A Tribute to Steve Carell

 I just finished watching "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World."  It starred Steve Carell and Keira Knightley, and was about two neighbours who get to know each other as the world is about to be destroyed by an asteroid. I watched it all alone, and I was sobbing at the end.  Steve Carell might be known as a funny man, but he's a seriously fine actor in all senses of the word.  My cat had to come over and comfort me.

I don't like all of the vehicles he's appeared in, to be sure.  "The Office" is not my thing.  I watched most of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and didn't really care for that style of humour.  However, the last few minutes when Mr. Carell gazes into the camera after he's consummated his marriage and begins singing "The Age of Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine In" always make me happy.  The suicidal brother in "Little Miss Sunshine" who shares a room with a nephew who's on a break from talking - lovely.  Maxwell Smart in "Get Smart" with Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 is wonderful.  How you can make Maxwell Smart seem smart and sexy is beyond me.  And Gru in "Despicable Me."  I don't own any other animated movies now that my daughters are grown up, but I had to buy that one.  His accent in that is hilarious.  The best is when Julie Andrews, playing his mother, uses the same accent.  And now tonight's film.

I guess I could compare Steve Carell to Rowan Atkinson.  Both are known as comic actors and both of them are not drop-dead, sexiest-man-alive types.  But when Mr. Atkinson isn't playing that idiot, Mr. Bean, and the intelligence shines out of his eyes, you know that you are watching a gifted actor.  As for Mr. Carell, you know that he is intelligent, and you can also see how multi-talented he is.  However, I see that he has just made a movie called "Fox Catcher."  In it he plays John Du Pont, a schizophrenic who killed Olympic wrestler David Schultz.  I don't think I'll be catching that one.