Christina Applegate's been working in entertainment for a long time. The 43 year-old actress rose to prominence with her performance as Kelly Bundy in 80s/90s sitcom Married with Children, and in recent years has carved out a niche as the romantic foil to a selection of cinema's goofiest leading men. She's largely stayed within the comedy genre, rarely sidling out into other fare. This week she's in Vacation alongside Ed Helms, the reboot of National Lampoon's classic franchise. She's again playing the put-upon voice of reason, spending the majority of the movie trying to imbue Helms' manic father figure with a sense of rationale and mature perspective. Of course she mostly fails, leading to a bevy of ridiculous, often crude slapstick set-pieces. Comedy's an uneven genre at the best of times (mostly because it's hard to do well) and consigning one's self to the recurrent role of live-action Marge Simpson doesn't always lead to great things. As a result, Applegate's career has had some pretty fantastic ups, and quite a few eye-rolling downs...
