In Honor of Her Birthday, Let's Discuss Kristen Wiig's Most Underrated Role
The glamorously screwball Kristen Wiig, who celebrates her 38th birthday today, is now a burgeoning screen star who is successfully elevating the zany and/or downtrodden aspects of her SNL characters into full-fledged performances. What's her most underrated moment on the screen so far?
Plenty of Wiig's pre-Bridesmaids roles qualify as fun, quiet performances, but I have a special affinity for her work in Adventureland because I have a special affinity for that movie. Not only are its two stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart fantastic, but everyone from Ryan Reynolds to Wendie Malick give sweet, believable performances. As Bill Hader's meekly wacky wife Paulette, Wiig distills the unfiltered essence of her Knocked Up role into a distinctly small-town mold. Just lovely, especially when she offset's Hader's more traditional SNL hysteria.
What's your choice?
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Paul - her shirt alone is worthy of a golden globe nomination.
Also, her 5 minutes in Knocked up is pretty fabulous. SO much so, that I think she should've been the one Rogen knocked up. (Plus, that way you could end all those "How did she end up sleeping with THAT guy" discussions)
Loved her character in "Whip It" which is not only underrated for Wiig but in general.
Seconded, wholeheartedly.
Yes, I second the Paul nom.
The Adventures in Bible-Thumper Swearing was a laugh riot. Also the aforementioned shirt.
You can bet your titty farting asses Paul takes the cake
I loved her sweatpant-fastening, sexually cold, and uptight wife in Extract.
loved her serious turn as a cokehead in Ryan Gosling's "All Good Things"... the dtv movie Kirsten Dunst decided to reveal her boobs.
I loved, loved, LOVED the scene between Wiig and Ellen Page in the car. Wiig plays such eccentric characters on SNL, and I thought the conversation with Page showed her dramatic range as well.
Not being a Kristen Wiig fan AT ALL (and by that I mean she usually annoys the doodoo right out of me... she's a bit of a female Jim Carrey as she never seems able to portray an actual human being) I have to commend her on both Whip It and Paul for being the only two films I've seen her in where she seems human. In Adventureland she was the only non-human character in that whole movie.