The Character-centric Drama of The 40-Year-Old Virgin Tends To Be More Consistently Successful Than Its Comedy

There was a time when Steve Carell wasn't a movie star. Prior to August 2005, Carell, who had previously appeared in a number of scene-stealing roles in movies as well as starred in a handful of episodes of the American version of The Office, had never headlined a major feature film prior to The 40-Year-Old Virgin while writer/director Judd Apatow had been cutting his teeth on an assortment of cult classic TV shows up to this point. But with this raunchy comedy, both of them managed to spring to the very top of the A-list and proved to be one of the most influential forces in early 21st century American cinematic comedy, with their impact still being felt in movies made to this very day.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, A Quiet Place Is Exquisitely Realized Horror Fare

There's plenty about A Quiet Place worth pondering but one of the aspects of this film that I really can't stop thinking about is how much it feels like a deviation from John Krasinski's career up to this point. Nothing in his past acting or directorial credits indicate he had any interest in the horror genre (heck, Krasinski has been open in interviews about not growing up as an ardent fan of horror movies), up to this point Krasinski has been known as Jim Halpert from The Office first and also as comedic actor who starred or appeared in light-hearted feature-length dramedies. But here is, directing, writing and acting in an intense horror film with nary a joke in sight, an audacious move worth applauding on its own.