Will Ferrell is one of the funnier guys to come out of Saturday Night Live in a while. Adam Sandler has given us some good things over the years. Chris Farley and David Spade were a pretty good team. Even if all we got was Tommy Boy I would consider them a success. Rob Schneider has put out a few movies, but his best roles were the bit parts from Sandler's Big Daddy and The Water Boy.
Will Ferrell is a little bit different though. His roles don't follow the typical pattern of most SNL alums. Ok, you got me. As long as you ignore the existence of A Night at the Roxbury, you won't have a problem with Will Ferrell's career. I am willing to blame Roxbury on Chris Kattan anyway. My point is that Will Ferrell isn't known for his SNL character sketch like the Coneheads, Blues Brothers, Wayne's World, etc. He has built his career differently and despite his SNL sketch failure with Roxbury.
Ferrell has genuis bit parts in the Austin Powers movies as the doomed Mustafa who never quite dies. Wildlife Marshal Willenholly in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back might be one of the funniest roles ever in a Kevin Smith movie. Although I know a lot of people thought Zoolander sucked, I thought Ferrell was funny in that as well. The people who love Old School will tell you that Will Ferrell and his streaking, made that movie great despite the gratuitous Will Ferrell naked ass shots.
All these bit parts brought him (and his hairy white ass) into the public's eye and away from SNL by allowing him to steal the show for at least a few seconds in every movie. Now, with Elf, Will Ferrell has a movie that is really his vehicle. This is a big moment in an actor's career. The success of this movie will determine whether we will be seeing Ferrell as a main character for the rest of his career, or whether he will have to settle for stealing scenes 30 seconds at a time.
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