Ben Stiller

This is really just a test, but I thought I’d try to say something interesting along the way. New Yorker critic David Denby doesn’t like Ben Stiller: “He’s never done much for me.” “He’s not effortlessly funny.” “He looks like a mildly paranoid gibbon.” By the time I read the last comment, I had already dismissed Denby for making, earlier in the piece, the ridiculous error of describing Eugene Levy’s career as “fizzled out” (commercially-speaking, Levy seems to be doing more than all right. He’s in no danger of not finding work. Besides, unlike Martin Short, Levy was never a bona fide star to begin with. So how can his movie career, like Short’s, “fizzle out”? And did Denby not see Levy’s amazing performance in “A Mighty Wind”? The fact is, Levy is talented and we’re seeing him more and more. Isn’t that good? Presumably, if you are funny, talented, prolific, and hairy, Denby will hate you). I know mildly paranoid gibbons, Mr. Denby, and Stiller is no mildly paranoid gibbon.