Shlubby, mulleted and goofy don't always equal hunky, but comedian Danny McBride is living proof that they can. With the stiffest of competition from charming pretty boy James Franco aka Daniel Desario (sigh) in Pineapple Express, I can't say McBride won in the chiseled good looks department, but he really stood out as a drug dealer with a wife in jail.
Even though I thought his demolitions expert was fairly forgettable in Tropic Thunder, I was intrigued enough to rent the movie that launched his rocket to semi-stardom, The Foot Fist Way. It's a flawed gem but one that grows on me the more I think about it. One thing that's certain is that his performance is fantastic, even if there's not quite enough buoying the rest of the film for me to make it my pick of the week (though, as I said, I just keep growing fonder of the thing). As an egocentric but frail Tae Kwon Do instructor with a slut for a wife and a jerk for a hero, McBride is in turns hilarious, cringe inducing, pathetic, sympathetic, and charming. What could have been nothing more than ninety minutes of “real American” ridicule are transformed by McBride's performance into something quietly remarkable.
I just don't know how to explain it, but the man is way attractive. Even in the worst kind of matching short outfits (in real life he's well put together) there's some sort of crazy charisma that I just can't dispel. Missing his new HBO comedy show is the only thing that's made regret our recent decision cancel our premium cable channels.
But what do you think?