Paul Rudd...A great actor in horrible, horrible movies.
I love Paul Rudd. No really, I'm seriously in love with Paul Rudd. I think he's an amazing actor with so much talent, he's hilarious and of course incredibly attractive. My love for Paul Rudd probably started developing when he played Phoebe's husband Mike Hannigan (aka Crapbag) on "Friends." I remember wishing that he had been a part of the gang way sooner than season 9. Then I saw "Anchorman," and it quickly became one of my all time favorite movies. In "Anchorman" he plays Brian Fantana, a mustachioed ladies man who wears Sex Panther cologne. Ever since he played Leslie Mann's husband and Seth Rogen's only grown up buddy in "Knocked Up" it's been Paul Rudd Mania in Hollywood. He stole the show in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and starred in "Role Models," and most recently, "I Love You, Man," all of which I loved.
A couple of months ago I decided that since I love the most recent Paul Rudd movies so much that I should take a trip down memory lane and watch some of his earlier work. If I was going to be Paul Rudd's biggest fan I figured I should see every movie he's ever been in. So I added about 10 older Paul Rudd movies into my netflix queue and began the Paul Rudd movie marathon. Here are some of my results...
"Overnight Delivery" directed by Jason Bloom starring Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon. Ummm, how did I not know that these two were in a movie together!? I figured this had to be some sort of hidden gem that was going to be a cute, late 90's rom-com. To put the movie plot simply, Paul Rudd sends his girlfriend (Christine Taylor) a picture of him and Reese naked to get her back for cheating on him. Of course it's all some sort of misunderstanding and now he needs to get across the country with the help of Reese Witherspoon before his package (which of course was sent overnight delivery) reaches his girlfriend. Ok, the movie was kind of cute but so incredibly unbelievable and poorly written. Luckily it's very short and I still got to stare at Paul Rudd.
"Object of My Affection" directed by Nicholas Hynter starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. I know a lot of people that really love this movie, yet for some reason even though they play it on E! about once a month, I've never seen it. In the movie, Paul Rudd's character who is gay becomes roommates with Jennifer Aniston and the sexual tension goes wild! She gets pregnant by her boyfriend and starts to fall in love with Paul Rudd. Who wouldn't!? I don't care that he's gay, they would be perfect together! I'm not even kidding. He's incredibly charming and this movie made me like him even more, it just didn't end the way I would have liked.
"The Chateau" directed by Jesse Peretz was the movie I had the highest hopes for...I read the description and looked at the cover (notice the tilted "a" in the title, the funny photos of the French staff, the crazy smiles and confusion on Rudd and Malco's faces) and thought this at least has to be worth some good laughs. Netflix describes the movie as a comedy in which two American brothers inherit a chateau in France and run into some communication problems with the French staff. Not to mention the fact that one brother (Rudd) is white and the other brother is played by black actor Romany Malco who I know best from playing Conrad from Weeds. How could things go wrong? Well, for starters...it's not a slapstick comedy. It's a very subdued film with subtitles and lots of dry comedy and lots of confusion and some drama. The upside- Paul Rudd looks adorable in glasses.
"2 Days" directed by Sean McGinly. This movie is so weird. It's about a failing actor, Paul Rudd, who hires his friends to make a documentary about the last two days of his life before he commits suicide. Everything about this movie is strange. Some parts are a little funny in a dark way, but I felt weird to be laughing at the situation. On the upside, Rudd is able to show off his incredible acting abilities. His performance is amazing and moving.
While I loved watching hours and hours of Paul Rudd I think the moral of the story is that I should be more trusting of netflix reviews. Netflix told me I wasn't going to love these movies but I didn't listen. Every movie can't be as great as "Clueless," right? Overall, I think Paul Rudd is a great actor but that his best work is definitely ahead of him.
