Yes, Steve Carell was pretty good in Little Miss Sunshine and Crazy, Stupid, Love., and his voice work in Horton Hears A Who! and Despicable Me was very entertaining. But if you want to see him at his absolute best, you need to see these five performances.
Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)
After a strong supporting turn as a rival TV personality in Jim Carrey’s Bruce Almighty, Carell took the role of clueless weatherman Brick Tamland and ran with it, becoming the MVP of Will Ferrell’s swinging 70s comedy. In a sea of memorable performances, Brick is a constant comic delight – physically awkward, mentally absent and perpetually out of step with the rest of the Channel 4 News team. You can’t take your eyes off him he might throw a trident at you.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Carell proved ideally suited to Judd Apatow’s trademark blend of discomfort comedy and heartfelt emotion, starring as a withdrawn electronics salesman whose sheepish confession that he’s never had sex leads his buddies to devote themselves to getting his cherry popped. Carell’s scenes opposite love interests Elizabeth Banks and Catherine Keener have genuine warmth, and that chest-waxing scene is genuine in a very different way.
Dan In Real Life (2007)
The movie’s not great – it’s a meandering dramedy about a widower (Carell) who unwittingly falls for his brother’s new girlfriend (Juliette Binoche). But there’s one magnificent sequence where Carell’s heartsick hero tries to distract himself by going out with Ruthie Draper, a childhood friend he and his brother used to call “Pigface” behind her back. Except that she’s grown up to be a radiant wild child played by Emily Blunt, and the chemistry is instantaneous you come away shocked that director Peter Hedges didn’t immediately retool the movie so Dan and Ruthie could end up together. And Carell looks like a leading man for the first time.
The Office, Season 4, Episode 9: Dinner Party
Carell’s quicksilver ability to slip between comedy and pathos is highlighted in one of the very best episodes of The Office, as hapless Dunder Mifflin regional manager Michael Scott and his horrible girlfriend, Jan (Melora Hardin), throw a dinner party that quickly disintegrates into an airing of grievances between the miserable hosts. Perhaps the cringe-iest episode of a series built on cringe humour, it’s also a chance for Carell to show the dented heart of his character, who’s so desperate to be loved and valued that he’s manacled himself to a monster in exchange for the illusion of domestic bliss.
Dinner For Schmucks (2010)
Carell reunites with Anchorman and Virgin co-star Paul Rudd for a remake of Francis Veber’s comedy about businessmen who compete to see who can bring the biggest idiot to a dinner party. Rudd’s rising corporate star finds Carell’s Barry, a well-meaning misfit who enjoys placing dead mice in elaborate dioramas. The movie’s wobbly and way too long, but Carell’s obvious delight at being back in full-on comedic mode comes right through the screen.
