Steve Carell Not Off to Crazy Stupid Start to Post-Office Career

Steve Carell isn't just a part-time movie star anymore. While The Office is still keeping Michael Scott's official replacement a secret, the show's old regional manager can only be found on the big screen now. As such, without The Office, The Daily Show or another TV comedy franchise to fall back on, Carell will have to improve his recent mixed record on film- but he may be making just the right moves he needs after all.

Since breaking out in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine, Carell's biggest movie hits have actually been animated films like Despicable Me. In live action, Evan Almighty became a notorious bomb, while Get Smart, Date Night and Dinner for Schmucks didn't deliver as hoped. Although his farewell on The Office kept him on top, he has to prove all over again that he doesn't need Michael Scott, or even Judd Apatow, to get a hit or a good project.

But the best thing for Carell may not be another big budget, bombastic comedy. Other comedians like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey need to do those to stay on top, yet Carell doesn't need to be pigeonholed into that role. When that happened with Evan Almighty, it backfired badly and was his first major misfire. However, that kind of film isn't the best fit for him, as he is capable of fitting into more than that.

Once the likes of Carrey, Ferrell, Sandler and Bill Murray found their archetypes, they were typecast into their wacky personas for years and struggled to get out. Sandler and Carrey still can't get away with branching out into deeper roles, in spite of showing more range in them. Murray has been the exception, but it took years and an Oscar nomination for Lost in Translation before studios and audiences let him branch out.

Carell can still have that kind of career, since he hasn't been typecast yet. Despite having such an iconic TV character in Michael Scott, and being best known as The 40-Year-Old Virgin in movies, it isn't as hard to see him in other parts as it is for other comics. Little Miss Sunshine showed he could do more subtle comedy, and his last episodes of The Office helped make viewers tear up amidst the laughter.

He has a future in serio-comedies, comedies that aren't too over-the-top and more, and he's still in a position in his career where he can get away with experimenting. But he hasn't had that much opportunity to do that since Dan in Real Life came and went in 2007. However, it makes his coming post-Office work that much more of a relief.

The first test comes with Crazy, Stupid Love, which puts Carell in a 'dramedy' romantic comedy that is just the kind of stretch he may need. Not only are the likes of Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone and Marisa Tomei helping him, the early buzz indicates the best reviews for a Carell movie since Little Miss Sunshine. Given that it is opening against Cowboys & Aliens, Captain America and Harry Potter, box office will probably be limited, but it might well show critics and fans a few new sides to Carell.

As such, his next few films after that should be less surprising, as IMDb lists that he's slated to go up against Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones in one movie, appear with Keira Knightly in an end of the world comedy/drama in another, and is rumored to be in Charlie Kaufman's next project. These may not scream box office hits, but they sound more promising than what other A-list comics are being put into these days.

Carell isn't a star on the level of Sandler, Ferrell or Carrey, but it is probably for the best that he isn't. He could have easily fallen into a bunch of generic but profitable movies, especially after leaving The Office. Yet that kind of career direction would have made him a bigger name, yet been a disappointment to those who knew he was capable of more.

Now he has a chance to do better, although studios and audiences will probably give him a limited window of opportunity. But while it's open in these next few years, the likes of Crazy, Stupid Love will show just what kind of post-Office career Carell can have, and how much he can really do outside of Dunder Mifflin.