Charlie Day

Charlie Day often plays the anxious underdog, his voice high and rasping, his delivery urgent. His timing can make an absurd character seem to believe every word, which is why the shouting need not become exhausting. In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present), he plays Charlie Kelly and also works as co-creator and writer. Alongside co-creators, co-stars and writing partners Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, he has more say in what gets said than a supporting film role usually offers.

The film breakthrough came with Horrible Bosses (2011), followed by a supporting turn as Dr Newton Geiszler in Pacific Rim (2013). Animation gave that voice another use: he plays Benny in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Lego film (2014). The film's affection for ordinary people makes its busy, inventive comedy worth the effort of keeping up. The pace can wear us down, but this is the animated film of his we would recommend first.

The first Mario film (2023) gives him Luigi and then scarcely lets him do anything with him. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic have the bright surfaces right, but the screenplay separates the brothers after a warm opening in Brooklyn. Luigi spends most of the film off-screen, while the relationship is asserted rather than allowed to develop. We grew cross watching the care lavished on the backgrounds while the two brothers were given so little time together. A distinctive voice cannot do much for a character the film keeps putting away.

The Mario sequel (2026) gives Day and Chris Pratt a quarrel about which brother looks after the other, then drops it for another planet. Horvath and Jelenic return with screenwriter Matthew Fogel, but the rush again leaves little room for comic timing or feeling. Day is no more able than Pratt to make that underwritten relationship matter, and we would not recommend the film for either of them. Start with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for a better sense of what Day can do when he helps write the jokes.