), so I don’t know what kind of part he has in it, or how well he played it. Of course, whenever he is in a Wes Anderson film, he shines. I guess it was when he played Richie in
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), that I really took a shine to him. I literally adore that film, and it’s his character that I chiefly relate to and like the most. It’s been since then that I’ve liked him as much as I do. Personally, I thought he would have been perfectly cast as the new Superman. He has that strong jaw, which Superman is supposed to have, and he has the innate ability of being soft spoken; the strong silent type, and thoughtful. And you know that the Owen brothers can beef up if they need to. Alas, he wasn’t even considered. Boo Hollywood. Hiss…
Vince Vaughn
Manic, loud, obnoxious, witty, and very funny, Vince has an appeal that is as unique as it is captivating. I liked him in
Rudy (1993), and recognized him from then on. I saw him on the cover of
Swingers (1996) when it was a new release, immediately rented it, loved it, and then purchased it. Vaughn has a way of making all attention focus on him when he’s on the screen. It’s almost impossible to look away from what he’s doing, at least in the roles where he’s most like himself.
Swingers,
Clay Pigeons (1998), and
Made (2001), are all my favorite. In all of these films, he’s allowed to be himself where he just takes over.
Return to Paradise (1998) was a pretty good movie, and he did extremely well as the man haunted with guilt and fear. It was a good sign of his abilities. He did well in the
Psycho (1998) remake, but I couldn’t get into it being a true life doppelganger of the original. Too much Déjà Vu for my taste. I haven’t seen any of his films between
Made and
Starsky & Hutch (2004), so I can’t comment on them, but
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) was great. Yet, I have always been curious what the film would have been like if he and Stiller had switched roles. It’s Vince’s outrageous behavior that I like the most. I hope that he has more opportunities in the future to let it all hang out. I hope he’s a real @sshole.
Owen Wilson
I respect Owen’s enormous talent in screenwriting, especially since he helped write two of my favorite films;
Rushmore (1998) and
The Royal Tenenbaums. Yet, there’s just something about him that doesn’t appeal to me as much as the three higher up on my list. His slow drawl and unique brand of wit is often funny, but it’s just not my type of cool. His brother is more my speed, but oh well. Happily, it doesn’t make me
not like him. His initial effort with writing and co-starring in
Bottle Rocket (1996) showed a lot of promise right out of the starting gate, and made him a personality hard to forget. His next two roles in
Anaconda (1997) and
Armageddon (1998) were pretty standard stuff, but I was a little afraid that he’d start getting cast as the whiny, comic relief, type character. I was relieved to see that would never happen to him once
The Minus Man (1999) was released on video. In it, he takes on a more sinister guise which actually works well with his personality.
Shanghai Noon (2000) and
Shanghai Knights (2003) are both fun, the latter being the better of the two, and he played a very good role in the off balance
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). I haven’t had the chance to see much of anything else he’s been in other than
The Haunting (1999),
Meet the Parents (2000),
Behind Enemy Lines (2001), and
The Big Bounce (2004). None of these films are very impressive, but he doesn’t do a bad job in any of them. I just hope he continues to write with Wes. I could dig that.
Will Ferrell
I liked Will from his many different personas on
Saturday Night Live; there was never a problem of not recognizing him after that, so when he had his small role in
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), I could expect that he was there to be funny; and he was humorous, nothing too special. Good ‘ol Will didn’t let me down. What a
swell guy. When he and Chris Kattan, released
A Night at the Roxbury (1998), I thought it was comical. Certainly not a perfect comedy, but still pretty good. And that’s about what I felt about everything (performance-wise) he was in until I saw both
Elf (2003) and
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).
Elf is friggin’ side-splittingly funny (up until the last 10-15 minutes or so), and as Ron Burgundy, Ferrell leveled me with some of the best one liners I’d heard in ages. I went to see
Melinda and Melinda (2004) when it was in the theater a while back. Will did an almost eerie impersonation of Allen, but it would slip out sometimes and he’d be back to being regular ‘ol Will Ferrell. He was pretty good in the film, but it wasn’t all that special either. Man, I need to get off my ass and see
Starsky & Hutch, this is ridiculous.
Ben Stiller
The problem I have with Stiller is that he has played in too many disappointments. That’s the only explanation I can think of for why he’s at the bottom of my list. I mean, c’mon…he’s definitely cooler than Ferrell, but there it is. I remember renting
Reality Bites (1994) back when it first came out on video because Ethan Hawke was on the cover, and I really liked him from
Alive (1993). I remember renting it, but that’s it, so I can only assume it made quite the impression. I didn’t see anything memorable with Ben until both
Zero Effect (1998) (really cool, but mainly because it's Bill Pullman's best role to date) and
There's Something About Mary (1998) were released to video.
Mary I found incredibly funny at its peak gags, but it fell flat sometimes making it not as great as it could have been. Still, I wouldn’t give up Matt Dillon saying, “Those goofy bastards…” for anything.
Mystery Men (1999) came to video and I was
extremely disappointed (since then it has sort of grown on me) and
Keeping the Faith (2000) didn’t do much for me back when it was new either, but I haven’t seen it since then, so who knows? Maybe it could grow on me. I can’t stand
Meet the Parents (2000), though it’s no the fault of Stiller’s, it’s just that I hate the story…everything about it really. I refuse to see
Meet the Fockers (2004), even though Dustin Hoffman, my favorite actor, is in it…just because it’s the same crappy writers involved. His best performance to date is easily Chas, the workaholic worrier from
The Royal Tenenbaums, and both
Envy (2004) and
Dodgeball were well done by Stiller, the latter being the
much better role. I have recently seen
Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), which is a
very good ensemble film dealing with self-absorbed characters intermingling, cheating, and having random sex with one another. Though Ben does well, the show is stolen by Jason Patric as the heartless womanizer who is constantly on the prowl…and training. I like him quite a bit, but I just don’t get excited if it’s just him carrying a film. If it has good co-stars with him, then I’m more likely to go see it. I guess the bottom
is where the bitch belongs.
Reply to Topic
). But Will Ferrell could make me laugh killing my favorite aunt with a croquet mallet, Ben Stiller owns the awkward comedy market, and Vince Vaugn is one cool dude.
![Ben Stiller]](https://entimg.msn.com/i/150/ce/0210/BStiller.jpg)
from this Mofo.