8 Times Comedic Actors Gave Unexpectedly Great Dramatic Performances

Seth Rogen in Take This Waltz

Let me get this off my chest: Take This Waltz is a lousy movie from a superb writer/director, Sarah Polley. The film follows Margot (Michelle Williams), a bored housewife in Toronto’s West End who finds some chemistry with the neighbor across the street, Daniel (Luke Kirby). Although the film is a drama, Polley called on two very funny people to round out the cast: Sarah Silverman as Margot’s best friend, and Seth Rogen as her husband, Lou.

The biggest surprise about Take This Waltz wasn’t the diminishing quality of a great filmmaker’s work, but Seth Rogen’s warm, understated turn as Lou. He was the bright spot in a film filled with several good actors. One could imagine Rogen taking on a role of a disgruntled husband trying his best to make a marriage work in about 10 years from now. But, only a few years after Knocked Up made him one of Hollywood’s sweetest schlubs, he offered disarming depth and poignancy. As a man struggling to find the glue (and shreds of personal dignity) to keep his relationship strong with his aimless wife, Rogen gave a refreshing honesty to the material that much of the rest of Polley’s screenplay lacks.