THE STEVE CARELL REVIEW

By Nate Lee

BEST FILM: Dan in Real Life As he went from playing TV journalists to playing a print journalist, he graduated from very funny but shallow caricatures to funny, touching and a very real character. Dan is an advice columnist dealing with the reality of three daughters and a love interest who’s also his brother’s girlfriend. It’s actually an incredibly difficult role, especially when your parents are Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney, but Carell moves from being father to son to brother to lover with genial dexterity and ease.

GREAT PERFORMANCES YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN:

Bruce Almighty (a newsman competing with Jim Carrey)

Evan Almighty (the same newsman, now elected to Congress)

Anchorman (a weatherman)

The 40 Year Old Virgin (much less a loser than you’d think)

Little Miss Sunshine (the gay intellectual uncle, part of the Golden Globe-nominated cast)

Bewitched (Uncle Arthur)

Get Smart (Agent 86)

THE REAL CARELL:

The Office

Even with a string of successes and one long list of future projects, Carell has kept “The Office” running. It’s a nice mix, actually, and a twist on the old paradigm: do comedy movies for money and security and do tv for art and awards.

ACTING STYLE:

The stiff. There is a scene in “Dan in Real Life,” when Juliette Binoche first meets Carell, and she calls him smooth. During the course of the film, we and Juliette get to witness just exactly how unsmooth Dan is. Whether he is the good-natured, well-meaning virgin, or the secret agent, the jerky anchorman or the really jerky head of “The Office,” Steve Carell’s comedic core is whatever and wherever smooth isn’t.

BITS AND QUIRKS:

One heck of a great laugh. The mumble. The stupid dance, along with a lot of nerdy herky jerky moves. A haircut somewhere that side of the Brady Bunch. A range of nasally high pitches for different comic effects.

GREAT SCENES:

BEWITCHED

A brilliant Paul Lynde take-off as Uncle Arthur, giving advice to Will Ferrell

BRUCE ALMIGHTY

The news scene where Jim Carrey ties his tongue in knots

EVAN ALMIGHTY

The encounter with Morgan Freeman as God, in his back seat > The birds swooping in through the window > The montage of hurting himself while building the ark

THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN

Getting his chest waxed > The date with the drunk driver

GET SMART

The tango contest with Anne Hathaway > Crossing the red laser zone > Knocking out the chief > Talking to Bill Murray, in the tree

DAN IN REAL LIFE

Meeting Juliette Binoche in the bookstore > The reveal, when she turns out to be brother Dane Cook’s girlfriend > Sharing the shower > The talent show 

IF YOU LIKE HIM, YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T LIKE:

Curly Sue