Funny Man Brings the Drama: Four Jim Gaffigan films
By Kyle Matthies
Let it be known to all that I am not above taking requests. I was asked to look at four films starring the actor/comedian Jim Gaffigan, and I decided it would be fun to analyze the works of someone I know so little about. In fact, here is everything I knew about Jim Gaffigan before I started this: I knew his general appearance, that he’s a comedian (I couldn’t tell you want kind of comedy he specializes in), I know he is in at least one of the Hotel Transylvania movies, and that he could not complete the hot sauce gauntlet on “Hot Ones.” All of that amounts to not much, which is why I thought this project could be fun.
My requester gave me three of the movies to watch that would demonstrate his range and I added in Jerry Seinfeld’s new Poptarts movie Unfrosted to make this topical. Aside from that, the movies I watched were the recent sci-fi dramedy Linoleum, a straight to Redbox neo-noir called American Dreamer, and a twist on the typical ghost movie called Light from Light.
After watching these four movies I have a much stronger idea of who Jim Gaffigan is as an actor and what kind of pictures he stars in, and I have compiled notes below to share my thoughts.
These movies derive their plot from a longing for something no longer present in the protagonist’s lives. The conflict is always internal with Gaffigan. His biggest skill as an actor is his ability to wordlessly convey a character with complicated internal emotions who doesn’t quite know how to handle them. Even Unfrosted bears some similarities to this theme.
His physical appearance does not change much between movies, the only major difference being what kind of beard he has or lack thereof. However, his appearance in American Dreamer is much more disheveled than his others, a noticeable change. This was the movie that convinced me he’s a good actor, even though it was my least favorite.
I would describe Linoleum and Light From Light as having “traditional” Gaffigan performances. I say that because they are blanketed with a sense of gentleness that defines Gaffigan’s movies to me. They’re very empathetic movies with sentimental tones that each explore multiple people working their way through powerful emotions. American Dreamer is the opposite of a “traditional” Gaffigan portrayal absent any sort of gentleness.
Gaffigan vs. Gaffigan
Light From Light sees Gaffigan as a widower in East Tennessee who believes his late wife is haunting their house. Unlike in a traditional ghost film, his character is less scared of the ghost and more excited for the chance to be with his wife again. It’s a story about accepting grief and how hard that can be for some people. There is little in the way of action in the film, and ghost genre enthusiasts will likely be unhappy, but it pays off well in a way that is very much in the spirit of sentimentality he shows elsewhere.
In American Dreamer Gaffigan plays the lead role of Cam, an irredeemable bitter man whose bad decisions have landed him into a place of desperation. Out of money, friends, and options he takes a job as a getaway driver for a drug dealer before deciding he’d get more money by kidnapping the dealer’s son. This must’ve been an attempt by Jim Gaffigan to break type or something because he is the opposite of his usual cinematic character. Cam is a hard character to watch because he is so irredeemable and I honestly didn’t want him to succeed. While that may make a movie not fun to watch, it does speak greatly to his talents. If in Light From Light he embodied gentility, here he is showing someone without any of that.
Linoleum works as a synthesis of these two concepts for you see, it features Gaffigan in dual roles. On one hand he plays the protagonist, Cameron, a children’s TV science teacher (think Bill Nye) who feels as though he hasn’t accomplished enough in life because he never became an astronaut. Cameron very much has those Traditional Gaffigan traits, he is a kind and caring man who is just not assertive enough to claim the things he really wants. He’s a lot like his Light From Light character only less secluded now. Linoleum includes a family dynamic that adds to his character. I was surprised this was the only one of the four movies where he played a dad. He’s good at it.
In addition to playing the lead role, Gaffigan also plays the antagonist, an astronaut named Kent who takes over Cameron’s job. Just like in American Dreamer this is the opposite of a traditional Gaffigan role. Kent is a stern, cold man who is a terrible father, always punishing his son out of a place of religious fervor. He lacks any of the sympathy that defines Cameron, making them diametrically opposed characters. This is also the only time Gaffigan looks significantly different between the movies, with a different hair color and mustache setting him apart.
Because of this quirky casting, Linoleum externalizes an inner conflict, giving Gaffigan a chance to play the duality of one man. There’s a lot of meaning in Linoleum that I can’t talk about without spoiling the film so I’ll stop there. This is his best performance of the bunch and definitely my favorite of the movies. If you want to watch one Jim Gaffigan movie, this is the one to pick.
Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted is not a good movie and I kinda regret selecting it for this theme. I think it’s fair to say that Unfrosted is not a film focused on character work. While Jim Gaffigan does have an actual role in a movie mostly comprised of cameos, he’s less of a fleshed out character and more of a vessel to tell Jerry Seinfeld’s jokes. That being said, there are some connections I can draw between this role and the others.
Gaffigan is third billed in the film as Edsel Kellogg III, the heir and CEO of Kellogg’s. He’s also Jerry Seinfeld’s pushover boss. He’s very weak-willed and easily contented, making him an easily manipulable aid for the quest to create Pop-Tarts. This is in someways similar to the way Cameron reacts to adversity in Linoleum but exaggerated in a way that is unrealistic and could not exist outside of a comedy. Cameron felt like a real person who could only be pushed so far, Edsel Kellogg is nothing more than a parody.
There was one plot line in Unfrosted that reminded me of the gentle feeling found in Linoleum and Light From Light. In a typical forbidden lovers plot arc, Gaffigan’s Kellogg is in love with his arch-business rival, Marjorie Post (Amy Shumer), CEO of the Post Corporation. They’re both very obviously infatuated with each other but continue to deny their mutual feelings. It can be pretty cute at times and is one of the better parts of this movie. It’s also the only time in the film where Jim Gaffigan gets to flex those acting muscles and show off the inner personal turmoil that we found in his other performances.
Since he is a stand-up comedian, it was good to have at least one of the movies I watched be a bona-fide comedy as a test of his comedic abilities. While most of the jokes in this movie did not land for me, including most of his, he does have the distinction of delivering the joke that made my parents and I laugh the most, so maybe he is funny when not reciting lines written by modern-day Jerry Seinfeld.