The Summer ‘09 movie season isn’t even halfway over yet, but one clear winner has emerged from the blockbuster haze.
He’s someone whose name doesn’t appear above any film title, and he’s routinely shouldered off the screen by a wall of special effects.
But comic standout Hank Azaria almost singlehandedly saves two summer movies from the artistic scrap heap.
The actor, arguably best known for voicing several characters on “The Simpsons,” plays the nefarious Kahmunhrah in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.”
The film is a few notches short of torture for adult audiences, but Azaria’s wickedly funny performance (and the glorious Amy Adams) rescue mature minds from 90-plus minutes of inanity.
Now, he’s at it again in “Year One” playing Abraham and breathing fresh life into tired circumcision jokes.
So let’s toast Azaria, an actor who won’t get a fraction of the glory Ben Stiller or Shia LaBeouf will generate this season but deserves a special thank you from movie fans.
(Photo: Versatile actor Hank Azaria plays xxx in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.”)
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
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