John C. Reilly has never had a year quite like this.
Okay… maybe the 2002-2003 awards season period when he starred in Best Picture Oscar winner “Chicago” and got a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Or in the 2007-2008 awards season when he earned a Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical Golden Globe nomination for “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox” story. (And yet, the film was a financial bomb, with an $18 million total).
2006 and 2008 saw Reilly with Will Ferrell in smash hit comedies “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Step Brothers”.
He lent his voice to the title character in Disney’s 2012 Oscar nominated and Critics Choice winning animated feature “Wreck-It Ralph”.
And he’s delivered memorable, buzzworthy roles in “Cyrus” (2010), “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014) and “Kong: Skull Island” (2017).
But 2018 has been really good to John C. Reilly. Awards acclaim, animation and box office have combined for a rare quadruple slate of films in a short four-month span.
His western “The Sisters Brothers”, co-starring Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal, has been one of the surprise indie critical darlings of the year.
Reilly reprised his voice role for “Ralph Breaks the Internet”. It’s nominated for the Best Animated Feature Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Annie Awards – with Oscar as its next target. (I also happen to think it’s 100% better than the original).
And then there’s Reilly’s role as Oliver Hardy in the Laurel & Hardy biopic, “Stan & Ollie”. The film doesn’t open in New York City and Los Angeles until this Friday, Dec. 28. But Reilly has already received Critics Choice Best Actor in a Comedy and Golden Globe Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical nominations.
But to bring-in the holiday spirit is this week’s nationwide release of the comedy “Holmes & Watson”. Pal Will Ferrell is Sherlock Holmes, with Reilly as Dr. Watson. Will it be a major success or huge failure – both critically and at the multiplex? We’ll have to see.
Regardless of what happens with “Holmes & Watson”, 2018 is, without question, a banner year for the 53-year-old actor. According to IMDb, he currently has no future film projects listed. Unless he’d like a well-deserved break – the phone will probably be ringing very soon.