Dan Fogler plays a Ping-Pong wizard in the comedy “Balls of Fury.”
But he doesn’t play just any Ping-Pong wizard in the movie, which earned an estimated $13.8 million, good for No. 3 at the box office over the weekend. He plays chunky, short-shorts-wearing, Def Leppard-loving Randy Daytona.
It’s the kind of role a scruffy, wisecracking, fitness-challenged Everyman can love, and one that had Entertainment Weekly wondering if Fogler “could establish [himself] as an amiable Jack Black alternative.”
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Fogler has a steep mountain to climb if he hopes to become the king of schlubs.
JACK BLACK
As Entertainment Weekly noted, Black sets the standard for the relatable Everyman on screen. He’s played his slacker image to such perfection that he can adapt seamlessly into romantic comedies (“High Fidelity,” “The Holiday”) as well as silly or slapstick comedies (“Nacho Libre”). If Fogler of “Balls of Fury” really is the next Jack Black, he can only hope to achieve what Black did: parlaying his likable persona into a starring role in a major comedy. As slacker-turned-guitar-hero Dewey Finn, Black made “The School of Rock” an unlikely $100 million hit.
WILL FERRELL
From “Wedding Crashers” to “Blades of Glory” to “Stranger Than Fiction” to, yes, even “Bewitched,” Ferrell has mastered the art of schlubbery. But it was a starring turn in “Old School” in which Ferrell reached nirvana. As unhappily married manchild Frank, Ferrell’s sloppy dress, cluelessness and couch potato physique — not to mention his frat boy excitability — made his character a comedy icon.
SETH ROGEN
It’s gotta be the face. And maybe the T-shirts. Rogen’s rounded, stubbly face doesn’t invite comparisons to Brad Pitt, but that’s what makes Rogen so appealing. He also has a knack for saying what men think but wouldn’t dare speak. (His reaction to Katherine Heigl’s revelation that she’s pregnant in “Knocked Up”: “Pregnant … with emotion?”)
RAINN WILSON
Wilson habitually steals scenes as nerdy busybody Dwight on “The Office.” The glasses, the slight paunch and, most of all, the willingness to embarrass himself without actually realizing he is doing so make Wilson the complete package on the small screen.
JORGE GARCIA
As Hurley on the sci-fi drama “Lost,” Garcia’s scruffy face and California platitudes (example: “Duuuuude”) make him the perfect, schlubby counterpart to his moody, sexy fellow castaways.
