Paul Rudd

Paul Rudd is at the wheel during the opening ghost chase in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), being the reliable adult. As Gary Grooberson, he is trying to be a stepfather without being allowed to call himself one. Rudd makes that uncertainty worth our attention, even when the film keeps interrupting the family. Eric Steelberg's low camera and Nathan Orloff and Shane Reid's clear cutting make the chase work. The awkward business of Gary finding his place deserves more of the film's time.

The early promise was Clueless (1995), Amy Heckerling's affectionate comedy, which established him as a romantic lead playing Josh. It remains an easy recommendation, though Alicia Silverstone's earnestness and Heckerling's ear for teenage speech do most of the work we value in it. Rudd's subsequent move into ensemble comedy included David Wain's Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and collaborations with Judd Apatow. Comic timing, improvisation and physical comedy gave him more to offer than a pleasant presence. Those skills are worth remembering when the later parts ask so little of him.

Ant-Man (2015) made him Scott Lang, and he contributed to its screenplay as well as starring. The character's useful starting point is a decent man slightly out of his depth, a good fit for an actor whose jokes need not make him superior to everyone else. By Peyton Reed's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Jeff Loveness's script gives him less to play than either earlier film. We felt let down by Quantumania, which gives Scott so little to do even when hundreds of versions of him argue with one another. The larger comic set pieces sacrifice the low-key humour that suited him.

Frozen Empire is less wasteful of him, though being one of its dependable pleasures hardly makes it a successful family film. The hesitation over Gary's place in the family gives Rudd something specific to play, and his decency remains welcome. Our reservation is about how little these films demand of him, not whether he earns his place in them. We would welcome a smaller comedy that gives him time to be difficult.