By rights, Jack Black should be classed as one of Hollywoods best comic talents: his early career work (even in cameos and reduced parts) set him up to be a bright young thing, and hes eminently watchable. Its just a shame then that he isnt slightly more discerning with what he puts his name to. He has a frustrating habit - or at least there was a period prior to 2011 when it seemed so - of making Eddie Murphy-like films. For those missteps and pay-checks, Black has added an edge to his undeniable, easy charm: a bad taste that occasionally threatens to push him towards one-trick territory. And as Vinnie would attest, thats a hard place to escape. But if Blacks 2011 resurgence with Bernie proved, theres life in the cheeky dog yet, and hopefully the upcoming Goosebumps will eventually be added to the Awesome Performances half of lists like this, rather than heading to the garbage pile at the other end of the spectrum. In honour of Black's 46th birthday, we're looking back at a career in which he has ostensibly played different versions of himself with success, and some other versions of himself with considerably less success. Hollywood's a funny place like that. Not that you'd think so watching Year One...
