Rob Riggle

Rob Riggle’s authority figures tend to get louder rather than wiser. His size helps: the bullying men he plays can look formidable even while behaving like fools. We rate him in short supporting turns, where an outburst can do the work of a longer scene. The danger is repetition, because there are only so many ways to make shouting funny.

That suits a performer who came through sketch comedy. He was a featured player on Saturday Night Live in 2004–05 and a correspondent on The Daily Show from 2006 to 2008, before supporting film roles became a regular occupation. In Step Brothers (2008), his Randy delivers improvised outbursts opposite Will Ferrell; The Hangover (2009) casts him as Officer Franklin, a vengeful cop. These parts give him something definite to do with the aggression, rather than simply asking him to be noisy.

His voice work offers less reliable reasons to choose a film. In Josh Greenbaum’s Strays (2023), he voices Rolf amid the foul-mouthed antics of real dogs. We laughed, rather against our better judgement, at the combination of those dogs and the coarse humour; the film also has a sweetness that keeps it from becoming merely unpleasant. Then the same few jokes keep returning, long after they have earned their place. It is one for those already fond of this sort of comedy, rather than a recommendation on the strength of Riggle’s name.

Tony Leondis’s 2017 film gives him the voice of Ice Cream and supplies even less reason to watch. Bright colours and occasional slapstick do little for thin characters or the persistent feeling of being advertised at. Neither film gives us reason to pin its shortcomings on Riggle, though voice work does remove the imposing physical presence that helps his live-action comedy. The distinction matters with an actor whose size can make childish behaviour look more ridiculous. For a first encounter, try Step Brothers or The Hangover; we would be wary of anything that promises him unlimited time to shout.