A Guest Post From Christina in Wonderland!

In a world where so many 20-something actors are flashing their hot abs or oddly misshapen nipples with glitter on them (because who doesn't like their men tiara-ish) I choose to place my obsessive eyes on more intellectual game. I promise, this has a point. Mostly.

I obviously rank actors in terms of their abilities, but these abilities, as I've seen time and time again, often fall into their own separate categories. There are great performers, who choose horrible roles, and there are horrible performers who choose great roles, and then obviously, just can't hack it.  *ahem* Jennifer Aniston... Then, there's a completely different subset of actor who is a great performer, but can't get decent roles, because they get typecast. And, well, there's a plethora of other categories that we all know and love. I'm just going to focus on one kind of category today.

Which leads me to one of my favorite actors, Fran Kranz. (Whom I love as much as Angie and Chantale love Paul Rudd. Oh, and happy belated Paul Rudd day everyone! Ha.)

Most of you haven't ever heard of him, right? If you have, then good for you. You're now a part of my cool kids club. We're getting jackets made soon. Once I get some money.

But unfortunately, he falls into the category of great performer who attempts to do movies even though he should really just stick with television and theater, which is what he's good at. Don't we all know of some actors who should just learn their lesson?

Anyway, I can't say I've seen the complete list of Kranz movies, mostly because they don't have them on DVD in stores around here. Shame on them. BUT... there are a few roles in movies I'm happy to say that I loved him in, whether small parts or large. Heh. Large. Parts.

There is something wrong with me...

In no way is this a definitive list of his work, but, hopefully it will convince you to go out and experience some of his better movies, or watch the other ones with the knowledge that they'll probably be so bad that they're good, or you'll only be watching it because of Kranz. His acting is incentive all its own. :)

Donnie Darko (2001)

This is one of my favorite movies to date, and, Kranz had a small bit-part in this movie as his big-screen debut. I just can't get past the clown suit:

Orange County (2002)

I'll admit I only ever saw this movie once, and did not love it. However, Kranz plays the stoner high school kid whose transcripts get mixed with the lead character Shawn's. Wait. Did I write that correctly? Hm.Anyway, pretty funny in my opinion.

The Night Of The White Pants (2006)
This is actually the next movie on my "I have to see this" list. Mostly because I had never even heard of it until I was doing research on Fran for this post. From the trailer, it seems like it might be pretty funny. I actually like this scene, where Millian is talking about the futility of being named with an X, Z, or F in your name. There might be a valid point in there somewhere.




The TV Set (2006)
This movie is probably not a lot of people's cup of tea, BUT, I think it's a really smart, really funny movie. Sorry for the terrible quality of the video, not my fault. It was the only one I could find of this scene, which is one of my faves. What? No judging...

Wieners (2008)
Ah... this is actually kind of a terrible movie, but, hey, sometimes things are so bad they're good right? Plus, there are some scenes that will give you a chuckle. Or make you bust a gut, if you have my strange level of perverse sense of humor. Also, in the below clip, if you have an aversion to seeing boobs, you might not want to watch the whole thing. There's a small scene in a strip club. Hey, YouTube! We're all adults, though, right? And it is some funny stuff and worthy of watching.

This got longer than I thought it would, so, this list of scenes may not have convinced you to go out and buy his various movies, but hopefully I have convinced you to maybe give him a shot and witness the weirdness for yourself. If you'd rather start with more recent movies he's been in, there's always Homeland, which came out in 2009. Don't Fade Away, which stars Ryan Kwanten and Mischa Barton (hint hint), which came out in 2010. Plus, he worked with Joss Whedon again on the "upcoming" movie (God knows when in 2011) The Cabin In The Woods.

Okay, Joss WHEDON! My Lord, my God! If the fact that Whedon even recognizes his talent doesn't convince you that the boy's got some mad acting skills I don't know what will... except maybe perusing YouTube for hours like I do. But, not that I do that. I don't have a problem!