B.J. Novak makes self-satisfied men useful comic company. We rate him most highly in an ensemble, where his dry reactions have room to work; leading roles can expose a lack of energy.
Fi1m perspective
A reaction shot is often enough for B.J. Novak. In The Office (2005), his Ryan Howard benefits from a comedy that gives the people around its exhausting boss something to do besides endure him. Steve Carell makes that boss painfully needy, and Novak is well suited to the ensemble's opportunities for self-satisfaction and dry responses. We laughed at Carell's neediness because the performance makes an exhausting man recognisably human. The programme's borrowed beginnings and occasional overplaying are real limitations, but this remains the place to start with Novak.
Ryan was his breakthrough, and Novak also wrote, produced and directed for the series. His taste for crisp dialogue and self-assured characters makes sense in that setting, where one person's certainty can provide another person's joke. It is worth separating the jobs, though: good writing does not automatically make its author a compelling lead. As an actor, he benefits from having other performers complicate the smugness. His dry responses give a scene another comic point of view without requiring him to compete with the performer who is doing the most.
Supporting parts in Inglourious Basterds (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and The Founder (2016) took him beyond workplace comedy. Then came Vengeance (2022), his feature debut as writer-director, with Novak also taking the lead. The sharp dialogue gives him something to work with, but his low-energy performance is harder to overlook at the centre of a film. We find more to recommend in his assured direction than in his casting of himself.
In The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026), he plays Jay within another well-acted ensemble. The film is pleasant company, though the returning team have too little to do and its observations about magazines offer little surprise. Its appeal is collective, which is no bad thing for an actor with his gifts. The actors remain the reason to watch, and the modest pleasure of their company is not something we would dismiss. Start with The Office, with a little patience for its borrowed beginnings and jokes that occasionally get pushed too hard.
Biography
B.J. Novak is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Born Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak on 31 July 1979 in Newton, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard University. He first gained attention as a writer and performer on the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), playing Ryan Howard across eight seasons while also contributing as a writer and producer.
Novak has appeared in supporting film roles including PFC. Smithson Utivich in Inglourious Basterds (2009), Harry J. Sonneborn in The Founder (2016) and Jay in The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026). He made his directorial debut with Vengeance (2022), which he also wrote, produced and starred in. Other credits include Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and voice work in the Smurfs films (2011, 2013).
Novak created and wrote the anthology series The Premise (2021) and has published the short-story collection One More Thing (2014) and the children's book The Book with No Pictures (2014).
