Best & Worst of Steve Carrell

Article by Gabe Zia
We're in the second week of possibly the best movie month of the year, with films I've been waiting fro almost all year finally coming out. Yesterday I saw Interstellar, and next week Foxcatcher comes out. Now, I've been hyped for Foxcatcher for a few reasons. One, the story behind the film has always been interesting, and two, it's a great opportunity for Steve Carell and Channing Tatum to really change their careers as actors. And of those two actors, my pcik for bets & worst this week is going to be Steve Carell.

The dude has shown time and time again that he can play really good comedic roles, even if most of the time it's really type cast. He's usually either playing an awkward but likable nerdy guy (Crazy Stupid Love, The 40 Year Old Virgin), a totally depressed guy (Little Miss Sunshine, Dan in Real Life) or a total bumbling idiot (Anchorman, Get Smart). However, as you could probably guess, my pick for his best is not one of his type cast roles, and in fact goes completely against all of those roles, and that role is Trent in The Way, Way Back.

Normally, in any role he's in, Steve Carell is likable. In fact, usually really likable, most audiences really enjoy watching this guy in movies, regardless of whether or not he's nerdy, depressed, or idiotic. However Trent is in no way a likable character by any stretch of the imagination. Not only does Steve Carell play a total despicable jerk in this movie, but he does it damn well. If I can watch a seemingly endless amount of him playing likable characters, and then watch this movie and never once see Steve Carell in this performance is seriously impressive.

Steve Carell, despite his good films, has also done some bad films. Not many, but some. And although it isn't a necessarily bad film, and could be seen as a good drama, I am not a fan of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

I'm usually not very put off by depressing films, in fact I like it when a film can force me to feel totally horrible, it shows a lot of talent in a director to be able to make a depressing film. However, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, in my opinion, fails in a couple of ways. One, it tries to sell itself as a comedy, despite being a total downer. The film might seem like it's trying to be a total downer, but the scenes that seem like build-up to a joke of some sort are usually unsettlingly depressing. A lot of scenes which seem like they're supposed to be jokes are the most depressing of them all, and it feels like the director was trying to make the scene funny, but it comes off as a total downer.

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