Will Ferrell turns 47 today, and now's a good time to announce that he's enjoying a phenomenal career. He was a valuable “SNL” cast member during his entire seven-year run, his movie career is endlessly successful, and he's the reason we have Funny Or Die. Oh, and he was a Broadway star for a second. He's doing well.
That brings me to today's topic: What's the most underrated moment in Ferrell's career?
You might say that his role in “Stranger Than Fiction” deserves another look. Perhaps you think he was spot-on as Bob Woodward in the bizarre pseudo-gem “Dick.” But today I'm advocating for a Will Ferrell movie that represents a bygone part of his career — his “SNL” streak as really, really dorky characters. The movie? Is “Superstar.”
In this box office dud from '99, Ferrell plays Molly Shannon's Catholic school crush. He's cool to her and hilariously weird to us. He also manages to play Jesus during a fantasy moment, and let's get one thing straight about Will Ferrell: He is really good at playing Jesus.
Was “Superstar” a good movie? Not really. Was Molly Shannon effing perfect as Mary Katherine Gallagher, the repressed, weird, and Catholic “Rewind Girl” at the local video store? Yes. She was astoundingly perfect. And she and Ferrell were a great team of aggressive nerds.
So happy birthday, Ricky Bobby. What does everyone else select for his most underrated moment?