{"id":414200,"date":"2026-04-01T02:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/414200\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:18:11","slug":"is-joel-mchale-quietly-becoming-a-leading-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/414200\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Joel McHale Quietly Becoming a Leading Man?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tVeteran comic actor Joel McHale<\/a> took a big swing this year, with a film role that showcased some incredible versatility. He played a doting dad, undercover lover, authority figure and action star all in one. He didn\u2019t get any laughs, and that was the point.<\/p>\n

\n\tMaybe one thing is funny about this showcase from McHale: it happened in \u201cScream 7<\/a>.\u201d Yes, it was the sixth sequel in Wes Craven\u2019s iconic horror franchise (which just crossed $200 million in global box office) that unwittingly gave us this dynamic performance. It was a bit part that most actors couldn\u2019t make a meal of, and it proves that the former host of \u201cThe Soup\u201d has quietly been building momentum as a screen presence. Hear me out.<\/p>\n

\n\tMcHale stars as Mark Evans, sheriff of the sleepy town in which we find \u201cScream\u201d queen Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell<\/a>) and her family trying to survive yet another attack from the ghost face killer of her past. Mark is Sydney\u2019s husband and father to her kids, including teenage Tatum (co-lead Isabel May). <\/p>\n

Admittedly, his first moments on screen conjure disbelief. \u201cIs that Joel McHale?\u201d one wonders of the man whose primary screen uniform is from his long-running Fox sitcom \u201cAnimal Control.\u201d It would initially appear that \u201cScream 7\u201d director Kevin Williamson\u2019s casting of McHale signifies a \u201cdirection\u201d for the character \u2013 another hapless funny guy who leads the innocent into danger, or perhaps could be ghost face himself (all due respect to the OG inept cop of \u201cScream,\u201d David Arquette).<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the resulting performance is quite the opposite. McHale\u2019s first challenge is establishing a viable marriage with Campbell\u2019s Sydney, and the actors find a low-key sexual chemistry as a middle-aged pair stealing intimate moments between school drop off and knife attacks. Next, McHale navigates a heated argument between Sydney and their eldest daughter \u2013 on the surface about the borrowing of an iconic leather jacket (from \u201cScream 2\u201d), but broadly about how Sydney\u2019s secrecy over her past has poisoned trust with Tatum. McHale nails the role of mediator and doesn\u2019t sacrifice any dignity in the process.<\/p>\n

\n\tFinally, and perhaps most the most left-field choice in the \u201cScream\u201d canon, McHale\u2019s Mark Evans is excessively competent. He\u2019s got good instincts as a cop (like, \u201cHey babe, don\u2019t run into that house where the killer is hiding\u201d kind of instincts). He\u2019s an active listener and doesn\u2019t rush to judgment. He makes peace and doesn\u2019t want to kill his wife or child. He can throw a punch and survive a few slashes to the gut. He fills out his cop uniform (important!). In sum, as one notable industry horror fan told me after last month\u2019s \u201cScream 7\u201d premiere on the Paramount lot, \u201che actually believes the women around him\u201d when they, I don\u2019t know, sense imminent death.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is not a common trope for \u201cScream.\u201d The men of this world tend to fall into two categories: matinee idols who are secret serial killers or duds, and frustrated virgins (bordering on incels) who miss the plot and catch a knife to the skull. That McHale can represent a voice of reason and still fall prey to the superhuman antics of ghost face is a breath of fresh air. It\u2019s also a swerve from the bitter snark we\u2019re used to seeing from him, and a welcome new perspective from his notable works like \u201cCommunity\u201d and \u201cTed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile McHale\u2019s \u201cimposter syndrome\u201d forbids him from entirely agreeing with my premise, he does say that this work \u2013 coupled with his intense cameos on recent seasons of \u201cThe Bear\u201d \u2013 have been rewarding.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI still can\u2019t believe that people want to point a camera at me and hit record. When I got to Hollywood 25 years ago, my hope was to do all of this,\u201d McHale said during a recent Variety chat. \u201cI started on \u2018The Soup,\u2019 and thought that if Greg Kinnear could turn the same opportunity into an Oscar nomination for \u2018As Good As It Gets,\u2019 then I at least have a People\u2019s Choice Award nomination in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe credits his chemistry with Campbell as a the reason for his \u201cScream 7\u201d success.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery scene with her is fireworks. It felt similar to working with Jeremy Allen White, being there with somebody who can hit the ball back harder and faster,\u201d McHale said. The part of Mark was offered to him weeks before production began, and McHale approached his own teenage son to see if it was the right fit.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe remembers his son saying,\u201c What are you, an idiot? You might be relevant again if you take that job.\u201d Audiences at home can discover if young McHale was correct, as \u201cScream 7\u201d is now available for rental on various platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran comic actor Joel McHale took a big swing this year, with a film role that showcased some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,19,17,132898,9735,9738],"class_list":["post-414200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-joel-mchale","tag-neve-campbell","tag-scream-7"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116327056222543427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}