Dissect the appeal of Paul Rudd
Ant-Man’s Paul Rudd: the under-the-radar side-guy you would like to have a beer with, grossly underrated, ageless, goddamn handsome and behind cinema’s greatest gag.
Ant-Man hit cinemas on 17th July, and on that day the world watched a man shoot himself like a bullet at some bad guys before collectively saying: “Oh, yeah! It’s that guy from that thing!” Such is the essence of Paul Rudd: a kind of under-the-radar side-guy, celebrated as much for his actual acting as he is for his comic cameos. Here’s why we love the guy…
Nice guy
You get the vibe from Paul Rudd that he would be really fun to have a beer with. Maybe that’s because he plays ‘dude you’d like to have a beer with’ in loads of films: in Knocked Up, he was someone you’d quite like to have a beer with; in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, you would probably have a beer with him; in This Is 40, beer.
Grossly underrated
In criminally underwatched 2001 movie Wet Hot American Summer, Rudd showed exactly how funny he could be once you cast him as something other than ‘sidekick man’ or ‘fun husband’. In his best scene, he plays a teenager furiously and uselessly cleaning up a plate he just threw on the floor while sulking loudly at a camp counsellor. Trust: let Rudd loose to be silly and he’s up there with the Will Ferrells of this world.
A vampire
Rudd must have sold his soul and kidneys to the devil or something, because he hasn’t aged a day–not even a day–since his debut in 1995’s Clueless. What are you doing to stay so young, Paul Rudd? Are you drinking the blood of sacrificial newborns? Because if so keep doing it: it’s really working out.
Goddamn handsome
A few years ago a study found male and female versions of ‘the perfect face’. The woman was a kind of almond-eyed Scarlett Johansson/Gwyneth Paltrow half-breed. The bloke was literally Paul Rudd. Like, science just took Paul Rudd’s face, and declared it beautiful. Look at him.
Responsible for cinema’s greatest gag
“It’s called Sex Panther,” he says, “It’s illegal in nine countries. They’ve done studies, you know: 60% of the time, it works every time.” There is not a single universe where that isn’t funny.
From the September 2015 issue of FHM India.
Spotted a mistake, or your photo used without permission? Report a correction
in your inbox