Steve Zahn

Steve Zahn’s Glenn Michaels is permanently stoned and out of his depth in Out of Sight (1998). Zahn makes that a good reason to keep watching him, even when the story has other business to attend to. We laughed at Glenn because his confusion is so amiable; Zahn lets us enjoy the foolishness without treating the fool with contempt. That kindness is a substantial part of his appeal. He can play a supporting comic character whose vulnerability matters as much as the joke.

Reality Bites (1994) established the slacker persona that kept him busy and made him easy to underestimate. Those amiable supporting parts suited him, but they could also encourage the assumption that amiability was all he had to offer. A starring role in Happy, Texas (1999) gave his physical comedy more space. A more demanding dramatic part came with Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn (2007), as Duane W. Martin. It is a useful corrective for anyone who remembers only the stoners.

Soderbergh’s Out of Sight also shows how a good supporting performance can be overused. Glenn gets more room than the story needs, particularly as the Detroit half becomes busier and the violence arrives. The performance remains enjoyable, but we start to notice the time being spent on it. Zahn’s likeability cannot settle a question of proportion that belongs to the director and the script. We would happily have seen less of Glenn if it meant keeping the film’s early ease.

Television gave him a sustained place in an ensemble as Davis McAlary in Treme (2010–2013). He also played Bad Ape through voice and motion capture in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). Neither credit needs to be treated as a startling reinvention before we can take the actor seriously. Start with Out of Sight, then try Rescue Dawn if the amiable stoner is still the only Zahn you recognise.