Rose Byrne: The Good Girl Comedienne We Need

Out this weekend is Spy, Paul Feig’s latest action-comedy romp starring the brilliantly irreverent Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a pencil-pushing C.I.A. agent turned undercover operative amidst a nuclear threat from an Eastern European mob boss. As if blending in wasn’t difficult enough, standing in her way is Rose Byrne‘s Rayna Royanov, dangerous mafioso daughter with her finger on the big red button.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbcD7b390hs]

Royanov is just one of the many offbeat comedic characters Byrne has portrayed over the last five years after taking the road less traveled and diving head first into comedy following her Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated dramatic stint on FX’s Damages. While notorious comedians (such as Byrne’s Bridesmaids co-star Kristen Wiig, for example) are making exhaustive strides into the realm of drama, Byrne has slowly emerged as a subtly hilarious film presence, and she shows no signs of slowing down. First, as crass rocker Jackie Q opposite Russell Brand in Get Him to the Greek followed by (arguably her most famous) Helen in Bridesmaids, Byrne has solidified her ability to seamlessly weave in and out of serious and silly, perhaps inadvertently becoming the good gal of comedy who is just as powerful as her louder, brasher fellow comedians.

Witnesses of the current women’s comedy revolution have, in this year alone, been privy to the genius of Broad City‘s Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, late-night powerhouses like SNL‘s Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant, and game-changing goddess Amy Schumer. All five primarily indulge in the physicality of comedy — a full-body emergence into their sketch characters — and their years of improv training shows in their work. Byrne, however, comes from a dramatic background, which has garnered her top praise on both the stage and small screen. Her earlier film endeavors included the horror sequel 28 Weeks Later, indie downer Adam, and James Wan’s horrific Insidious before making us laugh out loud in Get Him to the Greek, Bridesmaids, and Neighbors. In looking at the kinds of projects Byrne has taken on since 2010, it’s possible that her dramatic background and the ability to act “big” in a smaller way has helped her push the envelope in raunchier, more hilarious material.

This year, Byrne has remained in touch with her side as a comedian in Adult Beginners, where she starred opposite Nick Kroll and boyfriend Bobby Cannavale. In the indie tale of arrested development, Byrne plays Justine, a wife and mother with another on the way whose quiet suburban life is turned upside down when her estranged brother Jake (Kroll) shows up on her doorstep after his tech startup goes bust. Not to knock Kroll or Cannavale in the slightest, but without Byrne’s gentle comedic prowess, the film would have been a belly-up disaster due in part to seemingly rushed filming.

Starring opposite such grounded comedians — Kroll, Wiig, Rudolph, Rogen, McCarthy — might deter anyone, especially as an actress with a somewhat traditionally delicate demeanor and no real comedy resumé, from trying to be funny. Byrne, however, is paving her own path of hilarity. An audience favorite at SxSW, the James Bond spoof Spy is a reunion for Byrne, McCarthy, and Feig, and so far critics can’t get enough of it, praising the dynamic between the two Bridesmaids stars and the continuous strides Feig’s inner circle is making for women in comedy. Spy debuts in theaters this Friday, and is shaping up to be the blockbuster comedy to kick off summer.

 

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Photos: Everett Collection