BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
DISCLAIMER: As Co-President of the Fictional “Ruddy-Buddy Fan Club”, let me say I love me some Paul Rudd. He’s got that old school Bill Murray charm, but wrapped in a pretty boy package. He has the looks of someone who’d be a dick in most movies and HAS been a dick in a lot of movies. Still, he’s charismatic as hell and has a likeability to him that rivals a Paul Newman. He’s a dude you’d want to hang out with. He’s been in A LOT of movies, but today we’re sticking with the ones he was the main star of. So that does eliminate A LOT of his work like “Clueless”, “Romeo+Juliet”, “Wet Hot American Summer”, “Anchorman”, “40 Year Old Virgin”, “Knocked Up”, and about a million more movies we all love. A lot of the time, he’s one of the best parts of these movies and it’s been fun watching him go from supporting character to leading man over the past few years.
(FOUR) OVERNIGHT DELIVERY
As far as I know, his first leading role had to be “Overnight Delivery”. He played a college guy who thinks his long distance girlfriend is cheating on him. So he gets drunk and sends a nasty letter, a picture with a stripper, and fake used condom to her in the mail. He wakes up, finds out it was all a lie and panics. So he and the stripper, Reece Witherspoon in an awesome performance, track down the mail truck and try to get to the letter before his girlfriend does. The movie isn’t Shakesphere, but it’s entertaining and for a late 90’s comedy you can’t complain. It’s a paint by numbers movie, but a fun road trip comedy for a Sunday afternoon for sure. The story and situations are a little too silly at times, but that’s not to Rudd’s discredit. He carried the load and believe me, this movie was definitely a load of something.
(THREE) I LOVE YOU, MAN
Rudd plays a guy that doesn’t have any guy friends. He’s getting married and needs a best man so he starts going out and trying to find guys he’s compatible with and make some friends. He goes through some funny people making funny appearances, but it would be his chemistry with co-star Jason Segal that rocked. They’ve crossed paths on screen before in “Knocked Up” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” but this was their chance to shine. I enjoyed the hell out of the movie the one time I’ve seen it. This is one of those movies that’ll get on basic cable and become a television staple for years. It’s nothing too vulgar, but edgy and funny enough to own basic cable. That’s totally NOT a jab at the movie. It’s just Paul Rudd is so entertaining and easy to watch that even if the movie sucks (it definitely doesn’t), it would still be watchable. And really, any movie that gets Canadian rock band RUSH to appear can’t be that bad.
(TWO) ROLE MODELS
This movie ended up being pretty damn surprising. I had the pleasure of going to see this movie early and getting to sit in on a Q&A session with the man himself, Paul Mother Truckin’ Rudd. Despite the fact that we learned that he had shoulder pads in his sports jacket, the dude was a class act and just added to his already high status in my book. I thought this would leave my opinion of the movie a little bias, and it still might, but I watched it again a few times since and I’ve laughed every time. The movie is a hard R-Rated comedy and does not hold back on the ridiculous funny. Christopher Mintz-Plasse showed he was more than “McLovin”, Bobb’e J. Thompson was a vulgar little dude, Seann Williams Scott was NOT “Stiffler”, and Paul Rudd played as asshole with a hidden heart. The movie is funny on many levels, but it reminded me of the old Bill Murray movie “Meatballs”. Basically it comes down to “man child meets child, then he cares for the child, then the man child grows up”, but it’s done well. Paul Rudd is the main reason this David Wain movie works.
(ONE) THE SHAPE OF THINGS
Most folk haven’t seen or even heard of this one. It started as a 2001 play by Neil LaBute and in 2003 they ended up making a movie of it with the original cast. The movie is excellent and weird. It’s about a normal slouchy guy played by Rudd who meets an attractive art student played by Rachel Weisz. They hook up, but slowly and surely she changes him. In the act of love he adapts to her liking by changing his lifestyle. He eats better, exercises, gets contacts, hangs out with different people, and just about completely sells himself out for her. There’s some comedy to it, but just kind of natural life amusement. It’s mainly a drama and a damn good one at that. Paul Rudd IS this character. He looks different at the start than he does once she starts to get him to change. If you’re a fan of Rudd, this is a movie you need to see. Your opinion of his acting ability will change and in a positive way. I’d love to see him do some more serious type of lead roles. I know he’s done a few, like “Diggers” and I guess “The OH in Ohio” but him working with Neil LaBute makes for a great collaboration.
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