Comments on: Paul Rudd, “Frat Packagers” Also in GQ

By: Nathan

Nathan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:24:05 +0000

well if a villian who shares scenes with the star can be considered a 2nd lead buddy, i would say sacha baron cohen could be considered the 3rd lead of talladega nights since she shares most if not all of his scenes opposite will ferrell. Blades of Glory doesnt really have one, but a good example of some that dont would be The Pick of Destiny, Step Brothers, Year One, Land of the Lost which could be borderline if you consider Jorma Taccone, who was hilarious in Hot Rod and in The Lonely Island, a third male actor.

By: Kevin Crossman

Kevin Crossman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:47:59 +0000

I don’t know how you couldn’t say that Stiller wasn’t the 2nd buddy in Dodgeball. Sure, he functioned as the villain but he and Vaughn shared a number of scenes with the kind of back and forth dialogue typical of the buddy comedies.

Would agree with Rick’s initial assesment that it is atypical compared to Old School, Anchorman, *Talladega Nights*, et. al. (Blades of Glory is another one that didn’t really have a third lead).

By: Nathan

Nathan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:34:58 +0000

In Dodgeball, Ben Stiller was the villian AND wasn’t apart of a buddy pair so it makes sense to say Bradley Coopers character could be considered as a strong 3rd male lead like Red, Alan, McLovin…Rip Torn had the strongest association of the males with Vince Vaughn or dodgeball in general and in my opinion had the strongest performance out of any of the supporting actors (Justin Long, Joel David Moore…). All I’m saying is those 2 characters were the most definative of a 3rd male actor in those movies.

By: Mario

Mario — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:53:23 +0000

Rick - you don’t always have a third lead like that, I think that’s why it’s not always true. Nathan - Bradley Cooper was the villain, not associated with the lead buddy pair. And Rip Torn was a funny take on the Guru (the Miyagi, the Yoda…), I don’t necessarily know if he was the third or even fourth or fifth male lead in that. Alan, Frank, Brick, McLovin etc were all associated with the main pairing. In Wedding Crashers it would rather have been Chazz, had he not been a cameo. Imagine if there had been more Chazz in the movie, as a proper third lead, then he would have been the destructive, reckless one in their wedding crashing business. Am I right?

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:11:29 +0000

Nicely done

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:42:57 +0000

Wedding Crashers-Bradley Cooper Dodgeball-Rip Torn….BOOM

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:59:40 +0000

The other really interesting point was McKay pointing out how freely destructive the third male lead in buddy comedies can be (using Galifianakis in the Hangover, Ferrell in Old School and Carell in Anchorman as examples.)

It’s true: McBride in Pineapple Express, McLovin in Superbad AND Role Models, Corddry in Hot Tub, Ferrell in Zoolander. Not always true (Wedding Crashers and Dodgeball come to mind), but for the most part it is.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:27:43 +0000

I thought Todd Phillips’ open animosity towards Jack Black for dropping out of Man-Witch was interesting. We all know people harbor those kinds of feelings when someone drops out, but it’s rare that we ever hear it.