You do remember Chris Elliott right? He’s been rather prominent in film and TV for a while and to be honest he’s never been that far from notice. The difference between him and other actors/comedians however is that he’s been the backup to the backup more often than not, the kind of supporting character that you really don’t see unless he’s got a distinct purpose for being there. Now to be fair he had a burgeoning career and it’s still there. He’s still on the scene and hasn’t faded off like others have in the past. But against he’s not outright funny man that he seemed to be when he first got started. As he’s gotten older he’s still done comical bits but at the same time he’s just not the famed comedian that he might have wanted to be back in the day.
Take a look at some of his stuff and see if you remember him now.
Groundhog Day
He was amusing in this movie but more as a backdrop actor than anything. Larry was the kind of guy that really didn’t have much use but you still were nice to just because you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Why is that? He tried too hard, he put too much emphasis on himself because he knew deep down he wasn’t the kind of guy that people wanted to be around, and because he tried to go with the flow as much as possible. In essence Larry was the average to below average guy that knew he wasn’t all that but still tried anyway because to have any less confidence in himself was just not acceptable.
Cabin Boy
This movie was just about universally hated by everyone that saw it. The film was supposed to be Chris Elliott’s big rise to fame and to give him a chance to be a breakout star, but it came off as so foolish that it buried any chance he might have had of being a leading man for a long, long time. From the trailers it looked like it had a chance, but once it hit the theaters people ran from Chris like he was on fire. Some might have stuck around to see if his career would take an upswing, but they were likely waiting for a while.
There’s Something About Mary
Playing the part of Mary’s ex-boyfriend and the de facto relationship adviser to Ted, who had no idea that Dom was Mary’s ex from way back when, he was manipulating Ted the entire time it was discovered near the end of the movie. This is one of the films that finally got him back into the spotlight for a while since the movie was so out of left field and entirely gross in some aspects that it was hilarious. The entire premise of the movie was a guy trying to find the one woman that got away because of something stupid he did so long ago. The only problem was that everyone that met Mary seemed to fall in love with him, so he had a lot of competition he didn’t even know about until it was too late.
Scary Movie 2
Hanson was, for lack of a better word, disturbing. The little, crippled hand that was supposedly stronger than his full-sized and limber hand was the main focal point of the character, while his other sinister and disgusting quirks were kind of just thrown out there in order to give people something to think about. As the caretaker in this spoof movie he was uniquely psychotic and somehow a central point of the movie for a good long while. In fact once he was gone the movie kind of fell flat for a while, only to pick up for a few seconds in the end when it repeated the same spoof from the first movie. It was a good time really no matter how disgusting it got, and it showed that he’s still a very good actor when he wants to be.
The thing about Chris Elliott is that he’s talented, he knows he’s talented, and yet he’s not a strict comedian or a strict actor but someone that can straddle the line between the two fairly easily. His talents make him who he is in show business but his presence is taken for granted a lot and that makes him seem disposable when it comes to Hollywood. In truth he’s not disposable since he provides a service that a lot of people like him do when it comes to using them for cameos, guest star roles, and to bolster the ranks of a movie or a TV show. He’s the type of person that you don’t see that often and don’t think about, but do recognize when he’s around.
