There is a crossroads in every comedic actor's life where they can either choose to drive ahead and make new, funny things, or to coast by on their former reputation and make new, terribly bland things.
Should they choose the latter, that first, terribly bland family movie–like Meet The Parents for Ben Stiller, Baby Boom for Diane Keaton, and Father Of The Bride for Steve Martin–will forever be known as that comedic actor's coasting point, the place that anyone can look back to over the ups and downs of public opinion and say, "Yep. Right there. That's when he/she stopped trying."
Often this point is marked by awful comedy indicators, like talking animals or babies, hijinks with urns full of ashes, green-screened co-stars, etc. For example, not at all coincidentally Eddie Murphy's coasting point–The Nutty Professor–coincided with his fat-suit-wearing point, while Chevy Chase's coasting point–European Vacation– coincided with his whatever-let's-do-this-again-in-a-new-location! point.
A few weeks ago, in the print version of this column, I speculated about whether or not Night At The Museum would be Ricky Gervais' coasting point. I think it's too early to tell in Gervais's case–he could still very well choose the other, funnier way–but it's definitely not too early to tell for Jason Lee (star of the upcoming Underdog and the terrifying new Alvin And The Chipmunks movie!).
In fact, here is what Jason Lee's coasting point looks like:
Truly, nothing says "I have stopped trying" like holding a dog dressed as a superhero while standing on a red carpet next to scorched failure in the shape of Jim Belushi.