At age 41, Judd Apatow is Hollywood's fastest rising star. Forget he started his career almost twenty years ago, the guy has the golden touch. He penned episodes of television's critically acclaimed comedies like Freaks and Geeks, The Larry Sanders Show and The Critic, but his real success didn't come until The Forty Year Old Virgin in 2005. What seemed like another sleazy teen movie flourished with word of mouth, and the became the sensation of late summer. The marketing campaign behind the film helped, but usually what happens is the people who run to see the movie on the opening weekend tell their friends the movie didn't live up to the hype. With witty and brutally honest dialogue seemingly taken from real life, and endearing characters like only Apatow can create, the small teen comedy got a good reviews from the people who count ... the movie going public. Soon the film became the "must see" movie and Apatow's career has not looked back since. You can almost tell a Judd Apatow movie right away by the distinct realism, natural feel and snarky banter whipping around the screen. With hits like Knocked Up and Super Bad gaining huge momentum, Apatow has become the most desired director in Hollywood. Just having his name attached to a project helps. He only produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall, yet the entire mood of the film has Apatow written all over it. In fact, he doesn't even need to be in a movie to help sell it. Paul Rudd and Jason Segel have worked with Judd so often, most people think I Love You, Man is the latest installment of the Apatow Collection. Even though his name is not in the credits, the leader of the self proclaimed "Jewish Rat Pack" undoubtedly ushered in the style of he film. So is Apatow comedy's version of Spielberg. He's on the right track but he has still yet to turn out his version of Schindler's List. And by that I mean his career defying movie, not a teen comedy based on Osker Schinder.
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