Cousin Kathryn Hahn Gets Her Due

I cannot express how giddy I get when I see my cousin Kathryn Hahn on screen. Without applying a Hahn bias, I can safely say that she is one of the funniest talents working in the business. And on Broadway in 2008, she caused roars of laughter eight times each week in the hit comedy Boeing Boeing with Mark Rylance, Christine Baranski, Gina Gershon and Mary McCormack.

Even when the films aren’t too well received, Kathryn stands out as a scene-stealer. If you’ve seen Step Brothers, Anchorman, The Goods or Hung, you know what I’m talking about. In Revolutionary Road, she hung up her comedy shoes for a heart wrenching turn as Milly, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s next-door neighbor.

Today, James L. Brooks’ film How Do You Know comes out in theaters. Though Manohla Dargis in The New York Times didn’t like the film very much and was not kind to performances by Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd, Kathryn gets her due in the last paragraph:

… all three are outshone by a pair of character actors — Kathryn Hahn, who plays George’s secretary, Annie, and Lenny Venito, as her boyfriend — who, in an overworked, overwritten hospital scene, show you what love looks like simply by, surprise, good acting.

In the spirit of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler (a Boston College classmate of mine), Kristen Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Catherine O’Hara and others, Kathryn Hahn is fast becoming one of Hollywood’s sophisticated, smart, top-shelf funny girls. It’s a thrill to watch.