Monday Morning Critic – Paul Rudd, Our Idiot Brother, Conan the Barbarian

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Every Monday morning, InsidePulse Movies Czar Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz brings an irreverent and oftentimes hilarious look at pop culture, politics, sports and whatever else comes to mind. And sometimes he writes about movies.

One thing keeps coming prevalent to me the more I see Paul Rudd and advertisements for Our Idiot Brother. He’s been a reason why any number of films has gone from being good to remarkably funny. He was brilliant in Knocked Up and Role Models, ruled all in The 40 Year-Old Virgin & Anchorman and has great small roles in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And I’ll be very curious to see This is Forty, the Knocked Up spin-off, because it’ll be the first time Judd Apatow himself makes another film directly related to a film he’s already made instead of merely just producing it. And looking at all these films, which most people generally like and were on plenty of Top 10 lists during their specific year, and one thing keeps popping up that won’t go away.

Why isn’t Paul Rudd an A-list star?

You’d think a guy who has been in as many successful comedies as he has under his belt, and how good he’s been in them, would be in the Will Ferrell level of stars by now. He’s in that Luke Wilson kind of category where he ought to be a big star with a $20 million check, as he has the talent to be on that level, but he just quite hasn’t hit that level and doesn’t seem to be truly aiming for that kind of fame and wealth. But he’s always attached to unique and engaging projects for the most part. He seems happier and more content to be the guy underneath the title as opposed to above it, the “also starring” name in the trailer, and I can’t say as I blame him. I am a fan of his work and as a fan we all have to admit we want our stars to be as liked by everyone else as we do. But I think Rudd’s on to something by being a sidekick or supporting character actor more often than he is in the lead. How so? Call it The Five Reasons It’s Better to be Paul Rudd than a Top Comedy Draw.

In this case we’re using Rudd as a stand in for any number of actors who manage to find themselves in that secondary role, the guy who’s always funny and you end up thinking “I wish he was in it more” after you see him in a movie. Rudd just happens to be a stand in for that guy and it sounds better, too. Plus it sound s more topical with Our Idiot Brother being released this week.

5. You can pick better projects as a supporting player

One of the downsides about trying to be an A-lister, one imagines, is that there are already people at the top who take the roles and spots you want. Dana Carvey always used to take the best roles that David Spade would write with himself in mind on Saturday Night Live and one imagines that being a top of the credits actor in any regard gives you more competition especially with the better projects. You know what doesn’t have nearly as much competition?

The best friend or the sidekick, the secondary parts that are often as critical as the big showy parts.

If you’re Paul Rudd and you want in on a film like Knocked Up but you can’t play the lead, you can play the aging husband and have a great part without slumming it to take the lead role in a lower film. He could’ve been great in the lead of Forgetting Sarah Marshall but he wasn’t going to get that. But he could play the stoned surfing instructor and he accomplishes a handful of things, first and foremost being in a good movie.

4. You’re not required to do as much of the heavy lifting

It’s really hard to screw up a film as a supporting player. It takes a certain knack, like the younger brother in Love and Other Drugs, to take away from a film which features Anne Hathaway in amazing physical shape and completely naked for like 2/3 of the film’s running time, to take away from a film. There are ways in editing, et al, to minimize a poor performance from a supporting character than to clean up a poor performance from a lead actor.

3. The pressure is significantly less to deliver every time

One of the things that have plagued guys like Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler throughout their careers is that sometimes they don’t deliver good performances in the lead. So when you unleash a stinker and you are a huge part of the reasons why it failed the heat is on to deliver with the next. It’s why being on top for a prolonged period of time in Hollywood is much more of a rarity than it used to be; you are only as good as your last film. Paul Rudd doesn’t have to deliver as often as Stiller or Sandler do; part of being a sidekick is that the bar is lowered.

2. You can take risks without turning off your fan base

Ben Stiller doing Greenberg was a huge risk because he’s been fairly successful doing the “wacky” comedies he’s known for. It takes a lot because people who fund his films want to get behind him doing another Night at the Museum film or A Big Focking Wedding instead of an indie mumblecore effort about a carpenter with mental issues. But Paul Rudd can step into a film like Diggers without a problem because he’s usually not demanded to be a drawing card, thus almost being too big of an actor for a film like that.

1. The work is always steady

A good supporting actor is like a good salesman: you can never find enough of them. It’s easy to try to find someone who wants to be a star, to do the heavy comedic lifting themselves, but finding an actor with enough confidence to accept their limitations and be “the man behind the Prince” instead of the Prince themselves is difficult. Thus a good supporting actor can always get work for the most part because there is always going to be a demand for guys like him to step in and get some laughs but not all of them.

Think of it like this. Wallace Shawn is not a name actor, not even a name character actor, and he’ll always be the evil moron from The Princess Bride. But he gets lots of small parts in films and television shows, never anything showy but enough to go “hey, I like this guy and want to see more of him” as opposed “oh god, not him again.”

A Movie A Week – The Challenge

This Week’s DVD – Conan the Barbarian

I admit when I went into this week’s Conan the Barbarian remake I went in with really low expectations. I wasn’t expecting much at all and the film couldn’t even satisfy that; you can read my feelings on that subject here for a proper review. So instead of rehashing some more of why the 2011 Conan the Barbarian is a rancid piece of cinema, I opted to go back to the original adaptation of Conan in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s version of it.

1982 was a much different time for Conan than 2011 was for a Conan film. Conan was much to do back then, getting a handful of comic books and whatnot per month, and as such the film’s adaptation from that medium (as well as the pulp stories, et al) was a big thing then. Arnold Schwarzenegger was then a guy who had a handful of movie roles but wasn’t a star yet. He’d been the biggest bodybuilder in the world but was still a bit of a curiosity as an actor. Conan the Barbarian was a hot property and Arnold won the role.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The film is essentially an origin story of Conan. His family slaughtered by a cult led by James Earl Jones, Conan is sold into slavery and turned from a child into a pit-fighting, killing machine. Trained as a swordsman by Eastern masters, Conan sets off to explore a world he hadn’t known as a thief. Pissing off the same snake cult, who killed the one woman he connected with to top it off, Conan decides that seeing how many of them he can kill for fun ought to be a bit of fun.

Everything that the reboot of the film wanted to be, and tried to be, the original version is. With a big epic score and the birth of a movie star, as well as some awesomely quotably lines, it doesn’t get much better than this. This version of Conan is still a pulp film but has one element the new one can’t muster: fun. It’s fun to watch and Conan’s a character who might be sleazy but he’s an inherently decent guy. It’s the difference between Arnold’s Conan and Jason Momoa’s version; you’d expect the latter

I think about it like this: “I live, I love, I slay… and I am content” sounds like something you’d hear from a frat bro as he pops his collar, puts some gel in his hair and goes to the frat party to play “Which girl is going to get roofie’d tonight.” But first it’s GTL and some Jersey Shore, brah!

The original film version of Conan the Barbarian has great quotes from even minor characters. Look at these in comparison to anything from the Baywatch‘d version of Conan:

“There comes a time, thief, when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a father’s love for his child.”

The King who hires Conan and his buddies to rescue his daughter has a great one:

It’s a great line that gives a minor, throwaway character importance that he wouldn’t have. It gives his importance that much more and the mission to save his daughter gets meaning immediately.

Conan’s father gets a great line early on as well:

“The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one – no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts. [Points to sword] This you can trust.”

Conan’s father gets an important part of Arnold’s life in 10 minutes and a handful of lines that a half hour of Ron Perlman couldn’t provide. Conan even gets some awesome lines in that Jason Momoa wishes he could’ve had:

Subotai: Hey, old man, where did you get this stuff?
The Wizard: The dead… the gods are pleased with you, they will watch the battle.
Conan: Are they going to help?
The Wizard: No.
Conan: Well, then tell them to stay out of the way.

“Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That’s what’s important! Valor pleases you, Crom… so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!”

And the immortal line, the one that the new one thank god didn’t recycle. I would’ve asked for my money back if they’d have used this line in the film Do you know what is best in life?

“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.”

Strong recommendation.

What Looks Good This Weekend, and I Don’t Mean the $2 Pints of Bass Ale and community college co-eds with low standards at the Alumni Club

Our Idiot Brother – Paul Rudd’s the idiot brother to three sisters for whom his idiocy shows them how to live their lives better through his simplicity.

See It – Kind of like Forrest Gump, instead of a retarded guy you have a stoned idiot.

Colombiana – Zoe Saldana takes revenge on the people that killed her family.

See It – An action film produced by Luc Besson? I’m there, dude.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce move into a haunted house or something.

Skip It – This has looked laughable so far and I don’t see why it’d be any good.

Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz brings his trademarked irreverence and offensive hilarity to Twitter in 140 characters or less. Follow him @MMCritic_Kubryk.