Chris Pratt is having one hell of a year, and his biggest achievement hasn’t come out yet. He’s the star of the year’s highest grossing movie (The Lego Movie), has a steady day job on NBC’s much-adored Parks and Recreation, and Guardians of the Galaxy is going to make approximately $27 trillion. Plus, Pratt had a small role in Spike Jonze’s Her, one of the nine films nominated for Best Picture.
And we couldn’t be happier. Pratt passes every metric of a “cool” celebrity: he seems like someone you’d want to get a beer with, he’s able to transition between cult comedies and blockbusters, has an awesome wife, uses the word “dude,” etc. It’s the year of Chris Pratt — that’s positively awesome sauce. Like this GIF:
1. He’s the star of two of 2014’s biggest movies, but he’s still playing a goof on an NBC sitcom.
2. Because he’s been on TV since 2002, and deserves some movie love.
3. Without Brad and Jane, April and Andy might be the best couple on TV.
4. And Chris Pratt’s real-life relationship is pretty adorable, too.
5. He EARNED the Guardians of the Galaxy role.
6. Movie producers should REALLY love him: a movie he’s appeared in has been nominated for Best Picture three years in a row (Moneyball to Zero Dark Thirty to Her).
7. He’s got a good “big break” story: he worked as a waiter at a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Hawaii when he met Rae Dawn Chong, who cast him in the movie she was working on.
8. He gives life-changing advice.
9. Cool dad, or coolest dad?
10. I mean, c’mon.
Take us on out, Mouse Rat.