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Along with the previously lauded Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly is the other leader of Hey! It's That Guy!: The Next Generation -- the Riker to Hoffman's Picard. In fact, both actors made their first major foray into the consciousness of the moviegoing public in the very same film, Boogie Nights, in which Hoffman played the gay cameraman and Reilly played Reed Rothchild, the curlyhaired, dimwitted porn star and foil to Marky Mark.

Reilly's career thus far has been built on his ability to combine, improbably, a nominally lovable ineptitude with a slight air of menace, and his credits thus consist primarily of playing moptopped, "Duh, which way did he go"-style henchmen/sidekicks, whether as Hatcher in Casualties of War, "Terry" in The River Wild, Stevie in State of Grace, or Pete Connelly in Hoffa. Or you may have caught him as the lead in Hard Eight, the largely ignored debut from Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson, in which Reilly turned in a neat performance as the inept and vaguely menacing gambler, John.

Reilly, like Hoffman, may not be a HITG! for long. He has an air of manic cool about him which is, in its awkward, fumbling, and bleached-out way, is kind of reminiscent of (wait for it) early Samuel L. Jackson, who also co-starred with both Reilly and Hoffman in Hard Eight. He should, however, steer clear of potholes in the glittering gold road to stardom like Never Been Kissed, in which he was horribly miscast as the not-at-all inept and only faux-menacing newspaper editor, Gus. (Strangely, IN HIS VERY NEXT FILM, For Love of the Game, he also plays a character named Gus.)

Also: Reilly should not be confused with '80s era HITG! Robert Pierce, the moptopped, inept but not at all menacing surfer-dude drummer "Bingo" in Joanie Loves Chachi. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.