9 Milestones in the Evolution of Steve Martin

Parenthood (1989)

After failing to impress anyone really with his dramatic turn in Pennies, Martin spent the next eight years delivering a steady stream of comedies including The Man with Two Brains; The Lonely Guy; All of Me; Movers & Shakers;Three Amigos; Roxanne; Planes, Trains & Automobiles -- the beloved John Hughes film featuring John Candy and Martin as a grumpy ad man capable of hurling 18 variations of the word "f*ck" at a rental car agent in a minute -- and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Martin ended the decade just how he started it though, with a dramatic role -- this time one that would prove him as a serious actor. As a sales executive dealing with an emotionally troubled son, his own father issues and countless other parenting stresses, Martin's sincere performance was applauded by critics and helped the Ron Howard film become one of the biggest box office successes of Martin's career. Unfortunately for the actor, his upcoming dramatic roles in forgettable titles like The Spanish Prisoner and Grand Canyon would be largely ignored.

Bowfinger (1999)

After peaking in the '90s early on with the brilliant, Steve Martin-penned rom-com L.A. Story and the Father of the Bride remake, Martin's career hit a lull. Although he was working just as steadily as ever, the movies he was attaching himself to -- like Housesitter, Leap of Faith, A Simple Twist of Fate, Mixed Nuts, Sgt. Bilko, The Spanish Prisoner -- pause for breath -- and The Out-of-Towners were disappointments for loyal Martin fans.

At long last, the comedian resurfaced from box office drudge to star in another clever comedy based on a script of his own. This mid-career comeback starred Martin as a hacky film producer who enlists the untalented look-a-like (Eddie Murphy) of a Hollywood star (also Eddie Murphy) to star in his low-budget movie so that it will get distribution. Bowfinger grossed nearly twice its budget at the box office and garnered well-earned positive reviews for Martin...

Bringing Down the House (2003

...which meant that the actor was free to embark on the WTF leg of his film career, which began promisingly (in the WTF sense at least) with Bringing Down the House, a rom-com starring Martin as an uptight professional who goes on a blind date with an escaped convict played by Queen Latifah. Makes total sense! In spite of the scathing reviews, this unlikely project killed at the box office just like Martin's next sell-out projects, Cheaper By the Dozen -- and slightly less so, Cheaper By the Dozen 2 and The Pink Panther.

Shopgirl (2005)

In spite of all the accomplishments Martin achieved in the previous three and a half decades, he still had more milestones to reach -- like 2005's Shopgirl, which placed the multi-hyphenate as the romantic lead in a film based on his own screenplay which was based on his own novella. Critics praised the film -- which chronicled a May-December romance between Martin's character and Claire Danes's character -- for being "elegant and exquisitely tailored . . . both funny and sweetly sad." It was also the actor's first work in a romantic drama and a welcome break from Cheaper By the Dozen installments.

The Big Year (2011)

On the heels of It's Complicated -- which we can safely say starred the best Steve Martin movie trio since Three Amigos -- Martin successfully co-hosted the 2010 Academy Awards with his It's Complicated co-star Alec Baldwin. This weekend, he returns to the multiplex to spend his onscreen retirement obsessively bird-watching with two next-generation comedic actors Owen Wilson and Jack Black in tow. Although it's bittersweet seeing Martin, once a fresh-faced comedian performing magic tricks for the Smothers Brothers, facing his own mortality onscreen, it's exciting to think that the legendary actor might have a few more milestones up his sleeve.

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