Cellars of IMDb: Steve Zahn is Really Cool
Steve Zahn is really cool. There's a pretty good chance you know of him, but I doubt you know just how cool he is. Before we delve into just how cool he is, let's a take a quick peak.

That's pretty much the sexiest you're ever going to see this fellow, so revel in it now for soon we shall venture in realms noticeably less aesthetic. Like now for instance.



Anyway, last week we left the delicious Ethan Embry at That Thing You Do. Today we begin with the same picture.


Lenny, the guitarist is, much like Embry's "The Bass Player," a secondary character whose naivete provides comic relief. This sort of role is Zahn's bread and butter. No, this sort of role is just about all he does. Sometimes it's more stupid than naive, Saving Silverman, for instance.


Over and over and over again he's the dumb sidekick. His most recent film, Sahara? You better believe he's the comic relief sidekick, just a touch too irritating at times. Poor typecast bastard. I mean really, he was even the doofy comic relief guy in Hamlet of all things.


Now I first encountered Zahn in That Thing You Do, but I must admit he didn't really sink in at the time. (Further viewings have corrected this.) The first time Zahn came to my attention was in the immediately forgotten Happy, Texas.

That movie got no love whatsoever. Yes it was yet another variation on the already very nearly exhausted "escaped criminal(s) doing whatever it takes to stay out of custody" sub-genre. Still it took the genre in a new direction, and it was, get this, funny. Steve Zahn is flawless as the hillbilly Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. His co-lead, the much prettier Jeremy Northam also turns in a quite serviceable performance, while the inimitable William H. Macy continues to prove himself one of the best character actors ever to grace the silver screen. This died in the box offices. It imploded, it collapsed, it barely registered. It didn't register, in fact, for me. The first I heard of it was when I picked up the box and decided to rent it. Not regretting that decision one bit. Steve Zahn is adorable, and I want to eat him alive. This movie forms a third of Zahn's oeuvre in my opinion. The other two are the giddy That Thing You Do, and another movie that never hit it big, not that it was ever really expected to the way some had apparently hoped for Happy, Texas.

Employee of the Month. There's a complete transcription of the dialogue here, but it really doesn't do the film justice. This is a movie worth seeing. However I have difficulty classifying it as a good movie. You see this thing is chock full of good ideas-great ideas even. The thing is that they don't really fit together all that well. Predictably this is a movie written by a team of rookie screen-writers. Their only other writing credit is the Without a Paddle, produced the same year. Without a Paddle also rambles, but fits together far better, so I think we can reasonably hope for good things from Mitch Rouse and Jay Legget in the near future. In the meantime we have to deal with Employee. It showed up at Sundance without too much fanfare and quietly faded. It was only chance that the film caught my eye on the shelf at Blockbuster, but I picked it up, liked the cast, liked the cover, gave it a rent. It was worth it. Zahn is again cast as a lovably incompetent supporting character, but carries the film. Sure you've got the smoldering sex appeal of the female leads and Matt Dillon's actual talent for the whole acting thing (which is not necessarily all that present) but as soon as Zahn appears onscreen the scene is his. He does not waste that power, and gives Dillon and the viewer the single greatest biology lesson ever recorded. The single greatest science lesson. The single greatest lesson ever to appear on film. Oh my god that scene is fantastic. Still the movie doesn't make any sense but somehow still manages to be predictable. Watch it anyway. Repeatedly. Steven Zahn is that cool.




And remember the guiding light, lest we forget the glory that be Lemon Party.
Because your blog sucks.
- posted by Odovaucer @ 12:59 PM